Edward Hendriks
From the writer of Call me by your name, filmed as Call me by your name (still available on Netflix) a new story was released last month to dream away to summer again. The gentleman from Peru is a novella by André Aciman, which takes you into a magical-realistic fairy tale on the Italian Amalfi Coast.
A group of American friends have to wait in a luxury hotel on the Amalfi Coast until their boat is repaired. Not a punishment, you might think. And then there's this well-dressed sixty-something who turns out to have some interesting stories.
Not only that, as the conversations progress, this tourist from Peru also seems to know a great deal about the friends' past. And he seems particularly interested in one of the girls from the American group, whom he promptly invites for a private lunch. Shouldn't all the alarm bells go off for Margot, the lady in question? Why does it feel so familiar then?
It really is one of those stories that makes you dream away to the Italian summer. The warm glow of the sun, delicious wine on the terrace, long and lazy afternoons on the beach with the salt of the sea on your lips… And with a good dose of mystery. A fairy tale that lets you escape in this dark time of year to a time that may never come back.
Well written, without forced literary pretensions. Too bad it's so short. But that's what happens with Italian summers: l'estate somiglia a un gioco – è stunned but hard.
The gentleman from Peru
by: André Aciman (translated by Peter Abelsen)
176 pp.
€ 22,99 (also available as an e-book for € 7,99)
Ambo|Anthos, October 2024
ISBN 9789026369032
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