Tabù

Taboo is a metafictional novel which narrates the ordeal of a total newcomer into the wild world of publishing. Manrico Fabris, a high school teacher in his late thirties, bachelor, tall, thin and somehow bumbling has written his first novel. It’s not exactly an autobiographic tale and yet it echoes many a juvenile experience of the author. It tells, with a soft style, about the adolescence turmoil of the first-person narrative caused by a young uninhibited lady who despises the use of underpants. Although Manrico finds a publisher which might, strangely enough, print his book at no charge, he has to undergo the severe rules of the publishing business. Mr. Fassone, head of the publishing company, asks Manrico to change the style of his novel, making it more appealing for readers seeking for hard sex and blood. Manrico struggles between his self-esteem and his desire of seeing his first book printed, an unexpected and difficult love for Michela, the deep ignorance of his pupils at school and the wise suggestions of his friend Giovanni, the guru of the “spritz”. In the end he bends his back and does as the publishes asks. The ending is unorthodox as quite the whole novel is. Light, soft, ironic Taboo is the book for all and guarantees a few hours of pleasant reading.