White as Silence, Red as Song by Alessandro D’Avenia
Published by Thomas Nelson on September 4, 2018
Genres: Contemporary, Literature & Fiction, Romance
Pages: 272
Format: Hardcover
Goodreads
Buy on Amazon
International bestseller White as Milk, Red as Blood, has been called the Italian The Fault in Our Stars.
Leo is an ordinary sixteen-year-old: he loves hanging out with his friends, playing soccer, and zipping around on his motorbike. The time he has to spend at school is a drag, and his teachers are “a protected species that you hope will become extinct,” so when a new history and philosophy teacher arrives, Leo greets him with his usual antipathy. But this young man turns out to be different. His eyes sparkle when he talks, and he encourages his students to live passionately, and follow their dreams.
Leo now feels like a lion, as his name suggests, but there is still one thing that terrifies him: the color white. White is absence; everything related to deprivation and loss in his life is white. Red, on the other hand, is the color of love, passion and blood; red is the color of Beatrice’s hair. Leo’s dream is a girl named Beatrice, the prettiest in school. Beatrice is irresistible – one look from her is enough to make Leo forget about everything else.
There is, however, a female presence much closer to Leo, which he finds harder to see because she’s right under his nose: the ever-dependable and serene Silvia. When he discovers that Beatrice has leukemia and that her disease is related to the white that scares him so much, Leo is forced to search within himself, to bleed and to be reborn. In the process, he comes to understand that dreams must never die, and he finds the strength to believe in something bigger than himself.
White as Milk, Red as Blood is not only a coming-of-age story and the narrative of a school year, but it is also a bold novel that, through Leo’s monologue – at times easy-going and full of verve, at times more intimate and anguished – depicts what happens when suffering and shock burst into the world of a teenager, and the world of adults is rendered speechless.
The main protagonist of this book is Leo, a 16-year old high school student trying to make his way through life. He acts like any normal teenager in school – he doesn’t like any of his classes or teachers. He lives in the moment, playing sports, and enjoying good friends. He has his first crush on Beatrice, a girl a year ahead of him in school; she’s the one with the red hair. She is the girl with leukemia. She doesn’t really know Leo, but he loves her regardless.
Leo has a thing about colors – he sees the world through the eyes of color. Leo feel that white is the boring bland of the world while red is the brightness and beauty it has to share. The story itself is written in first person, almost as if it is a diary, and it flows well. The story definitely has some sadness, but there are other parts of the story that are both amusing and moving.
D’Avenia was born on May 2, 1977 by Rita and Giuseppe D’Avenia, the third of six children. Since 1990 he attended the classical high school Vittorio Emanuele II of Palermo, where he met father Pino Puglisi who taught religion in the same institution and whose figure is strongly influenced, as well as that of the teacher of letters.
In 1995 he moved to Rome to attend the faculty of classical letters at La Sapienza University. In 2000 he graduated in classical literature. In 2004 he obtained a PhD in Greek literature with a specialization in Anthropology of the Ancient World, ending with a thesis on the “sirens” in Homer and their relationship with the Muses in the ancient world. While engaged with the doctorate, he teaches for three years in middle school. After completing his doctorate, he prefers teaching to research and attends secondary school for secondary education, at the end of which he teaches Greek and Latin in high school. He founded an amateur theater company and made a short film.
His activity as a writer begins at the same time as that of a teacher. The success comes for D’Avenia with the novel Bianca as milk, red as blood, which soon becomes a best-seller and is published in 20 foreign countries. The success of the debut novel is partially confirmed by the second title of D’Avenia, Things that nobody knows.
He works as a publicist with some Italian newspapers (Avvenire, La Stampa). As a screenwriter, in 2008 he signed some episodes of the third series of “Life Bites – Life Pills” at Disney Italy. In 2011-2012 he worked on the screenplay of the film based on Bianca as the blood-red milk produced by Rai Cinema, which was released in cinemas in April 2013.
WEBSITE // FACEBOOK // TWITTER // INSTAGRAM
I truly appreciate that BookLookBloggers provided me with a complimentary copy of this book to read in exchange for my personal and honest opinion and unbiased review.
It would be great if you would stay connected with me!! You can follow me on Twitter @DebiL1611, like me on Facebook at 2014 and Beyond, circle me on Google+, follow me on Tumblr, Instagram and Bloglovin’, subscribe on YouTube, or connect with me on LinkedIn and Pinterest.
Please make sure to visit my homepage and subscribe to my blog for more great posts on running, fitness and lifestyle topics as well as food, product, music and book reviews, and more!
