Damo Reads

Gray creates a world that's bizarre and brilliant, dragging you into Bella Baxter's strange existence. Imagine a Frankenstein tale blended with satire.

Reading this book felt like peeling an onion, with complex themes of identity, society, and truth surfacing with each layer. Bella’s journey questions everything: gender roles, social customs, scientific ethics. The role of the narrator itself is under question.

Gray's mix of narrative styles is chaotic yet makes sense. He uses shifting perspectives, footnotes, and illustrations to blur reality and fiction, turning storytelling itself into a debate. By the end, you get used to it and feel comfortable in it.

If you start reading this book expecting an impartial, journalistic chronicle of North Korea, you will be disappointed. This is the story of a guy who spent two months in North Korea because of his job, and the reality is, he doesn’t want to be there. He is not there to understand North Korea—whatever that means—but rather to complete a job his company outsourced for a cheap price. His account highlights a microcosm of the life of foreigners. I was surprised to learn that there are more companies doing business in North Korea from capitalistic countries than I expected. Money is money everywhere, I guess.

This book is probably the result of his boredom, during long hours spent in his hotel room. Still, one of the book's strengths is its ability to highlight the everyday life of Pyongyang's residents while subtly critiquing the regime's propaganda. Delisle observes the contradictions and surreal aspects of North Korean life, where citizens are subjected to constant state surveillance and indoctrination. His narrative is peppered with moments of confusion and disbelief as he navigates through a society that is heavily controlled and shrouded in secrecy.

Delisle's interactions with his North Korean guides provide some of the most compelling moments in the book. These guides, ever-present and cautious, offer a lens into the controlled narratives the regime attempts to project to outsiders. The author’s attempts to understand and connect with them add layers of complexity to his observations. Of course, Delisle’s observations are limited to the bubble of foreign privilege.

This results in moments where his irony may not be for all palates. His reactions to guides' and translators' answers—at times too dismissive—lack understanding of major factors: they were born and raised in a propaganda box where nobody can enter, or they simply didn’t want to get in trouble. I guess it’s easier to be rebels in a country where you don’t disappear overnight for showing the slightest disagreement with the status quo.

Well, it turns out it was not my cup of tea. I found the book hard to read and I struggled to keep track of what was going on. This is because Francie Brady, the protagonist, narrates the story in a stream-of-consciousness style, giving you an unfiltered view of his twisted thoughts and perceptions.

McCabe puts you in the head of a child whose mental state deteriorates as he grapples with his inner demons. His writing is raw. While I appreciate the author's stylistic choice and believe it was the right way to tell this story, I found it challenging to keep track of what was going on.

There were several levels of complexity that made the book hard to follow. Firstly, there was the constant mixing of the "true" reality with Francie's version of reality. Secondly, the first-person point of view made it difficult to follow the story due to the punctuation. Lastly, the language used in the book, which was based in rural Ireland in the 60s, added another layer of complexity.

Westover’s memoir opens a window to a world completely unknown to me: the Mormon survivalists. She walks you through her childhood made of strict religion, conspiracy theories, doomsday preppers, abuses, incredible injuries and improbable homemade remedies.

Page after page, you grow up alongside her and you can feel her struggles. The struggles everybody faces during the transition from child to adulthood are intensified by her environment.

The physical abuse that Westover suffered at the hands of her brother over the years was made even more devastating by her parents’ atrocious denial, even when they witnessed the abuse themselves.

“I could have my mother’s love, but there were terms, the same terms they had offered me three years before: that I trade my reality for theirs, that I take my own understanding and bury it, leave it to rot in the earth.”

That’s not it though. This is also a story about emancipation through education and tough life-changing choices. Tara Westover's academic career is a monument to determination.

She is the evidence that no matter what your background is, you can achieve anything if you put your mind to it and you are given a chance.

So, when I learned she wrote a memoir called "Rememberings," I searched for it. The book was also available as an audiobook read by Sinead O'Connor herself, and I thought this was the perfect chance to know her side of the story in the best possible way.

I know, reading the autobiography of a famous person once they die is very predictable too.

I have read several memoirs, but "Rememberings" stands out as one of the most honest and sincere ones. Sinead O'Connor writes with such a fluid and straightforward style, sharing her life and struggles candidly.

She does not shy away from topics that may be uncomfortable to address, and she writes about them with refreshing honesty and humour. She talks about her difficult childhood, international success, SNL, activism, mental health issues, family, and spirituality with such openness.

One thing that stood out to me about this book was Sinead O'Connor's lack of resentment towards people who had harmed her in various ways. Don't get me wrong, she calls out those who have been assholes to her, but there is a sense of almost complete absence of bitterness in her words.

Smith's writing style is poetic, raw, and honest. It's as if every sentence is carefully crafted to convey a certain emotion or moment in time. Her descriptions of New York City in the 1960s and 70s are vivid and immersive, making you feel like you're right there with her and her partner in crime, Robert Mapplethorpe, as they navigate the art and music scene of the time.

Two months before his untimely death, Lorca sat down for an interview with Lluís Bagaría i Bou, a well-known cartoon artist. The interview was published in the Madrid newspaper El Sol, and it reads like a surreal conversation between two established artists.

Throughout the interview, Lorca espouses his belief in the power of art to transcend political and social divisions. He saw art as a means of expressing universal truths that could speak to people from all walks of life, regardless of their political affiliations or social status. For Lorca, art had the ability to unite people and bring them together in a shared experience of beauty and truth.

The full interview was republished in 2020 by the Revista Rambla, but there is one particular passage that stands out. Lorca was asked if he believed that borders and national identity were destined to disappear. His response was both thoughtful and passionate:

I am 100% Spaniard, and it would be impossible for me to live outside my geographical limits; but I hate people who are Spaniards just for being born in Spain and nothing else. I am everyone's brother and I detest the man who sacrifices himself for an abstract nationalist idea just because he loves his homeland with a blindfold over his eyes. A good person from China is closer to me than a bad Spaniard. I sing of Spain and I feel it to the core, but before that, I am a man of the world and a brother to all. Of course, I do not believe in political frontiers.

El Cartero De Neruda - Ardiente Paciencia by Antonio Skármeta (“Burning Patience” in the English version) is a book I had waiting on my shelf for a few years. I bought it one grey, boring weekend, hoping that the idea of a small seaside Chilean village would brighten my day.

But I let time pass by. Like many Italians, I watched the film adaptation in 1994 directed by Michael Radford, with an incredible cast: Massimo Troisi, Philippe Noiret, and Maria Grazia Cucinotta. Troisi, who co-wrote the screenplay, passed away a few hours after the end of principal photography.

Disclaimer: this is one of those cases where the movie is a bit different from the book, but don’t worry, you can read the book and watch the movie. You’ll cry in both cases.

It took Skármeta almost 14 years to complete this 120-page book. It’s the story of a teenager named Mario Jiménez, who accepts a job as a postman for the only client in the village who can read: Pablo Neruda. Mario is curious, passionate, timid, humble, and is soon hooked by Neruda’s grouchy but sympathetic personality.

Mario is in love with Beatriz.

Mario doesn’t know what a metaphor is, but when Neruda explains it to him, he falls in love with poetry.

The book follows Mario and Neruda’s friendship, Chile's political changes, and Neruda’s Nobel Prize, all within 120 pages.

When reading this story, time stops.

As soon as you turn the last page, you are left with a tear in your eye and a nostalgic/peaceful feeling in your heart, like a morning walk in a small village in Chile.

See? I have learned metaphors too :)

Bonus: The wonderful soundtrack of the movie "Il Postino" by Luis Bacalov

This is not the first time a dystopian book written decades ago seems still so bloody relevant today. If you ever read 1984 by George Orwell, you probably know what I’m talking about.

As I said, the story is set in a dystopian future version of the United Kingdom, where a fascist government has taken over and imposed its will on the people. The story follows a masked vigilante known only as "V," who seeks to overthrow the government and bring freedom back to the people. V is a mysterious character with a complex backstory, and his actions and motivations are gradually revealed throughout the course of the story.

This collection of love poems is truly a work of art. Neruda explores the complexities of love in a way that is both honest and beautiful, reminding us that love can also be challenging. His words transmit a sense of urgency, as if he cannot contain the overwhelming feelings that he is trying to express.

Patrick Kavanagh was one of the most important poets of the 20th century in Ireland, and his work often drew on his experiences of growing up in rural Ireland. He was also a great lover of the Irish countryside, and many of his poems reflect this passion.

Today is St Patrick’s day and I want to celebrate one of my favourite Irish songs: Raglan Road. 

It’s Patrick Kavanagh’s poem turned into a song by Luke Kelly (The Dubliners). The story goes that Kavanagh was walking along Raglan Road in Ballsbridge (not far away from his sculpture, by the way) one autumn evening in 1946 when he saw a young woman named Hilda Moriarty. He was struck by her beauty and was inspired to write the poem that was first published in the Irish Press in 1946, and it quickly became popular.

The poem speaks to the human experience of love and loss, and it has a universal appeal that has made it popular with people from all over the world. 

According to legend, Kavanagh was in the Bailey pub in Dublin when he spotted Luke Kelly and asked him to sing the poem that he had written. Kelly was initially reluctant, as he didn't think the poem would work as a song, but Kavanagh insisted and Kelly eventually agreed. A story confirmed by Luke Kelly himself on RTE - Irish public television -  in 1979. 

The collection is particularly notable for its bindings, many of which are made from exotic materials such as elephant hide and tortoise shell.

The library staff regularly clean and maintain the building to minimize any potential harm to the books or visitors.

The book describes Valeria Luiselli's experience and thoughts as an interpreter supporting minors from Central America (Mexico, Ecuador, Honduras, just to name a few). These children find themselves alone in the United States.

Their stay involves undergoing a 40-question questionnaire that the Government requires them to complete before presenting their case to a judge who will ultimately determine whether they can remain in the country or not. In this process, Luiselli serves as an interpreter, tasked with translating the questions and answers for the minors.

Reading the various stories of the minors interviewed by the writer, one can't help but shake their head in disbelief. These heart-wrenching tales depict the long and arduous journeys that these children undertake to escape poverty and organized crime in their home countries. Their pilgrimage towards the United States is fraught with danger, including the risk of kidnappings and sexual assaults.

The book is structured in such a way that each chapter corresponds to one of the 40 questions, creating a sense of order and structure within the chaotic and overwhelming reality that these minors face. However, as the stories unfold, a surrealism emerges that underscores the Kafkaesque nature of a bureaucratic process attempting to organize and simplify the lives of children who have arrived alone in a foreign country seeking refuge.

The story takes place in Portugal during the dictatorship of Salazar, and it follows the journey of Pereira, a journalist who finds himself in a moral crisis when he is asked to censor an article that he knows is truthful.

Pereira belongs to the list of book characters who made me fall in love with reading. He is a deeply empathetic person motivated by a desire to make a positive difference in the world. At the same time, he is tired and cautious. He is hesitant to take any risk and deeply in love with his routine.

"Permanent Record" ("Errore di Sistema", in the Italian translation I read) Snowden's autobiography, is his attempt to explain the path that led him to become one of the most loved/hated whistleblowers in history. The book takes the reader through the most important stages of Snowden's life. Even during his childhood and adolescence, it becomes clear that his destiny is marked by the two worlds that would eventually blend in his mind. On one hand, there was his passion for computing and the early days of the Internet.

"For a brief and beautiful period, which fortunately coincided with my adolescence, the Internet was made by and for people. […]"

The Internet was not accessible to everyone. Only those who truly desired it had the skills, and interest had access. On the other hand, there was his proximity to the world of state servants, represented by his parents and the city he lived in. A restless sense of duty towards citizens, perhaps mixed with a bit of American passion for heroes, led him to reveal the details of PRISM. A gesture that upended his life and the lives of those around him, abandoning a $ 250,000-a-year career, a life in Hawaii, and his freedom.

A one-way road, like in Super Mario.

"Ultimately, it was Super Mario Bros. that taught me what remains perhaps the most important lesson of my life. … There is no turning back, only going forward — for Mario and Luigi, for me, and for you. Life only scrolls in one direction, which is the direction of time, and no matter how far we might manage to go, that invisible wall will always be just behind us, cutting us off from the past, compelling us on into the unknown".

The book is an easy read but it can get a bit technical - though necessary for understanding the story.

For further reading:

In 2015, John Oliver interviewed the former CIA technician in Russia on his show Last Week Tonight. The interview begins around the 16-minute mark and is worth watching not only for Snowden's answers but also because he explains PRISM in simple terms.