Paranza by Simonetta Filippi

A Book Review - and Christmas Gift Idea - from Alessandro Ulivari

Cover of the book Paranza by Simonetta FilippiIf you want to eat fried seafood in Livorno, you have to choose between fried prawns and calamari or “fried paranza”. Fried paranza is a mixture of several kinds of very small fish, so the main characteristics of this dish are variety and small dimensions. This is the reason why, I suppose, the writer Simonetta Filippi decided to entitle her book “Paranza” (Ed. Erasmo).

In fact this is a book of  stories, each one very different from the other (in terms of subject, style, and atmosphere), but also very very short. Some of these stories are very funny, like “La Prima Notte di Nozze” ('the first wedding night') which describes an improvised meeting between several women talking about their first wedding night. The end of the story deserves to be read at least three times!

During the reading you can also find something different like “In Guerra” ('at war') with all its indignation about war with a grim ending whose main character is a baby, or “Fiori e Colori sui Marciapiedi” ('flowers and colors on the sidewalk') which is a sensitive tribute to the author’s grandmother.

Many other beautiful stories are contained in this book, full of simplicity and female essence, I think that reading this book we (I mean males) can be in women’s shoes for a moment and have a look about their world, their thoughts, their sensations still full of mystery even in the 2000s.

Just a remark: the use of local dialect is not so correct in my opinion. The spirit of the book is completely dipped in the Livornese world, never gross but instead lively and sincere, as Livornese people often are, but the slang appears not completely close to reality, a mixture of Italian and local words in the same statement which doesn't always work.

However, at the end of the day this is an enjoyable book and also a potential gift during this Christmas time.