The Eight Mountains: The prize-winning novel and international bestseller, now a major film

Fantastisch

Awesome book :)

I love the Alps, and have seen them from all sides - France, Switzerland, Austria and Italy - so relished reading this novel. It has a timeless, fable-like quality - The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse is the obvious comparison. The story is the friendship that grows between a boy (Bruno) herding cows as the “last child of a dying village” and the similarly-aged Pietro (“Berio”) who’s visiting on holiday from the city of Milan.The story, told by Pietro, is descriptive and philosophical, with a melancholic wistfulness that hangs over the whole narrative. The characters are drawn via their relationships with the mountains (the mother is in harmony with the human, flora and fauna life of the lower altitudes, while the father attacks the three thousand metre-plus summits).The central theme of the story revolves around the myth of the eight mountains. Is it better to be the one who “comes and goes” or the one who “stays put” in order to make something of life?The book is beautifully written - I’m certain it is an excellent translation - with a sense of the sublime grandeur of the Alps. It conveys the beauty and cruelty of nature through the significant insignificance of the two men and their friendship.