The Eight Mountains - Paolo Cognetti
The Eight Mountains ofPaolo Cognetti is about the friendship between two boys, later men. But isn't it really about the unpredictable and capricious nature, the mountain landscape,? That magnet that manages to pull people to themselves but puts them on the tie with the same ease?
Once you're infected with the virus of the mountains, you won't lose it. I speak from my own experience. Any longer holiday turns out that it is always spent in or near mountains. Throw some qualifications at it: sweet, menacing, unpredictable, strenuous, soothing, inviting reflection during the tours and on top, exhausting and satisfying, so on. The fascination of Pietro's parents for the mountains is completely understandable. The work brings them to the city but they only blossom when the summer holidays can be spent in Grana, in the mountains.
His father is a fanatic hiker who does not rest until he reaches the top. Mother is more satisfied and can also simply enjoy nature without further ado. During one of those summers, young Pietro meets a fellow, Bruno, who hats cows and was born and raised in the mountains. A friendship flourishes that will last for life, with a break of several years. It's the years when the youth is over and Pietro moves to the city, forever, it seems. Until his father dies and leaves him a piece of land. It's in the mountain area he knows so well from his childhood. He pulls over there and meets Bruno again. It does not take long before the two are inseparable, as in the times of yesteryear. They're building a house on that piece of land. Bruno's experience as a construction worker comes in handy. The house becomes Pietro's base in summer, but the door to Bruno is always open. That will come true later, when Bruno's dream has spattered and his great love has also left him. Bruno, who knows no different, wants to know nothing but the mountains, the environment he thinks he knows as his back pocket, a love that lasts for life but that also kills him.
In The Eight Mountains it is mainly about the friendship between these two. You also read about the history of Pietro's parents. In their common past, something terrible has happened, including in the mountains, but it has not been able to nullify their love for it. Later, an old love of Pietro comes back into the picture. It is Lara, who for a number of years will play an important role in the lives of both men. The story is brought to a pleasantly calm pace. The characters of flesh and blood speak to the imagination and are credible. The story is logically cut into three parts, at a point in Pietro's life where it takes a different turn. It's mostly about him, but it's the story of Bruno, in the third part, that lingers the longest. It's the story with the most dramatic. All beautiful. Still, there is something else that most appeals to the imagination. That is life in the mountains, in all its facets, with all the beauty and trouble that comes with it, the splendor and power of nature, described by Cognetti so beautifully, making The Eight Mountains a memorable book!
