Minutes March Book: I'm Not Scared

I'm Not Scared

by Niccolo Ammantiti (translated by Jonathon Hunt)

(Chosen by The New Girl, JP)



JP chose the book because her father is from the North of Italy, from a small town of just 200 people. Aqua Traversa struck a chord with her as being like the town her father grew up in, and she wanted to explore the sense of innocence of children growing up in such small towns. She told us the story of her father and his two friends, who found a live grenade in old trenches in the mountains behind their town, and the tragic outcome of their find.

Niccolo Ammantiti was born in Rome in 1966. He has written three novels and a collection of short stories. He won the Italian Viareggio-Repaci Prize for Fiction with I'm Not Scared, which has become a best-seller and has been translated into forty languages and made into a film.

(General biographical details from the inside back cover of the book)

What the publisher says about the book:

When Michele Amitrano stumbles onto a boy held prisoner in a hole deep in the Italian countryside, he begins a journey that will lead him to a series of startling discoveries.

I’m Not Scared explores the playful and volatile world of childhood through the eyes of nine-year-old Michele, who is forced, again and again, to make the hard choices that will define his character. As the book opens, he must choose between helping his younger sister or winning a race. Later, he must choose between letting his friend Barbara be humiliated or taking the punishment himself. And as the novel approaches its stunning climax, he must choose between obeying his father and fulfilling the oath he swore to him, or following his conscience and keeping his promise to Filippo, the boy who has been kidnapped. But the choices he makes bring him into serious danger, not from the monsters of his childish imagination but from the adults around him who are capable of violence and monstrosities that are all too real.

Written with an immediacy and poignancy which is itself evocative of childhood, I’m Not Scared is a powerful tale of how one boy finds the courage to overcome his fear, risk his life, and make wrenchingly difficult moral choices.

What we discussed about the book:

• The progression of Michele's discovery - the jigsaw pieces that gradually fell into place and his slow realisation of the actual nature of what he had uncovered.
• Why did Michele chose helping others over the easier path (his little sister, Barbara, Filippo)? Is this innate character, or is it taught?
• The idea that Michele kept the discovery a secret so that it would be his only - once he told someone, he would no longer own it.
• Was the mother a 'good' character? He lioness qualities, her concern for the children...was she responsible for shaping Michele's character?
• At what point did we think the mother knew about the kidnap?
• In what ways was Papa the 'boogie man'? How did he reconcile the dichotomy of his personality?
• Are children innately good? Why did Skull and Salvatore act the way they did?
• Was Filippo hallucinating or were the wash bears and the Lord of the Worms a madness linked to reality? Did he think he'd already died?
• Why was Filippo too sacred to get out of the hole?
• What was Michele scared of and what wasn't he scared of? Is the point of the book that the only thing he wasn't scared of was doing the right thing?
• Was Michele more scared of imaginary monsters than real ones? "It's men you should be scared of."
• In what way did his father's drawing of the short match motivate Michele to find Filippo in the gravina?
• Did we think Michele died at the end? Does it matter to our reading of the novel whether he died or survived?
• Were we satisfied with the ending? Who needed closure and why? Was the scene in the gravina credible in context of the rest of the book?

And then we were sidetracked into:

• Comparing the three different cover versions we had around the table - and the different author photos in each.
• How Italy was in the 1970s, "the years of lead" when kidnapping for ransom was relatively common. In 1978, 600 children were kidnapped. In what ways did the author being a child himself at that time influence the writing of this book?
• Did this book examine the psychology of terrorism? How do people separate their actions towards 'the other' from their actions towards their friends and families?
• How do adults who perpetrate such crimes disconnect from the child? What is the process of rationalising their actions?
• Is this a book about bravery and courage?
• Is this a horror book?

In other news:

• We commiserated with JP about the damage done to her beautiful house by Melbourne's freak storm.
• We mocked the way fashion models walk the catwalk with hips pushed forward and pouty expressions.
• We admired Gypsy's new renovation.
• We discussed the necessity or otherwise of telemovies about murders, tragedies etc - i.e Wales-King murders. Why do people seem fascinated by these re-enactments?

Ratings:
Ratings average: 7.17
Ratings range: 5 to 9

Next book: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson (chosen by JM)