Niccolò Ammaniti was born in Rome in 1966. He has written three novels and a collection of short stories. He won the prestigious Italian Viareggio-Repaci Prize for Fiction with his bestselling novel I'm Not Scared, which has been translated into thirty-five languages and became a prize-winning film. His next novel, I'll Steal You Away, was longlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, and The Crossroads received the Premio Strega Prize, Italy's equivalent of the Booker, in 2007.
"Acclaimed novelist Niccolo Ammaniti has been widely praised for
his bone-chilling stories about adolescent boys on the verge of
manhood. . . . In his newest work, As God Commands, Ammaniti once
again visits familiar territory with his customary skill and
bravado. . . . A highly charged narrative . . . Stark and
simultaneously intense . . . The core of this novel is the deep
rifts that often separate so many fathers and sons, the muted
aggressiveness and competitiveness, the feeling of dread that
permeates; the feeling that at any moment, things could spin wildly
out of control. . . . One can't help but be enthralled by
[Ammaniti's] keen insights into the degradations that mar so many
familial relationships."--Elaine Margolin, Denver Post "Niccolo
Ammaniti is one of the bright stars in modern Italian fiction. . .
. As God Commands is another exercise in nail-biting suspense by a
master at raising anxiety. . . . It's compulsive reading, with the
helpless reader gobbling up hundred-page chunks at a time, the
stuff of soap operas told with gusto by an Italian Dickens, in a
plot that's never going where you think it's going, plunging along
eagerly from climax to climax, littered with poetic moments and
human touches. Ammaniti offers up a fascinating gallery of flawed,
unpredictable human beings pondering how their impulsive mistakes,
unexpected opportunities, misunderstandings, and defiant braveries
reveal the inscrutable will of God."--Nick DiMartino, Shelf
Awareness "Punk-rock desperadoes and a daft father-son tragicomedy
team run riot through the mess and splendor of today's Italy . . .
[in the] latest from Ammaniti. . . . Propulsive from the first
page, [As God Commands] is stunningly, disturbingly entertaining
adrenaline fiction. . . . A speed-of-light montage of
family-and-friend dysfunction. . . . Ammaniti relentlessly creates
a poetics of perversity, an anthem of anger for working-class
Italy: bollixed and laid-off by Internet modernity, appalled and
titillated by the omnipresence of Britney Spears, fearful of the
crash of Italy's currency, the corruption of politicians and the
onslaught of immigrants. Not at all pretty, but darkly, ferociously
beautiful--a triumph for Europe's hottest novelist."--Kirkus
Reviews (starred review) "[As God Commands] shows the gritty side
of [Italy] not seen by tourists. . . . The issues raised here range
widely, from alienation, violence, drug use, hunger, and
joblessness to the role of religion in today's world. . . . An
excellent book discussion choice. . . . A powerful novel,
cinematically written, with touches of unsentimental emotion and
comedy . . . The masterly Ammaniti creates powerful characters not
easy to forget."--Library Journal "Ammaniti, a wonder at creating
graphic black comedy, keeps the plot rolling while pushing his
characters to their absolute limits. . . . If the Coen brothers
ever wanted to go Italian, this'd be prime adaptation
material."--Publishers Weekly "It is impossible not to be
gripped."--Financial Times "Ammaniti is a modern-day Dickens: he
takes a ruthless snapshot of degradation, arousing horror, shock
and tears."--La Repubblica (Italy) "Niccolò Ammaniti is one of
Italy's brightest literary stars. His fiction combines tense horror
with the blackest comedy . . . [offering] an artful interstitching
of plots and cinematic, horror-dazed images."--The Observer "[As
God Commands] is a rollickingly dark horror-comic, a grueling piece
of fun."--The Independent (UK) "An extraordinary book. The
characters are dissected with a sly sense of humor, compelling you
to follow them wherever they go. Ammaniti sketches a cruel picture
of adolescence and laments the Italian landscape where beauty and
nature have lost out to business parks and megastores."--NRC
Handelsblad (Holland) "Niccolo Ammaniti strikes a masterful balance
between farce and tragedy."--Die Welt (Germany) "A black thriller
with the momentum of an action-packed Hollywood movie."
--Times Literary Supplement (UK) "Niccolò Ammaniti is the best
novelist of his generation."--Il Giornale (Italy) "Ammaniti is a
born story-teller."--L'unità (Italy) "Both classic and modern, As
God Commands has the authenticity of a great novel."--El Cultural
(Spain) "A tragicomic story by a writer at the top of his
form."--Le Figaro (France) "Energy and danger spray off [the page]
like water from a choppy sea. . . . Very hard to put down."--Daily
Mail (UK)
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