Summary and Reviews of I'm Not Scared by Niccolò Ammaniti

Media Reviews

Baltimore Sun This book is breathless, and surprising, to the last word.

LA Times Considered one of Italy's best young novelists today, Ammaniti deftly handles an incredible plot twist.

New York Times Reading I'm Not Scared is an exciting, provocative experience. Ammaniti has distinguished himself as the most talented of his peers.

San Francisco Chronicle Niccolo Ammaniti is talented, his descriptions of the sun-baked Italian earth give off a heat that singes the reader's fingertips.'

The New Yorker The novel is saved from sensationalism by Ammaniti's almost cinematic ability to conjure detail --the look of scraps of meat on a plate, the sheen of a new bike, the whispers of adults in the night -- and by his utterly convincing re-creation of a child's perspective, as Michele's discovery propels him into ever more uncertain territory.

The Sunday Herald - Lesley McDowell Beneath this simplicity, Ammaniti weaves in the fairytale metaphors we know so well, giving the novel a haunting profundity.

Washington Post Ammaniti encloses a suspense story as gripping as any Hitchcock thriller.

David Issacson Daily Telegraph (UK) I'm Not Scared is an exquisite parable. Ammaniti’s short staccato sentences effectively describe the isolation and simplicity of rural subsistence, while long passages of direct dialogue touchingly portray the children's naïve perceptions.

Independent on Sunday (UK) - Nicola Smyth Ammaniti’s prose is faultless from the first. . . The brevity of his sentences, the clarity ad perfection of each image, gives his novel some of the flavour of a child’s picture book.

The Guardian (UK) Don’t start it on the way home from work unless the train terminates at your station.

The Times (UK) The new Italian word for talent is Ammaniti.

Kirkus Reviews Rich in setting and detail, Ammaniti's third, his first to be published here, rests contentedly on its YA bedrock.

Publishers Weekly This gripping American debut by Italian novelist Ammaniti captures well the vagaries of childhood the shifting alliances, the casual betrayals and the mix of helplessness and earnest audacity with which children confront adult situations.