Description
The world of Tue, a twelve-year-old boy, is inside a farm at the end of a dirt road. He lives with his parents and two brothers, in the field around the house there are eight dogs, cows, and animal carcasses. On the ceiling above his bed, there is a glow-in-the-dark star stuck with chewing gum. His father seems more attached to his dogs than to the rest of the family. His mother gambles and speaks little, even though she has a beautiful voice. Money is scarce, yet with breeding, the sale of gold teeth, and the theft of copper wires, they manage to survive. Just moving a little away from Copenhagen, from the heart of the richest and most comfortable Europe, everything changes. In the perfect and opulent landscape, melancholy and neglect creep in, children are left to themselves, their relatives distracted and exhausted, the work humble and tiring. Yet in Tue’s eyes, in the tone of his story, innocence blooms, wonder, a dazed hope makes its way, a tenacity that turns into comedy. Even when nothing goes right, amidst misunderstandings and accidents, the constant calls to the principal’s office, no friend who is really like him. And the explosion of a feeling that cannot be contained, whose beauty needs new words and courage. Nessun altro posto dove andare is a debut that has had an unexpected and great success. Perhaps because it is a hard and ruthless novel but with quirky humor, or because its darkness is continually pierced by the unexpected emotions of the protagonist, a teenager in the midst of searching for himself and his place in the world. On the outskirts of well-being, social differences are deep, and it is easy to get trapped. Only a boy like Tue, resourceful and creative, who always tries to get by and find a balance that is all his own, can make it.
