I was surprised to see that the title of the English translation from Italian is “Me, You”. In Hebrew the name of the book is “You, Mine”, a line which is repeated several times in the book and is most certainly related in the story to the possesive form. The orignal title in Italian is “Tu, Mio”, which (as I understand it) is closer to the Hebrew tranlsation.

This is the fourth book I’ve read by this author. The trouble with that is, of course, one tends to compare. I still claim that “The Day before Happiness” is his best. “God’s Mountain” is a close second. This book is good, but it didn’t move me in the same manner and I didn’t get “lost” in the story the way I did when reading those books.

The pace is a fisherman’s pace, slow and patient. The 16 year old boy learns a lot about life while learning how to fish off the coast of Naples in the 1950’s. I got a bit more information about fishing than I desired.  The hero  is obsessed with the what no one wants to talk about  – WWll and with a Jewish girl he has met.

The author’s style captivates, as always, from the first paragraph. But at times I wished a strong wind would blow and push the story forward a little faster. Nevertheless, at no point did I consider the option of abandoning ship.