Summary
Paolo Giordano: The Human Body
Sergeant Roberto Ietri, who has just turned twenty and is still almost a boy, is one of the soldiers who go on a mission to Afghanistan. As they prepare to leave, they don't yet know that the place they're going is one of the most dangerous in the entire conflict zone: a forward operating base in Gulistan district, an exposed sand trap filled with dust. The sun is so strong that it causes conjunctivitis, and at night you can't turn on the light without attracting fireballs. Soldiers in combat, exhausted from the heat, boredom and fear due to a threat that seems more and more unreal to them every day, try to restore the life they are used to, deepening mutual friendships and conflicts, engaging in all kinds of distractions and persevering in dangerous situations. Only at night, when they are lying on field beds, are they surprised by memories. In absolute silence, when civilization and nature are silent, I can feel the beating of my own heart and the sound of other internal organs - the continuous activity of the human body. When the time comes for them to penetrate enemy territory, they will discover that they must simultaneously deal with what they left behind in Italy... In his long-awaited second novel, after the worldwide success The Solitude of Prime Numbers, Paolo Giordano accurately outlines the contours of the "new wars". In the process, he reveals the existence of other, more elusive wars that are no less insidious, analyzing family and love conflicts, and bloody and endless battles with himself. The Croatian translation is signed by Mate Maras, and the beautiful cover page is the work of the Dutch photographer Mirjan van der Meer.
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