We climbed a ramp of stairs; we walked in a circle suspended over the sleeping city, the blue and red rocket-shaped high-rises, the occasional car zooming past, the loudspeakers issuing the same minute of tired classical music over and over. The skin defends itself, regenerates, and in regenerating forgets it was ever wounded' : gorgeously written, dense and rich, here the conceit of embodiment merges perfectly the unspoken with the textual.

At dawn, after that avalanche of words, she closed the curtains and brought back the darkness, the only thing that belonged to both of us. I usually enjoy plotless novels that sacrifice their plot for a better, more in-depth characterisation, like in this case. The narrator experiences China as “the country of philosophy and sex dolls” and Shanghai as a feverish dreamscape, a place of “water the color of arsenic.The was it’s set in such an advanced city that’s forever changing, yet there’s still places that have tried to be changed but they revert back to what they once were. Over all of it loomed the Oriental Pearl Tower: a red orb in steel lattice, topped by a tall obelisk.

As you'd expect from the premise, it isn't really a book with much of a plot, but more moves through scenes in an artistic way, more surreal than engaging with the realities of their lives.Blue Hunger is irresistible, evocative, dripping with desire, and brilliantly written-Viola Di Grado is a genius.

La protagonista del romanzo non rivela mai il suo vero nome, ma a Shangai si ribattezza Xin che significa "nuova" ma anche "cuore". but its combination of rich, evocative writing, and oft unsettling content makes it near impossible to look away from the page. Una història d'amor, odi, frustració i solitud on la protagonista canalitza el dol per la mort del seu germà cap a un amor irracional. The language of Blue Hunger has a tour de force energy … Di Grado’s prose is exhilaratingly dynamic, made up of fragmented paragraphs that look and sound like prose poetry and that use poetic language in surprising and edgy ways. This lack of empathy could have been avoided had the author invested more time in exploring the couple's encounters and interactions in more depth.Change country: -Select- Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Republic Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bosnia and Herzegovina Brazil British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Islands Cayman Islands Chile China Colombia Cook Islands Costa Rica Cyprus Czech Republic Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Dominican Republic Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) Finland France Gabon Republic Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau Macedonia Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Monaco Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Niger Nigeria Niue Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Panama Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Republic of Croatia Republic of the Congo Romania Saint Helena Saint Kitts-Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands South Africa South Korea Spain Sri Lanka Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Togo Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Uganda United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Uruguay Uzbekistan Vatican City State Vietnam Virgin Islands (U. In particular, the character of Xu, the mysterious, seductive stranger, doesn’t always work, and while there are moments where she’s more character than caricature, there is a hint of the glossy and exotic about her. Xin da Roma vola a Shangai credendo di scappare dal dolore lancinante per la morte del fratello gemello Ruben, si crea una nuova identità, si lancia in un amore tossico e autodistruttivo ma ben presto comprende che la sua fame d'amore non può essere colmata.

Another interesting feature of the novel is the use of, and musings on, language, with mentions of English, Italian and Chinese. Di Grado imbues the corporeal mechanics of sex alongside sex as a form of “language-replacement”, something that supersedes verbal speech, creating a masterful narrative that conveys the ecstasy of new love: “It’s as if something inside me that had been fidgeting for so long had finally settled,” Ruben says.Both protagonists find solace by teaching language: in Greenwell’s case, English to Bulgarian students, in Di Grado’s case, Italian to Chinese students. In a skyscraper apartment overlooking Shanghai’s blue-tinged, pulsating nightlife and filled with rotting food, two women swallow little yellow pills that will make all things dangerous feel safe.