{"id":79444,"date":"2018-03-06T09:17:29","date_gmt":"2018-03-05T22:17:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.booktopia.com.au\/?p=79444"},"modified":"2018-03-06T09:17:29","modified_gmt":"2018-03-05T22:17:29","slug":"ben-hunter-reviews-trick-by-domenico-starnone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/2018\/03\/06\/ben-hunter-reviews-trick-by-domenico-starnone\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Trick by Domenico Starnone"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-79450 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.booktopia.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/trick-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"249\" height=\"387\" \/><strong>Trick\u00a0<\/strong><strong>by\u00a0Domenico Starnone<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Review by\u00a0Ben Hunter<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When the once-celebrated children\u2019s book illustrator, Daniele Mallarico arrives in Naples to babysit Mario, his four-year-old grandson, he has no idea of the physical and emotional turmoil he\u2019s getting himself into.<\/p>\n<p>In Domenico Starnone\u2019s playful new novel <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/trick-domenico-starnone\/prod9781609454449.html?utm_source=blog.booktopia.com.au&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=review%20trick%20domenico%20starnone\">Trick<\/a><\/em>, Mallarico is trying to create new pictures for an illustrated edition of the Henry James ghost story, The Jolly Corner. Returning to his family home in Naples charges him with a whimsical energy and he wants to get to work. This is hindered by Mario, who, desperate for his attention, criticises his work with the honest brutality only children can muster. Mario\u2019s words break the aging man and their playtime together deteriorates into full-blown conflict, mirroring that of Mario\u2019s quarrelling parents. In Mario\u2019s eyes, Mallarico can only see his ineptitude and lost youth. If he is to meet his commision deadline, he needs to face off with his own ghosts first.<\/p>\n<p>I love the way in which this novel is contained entirely inside the world of the Naples apartment. It becomes a kind of pressure cooker for family tensions. Starnone\u2019s storytelling, focused around the moral pitfalls of the family infused with Italy\u2019s beauty and brutality, have rightfully earned him comparisons with Elena Ferrante. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/trick-domenico-starnone\/prod9781609454449.html?utm_source=blog.booktopia.com.au&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=review%20trick%20domenico%20starnone\">Learn more<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trick\u00a0by\u00a0Domenico Starnone Review by\u00a0Ben Hunter When the once-celebrated children\u2019s book illustrator, Daniele Mallarico arrives in Naples to babysit Mario, his four-year-old grandson, he has no idea of the physical and emotional turmoil he\u2019s getting himself into. In Domenico Starnone\u2019s playful new novel Trick, Mallarico is trying to create new pictures for an illustrated edition of the Henry James ghost story, The Jolly Corner. Returning to his family home in Naples charges him with a whimsical energy and he wants to get to work. This is hindered by Mario, who, desperate for his attention, criticises his work with the honest brutality only children can muster. Mario\u2019s words break the aging man and their playtime together deteriorates into full-blown conflict, mirroring that of Mario\u2019s quarrelling parents. In Mario\u2019s eyes, Mallarico can only see his ineptitude and lost youth. If he is to meet his commision deadline, he needs to face off with his own ghosts first. I love the way in which this novel is contained entirely inside the world of the Naples apartment. It becomes a kind of pressure cooker for family tensions. Starnone\u2019s storytelling, focused around the moral pitfalls of the family infused with Italy\u2019s beauty and brutality, have rightfully&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":79446,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[6678],"tags":[7623,978,988,993,8440,8083,7967,7966,7941,4482,4484,8439],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Ben-Hunter_-Mario\u2019s-words-break-the-aging-man-and-their-playtime-together-deteriorates-into-full-blown-conflict..png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79444"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79444"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79452,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79444\/revisions\/79452"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}