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Book Summary and Reviews of The Human Body by Paolo Giordano

The Human Body by Paolo Giordano

The Human Body

by Paolo Giordano

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  • Published:
  • Oct 2014, 336 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

In Paolo Giordano's highly awaited new novel, a platoon of young men and one woman soldier leaves Italy for one of the most dangerous places on earth. Forward Operating Base (FOB) in the Gulistan district of Afghanistan is nothing but an exposed sandpit scorched by inescapable sunlight and deadly mortar fire.

Each member in the platoon manages the toxic mix of boredom and fear that is life at the FOB in his own way. Brash Cederna shamelessly picks on the virgin Ietri. Giulia Zampieri seemingly navigates this male-dominated world with ease - until two male comrades start vying for her attention. And for medical officer Alessandro Egitto, the FOB serves as an escape from a real life even more dangerous than one fought with guns. At night, lying on their beds, they feel the beat of their own hearts, the ceaseless activity of the human body. But when a much-debated mission goes devastatingly awry, the soldiers find their lives changed in an instant.

A heartrending, redemptive story about brotherhood and family, modern war and the wars we wage with ourselves, Paolo Giordano's visceral novel reminds us what it is to be human.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. Giordano follows The Solitude of Prime Numbers with a stunning exploration of war." - Publishers Weekly

"Starred Review. Despite the tragic events, this is a very entertaining novel, with the characters' innate and passionate sense of the absurdity of their situation, and of life itself, evident in every scene." - Library Journal

This information about The Human Body was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Paolo Giordano Author Biography

Paolo Giordano is the author of the internationally bestselling novel The Solitude of Prime Numbers (2010), which has been translated into more than forty languages, as well as The Human Body (2014), Like Family (2015), Heaven and Earth (2020), and the nonfiction title How Contagion Works (2020). His novel Tasmania is a bestseller in Italy and has been sold in more than thirty territories. Giordano has a PhD in particle physics and is a regular contributor to Corriere della Sera. He lives in Italy.

Author Interview

Name Pronunciation
Paolo Giordano: approximately pow-lo jaw-darno

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