Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio: A Novel

By Amara Lakhous and Ann Goldstein

The immigrant tenants of a building in Rome offer skewed accounts of a murder in this prize-winning satire by the Algerian-born Italian author (Publishers Weekly).

Piazza Vittorio is home to a polyglot community of immigrants who have come to Rome from all over the world. But when a tenant is murdered in the building’s elevator, the delicate balance is thrown into disarray. As each of the victim’s neighbors is questioned by the police, readers are offered an all-access pass into the most colorful neighborhood in contemporary Rome.

With language as colorful as the neighborhood it describes, each character takes his or her turn “giving evidence.” Their various stories reveal much about the drama of racial identity and the anxieties of a life spent on society’s margins, but also bring to life the hilarious imbroglios of this melting pot Italian culture.

“Their frequently wild testimony teases out intriguing psychological and social insight alongside a playful whodunit plot.” —Publishers Weekly

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Sep 30, 2008
• ISBN: 9781609450434

Amara Lakhous

Amara Lakhous was born in Algiers in 1970. He has a degree in philosophy from the University of Algiers and another in cultural anthropology from the University la Sapienza, Rome. He recently completed a Ph.D. thesis entitled “Living Islam as a Minority.” His first novel, Le cimici e il pirata (Bedbugs and the Pirate), was published in 1999. Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio, winner of Italy’s prestigious Flaiano prize, is his second novel. He currently resides in New York.

Book preview

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Reviews for Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio

[diefledermaus · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Funny and entertaining, if slight and at times overdone. The book is told from multiple viewpoints – each person has a section where they describe their relationship to the helpful but enigmatic Amedeo, who has been accused of murder. Amedeo’s entries relating to the person who has just narrated follow. A disliked resident has been killed in the elevator of an apartment building at the Piazza Vittorio and a number of residents, neighbors and employees are interviewed. Many of those interviewed are immigrants – some from different countries, others from different parts of Italy. The confusion over the origin of several of the narrators is a funny running joke and it was interesting to see the variety of attitudes towards all kinds of immigrants. For example, the Milanese professor is scornful of Rome as well as anyone from the south of Italy while others have more generalized xenophobia towards non-Italians. However, many of the characterizations are over-the-top (one resident accuses the Chinese of stealing her dog and suggests the UN should declare war on China) and the revelations of Amedeo’s background are somewhat anticlimactic. Still, an interesting and fast read.

[donato_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Three stars is too much, but I'm feeling generous today. This is an entertainment that yes, made me laugh, but it's just too easy to caricature stupidity (even if the exaggerations are all too sad but true).It's about the immigrant experience in Rome, which could be similar to my own experience, though not really. Here's a passage that I found true:"Questa città ha qualcosa di strano. È molto difficile andarsene. Forse l'acqua delle sue fontane si è mescolata con una sostanza particolare che ha origini stregonesche." "There's something strange about this city. It's very difficult to leave. Maybe the water of its fountains got mixed with a peculiar substance that has magical (witchy) origins." [my translation:]Rome IS magical and witchy.......

[horomnizon · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Absolutely a masterpiece. I couldn't put it down. And not just a good read, but the issues it brings to mind concerning immigration and the relationship of various cultures was sprinkled with humor. This should be required reading for anybody studying world cultures or sociology. At first the characters can be a little confusing, but it is an enjoyable book. The way these people see each other - how they do not bother to learn the truth about each other - yet they all love the one character because of his honesty. However, he has helped them without ever revealing much about himself - a hidden past that none of them even want to hear about. He helps these immigrants to Rome (whether they are from outside the country or just another part of Italy) to live amongst each other, and they wholeheartedly believe he is a native.....but they don't know everything.

[richardderus · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Rating: 3.75* of fiveThe Book Description: A compelling mix of social satire and murder mystery.A small culturally mixed community living in an apartment building in the center of Rome is thrown into disarray when one of the neighbors is murdered. An investigation ensues and as each of the victim's neighbors is questioned, the reader is offered an all-access pass into the most colorful neighborhood in contemporary Rome. Each character takes his or her turn center-stage, giving evidence, recounting his or her story--the dramas of racial identity, the anxieties and misunderstandings born of a life spent on society's margins, the daily humiliations provoked by mainstream culture's fears and indifference, preconceptions and insensitivity. What emerges is a moving story that is common to us all, whether we live in Italy or Los Angeles.This novel is animated by a style that is as colorful as the neighborhood it describes and is characterized by seemingly effortless equipoise that borrows from the cinematic tradition of the Commedia all'Italiana as exemplified by directors such as Federico Fellini.At the heart of this bittersweet comedy told with affection and sensitivity is a social reality that we often tend to ignore and an anthropological analysis, refreshing in its generosity, that cannot fail to fascinate. My Review: Reading that book description isn't necessarily helpful. Social satire plus murder mystery, to most book-readin' Murrikins, is gonna call forth the specter of Murder by Death. You are not in for a satire like that. You are in for a very sophisticated and layered short novel in which a murder is committed, but frankly no one really cares who did it because it needed doing, and the perp the police have identified is a community pillar. No one believes Amedeo committed this murder, which no one calls a crime.Amedeo steps out of the stories of ten people who all live in a small apartment building on Rome's tatty side, on the Piazza Vittorio. All ten people are displaced, not Roman, and all are made to feel more alien than guest by Rome and its Romans. Amedeo comes to the rescue of each person here, in ways practical and spiritual. He's a fixer, a born organizer, he spends his time on this earth open to and listening for the truths under the stories his neighbors tell, the truths under the facts of Rome and Italian society, the truths that not very many people will bother to learn or, quite possibly, ever realize are there.So how can the police suspect this wonderful, soothing, special man of MURDER?! Because he, like everyone else, fought with the shit who got murdered? No...because he has disappeared. Not for the first time in his life. He has vanished, and in police work, that's as good as a confession. The novel is told in the interviews the police take with all the residents of Amedeo's building.Interspersed with these interviews are wails, the first-person accounts of Amedeo himself. They're called wails because Amedeo, né Ahmed Salmi in Algiers, spends a lot of time locked in his wife's bathroom with a tape recorder, setting down his impressions of the people around him, and vocalizing in that uniquely Arab way...the ululating wail, used for joy, for mourning, for any access of emotion that words can't encompass. It's a wonderful way to let us into the experience of being alive in the skin of a force of nature. We're inside Amedeo, Ahmed, we're privileged to be the unseen auditors of the story of his world. His private world. We have no sense whatever of his work, his living...he remains in a tight little box, as do all the characters, one that focuses on someone we don't meet or hear from or, frankly, care about. The victim is not the point. The murderer didn't commit a crime so much as perform clean-up on aisle two. The more we hear about him, the less we care that he's dead. It works well as a narrative technique to emphasize the almost miraculous nature of listening, and its almost total lack in the modern world.So why 3.75 stars, when all of the above sounds like such praise? Because the Italian reviews mention an exuberance of language, a gonzo balls-out feeling that the text gives. In Italian. The translation is like the book description above, not uninteresting but nobody's idea of gonzo or balls-out writing. It's a translation. It feels like a translation. It's never going to convey the sense that the original can, of different regional voices, of different classes and different kind of Italian, because American English isn't that kind of language and American culture doesn't, at least at the level of culture where one finds readers of translated novels, like “dialect writing” because it's not Nice.We lose. I want to read this book in Italian now. It's bound to be more fun. The translation is a good book. The original, I will bet, is a fantastic one.*sigh*

[gbelik_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This little book about the residents of an Italian apartment building was a delight. The societal clash of long time residents and new immigrants in Italy in general is reflected in the conflicts the residents of one building have about the elevator in their building. Masterful.

[lynnb_64 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"The Gladiator", an unpopular tenant in a Rome apartment building, is found murdered in the elevator. The most popular tenant, Amedeo is missing and is presumed to be the murderer. Through the eyes of nine other tenants, and the police inspector, we learn that Amedeo was always helping the others...with immigration, employment, and other issues large and small. As each tenant speaks, we learn about racism and anti-immigrant sentiment in modern-day Italy. No one really knows each other, or tries to. It is a sad commentary on attitudes about "others" who are different and "don't belong here". And Amedeo, beloved for his honesty, is found to be not at all what everyone thought he was. I only wish there had been more subtlety in the views of the other tenants. A "clash of civilizations", to me, spoke of differing perspectives and viewpoints, but the only issue at play was immigration. A big enough issue to be sure, but surely not the only pressure point among such a diverse group.

[ccayne_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved it - loved the format of each suspect in the Gladiator's murder getting a voice. I loved the diversity of the characters with the only unifying factor, their love of Amedeo, a powerful yet shadow-like figure. The action, such as it is, unfolds slowly - great showing of how people become "others". Lakhouse gently illuminates how these perceptions arise and just how superficial they are but also how powerful. Great characters, sly humor and social relevance.

[carolynschroeder · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I generally perk up when I find anything from Europa Editions and this little gem was no exception. This really could have taken place at an apartment building in most U.S. cities as well, as the themes of prejudice, assumptions based on race, country of origin, etc., abound here as well. This book is comprised of a bunch of small "interviews" of the residents of an apartment building near the Piazza Vittorio in Rome, reflecting on the murder of a thug-like tennant known as "The Gladiator." The residents are from as far flung places as Bangladesh and Peru to the Netherlands, each one quirkier than the last. However, they all agree on one thing, they LOVE Amedeo, the man seemingly accused of the murder (who they all erroneously believed was Roman and in fact, is an immigrant). I flew through the book and got quickly engaged in each person's "truth." While basically satire and a bumbling "murder mystery" of sorts, underlying it all is basic human nature, both the bad (racism and fear of those different) to the good (fascinating immigrant stories and how if we just take a moment, the common threads that bind us has humans become evident - and how misunderstandings are probably responsible for most of the world's ills). Having travelled to Rome, I loved the "Roman-ness" of it, but even more, I just enjoyed reading about the people. The murder mystery part is silly and predictable, but that said, this is a fun one. I highly recommend it for something a bit off the beaten path.

[lisamorr · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a lovely little book! Taking place in Rome, more specifically at an apartment complex near the Piazza Vittorio. The Gladiator has been killed and Amedeo has disappeared, casting suspicion on him. The book is written in a series of interviews with all of the people that knew Amedeo, each one proclaiming that he couldn't be the killer, interspersed with some random thoughts recorded by Amedeo. The result is a wonderful, quirky book that highlights many different thoughts about Italy's immigrants.

[tadad_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This novel by Algerian-born Lakhous definitely falls into the category of a Good Find. The quirky title and interesting cover caught my eye in the library. Sitting down to try it, I ended up reading it cover to cover in one shot. It's not long, but it's definitely entertaining.The book is one part mystery and two parts commentary on the immigrant experience. Lorenzo Manfredini has been found murdered in the elevator of an apartment building in Rome where he lived. Amedeo, another resident, disappeared at about the same time. Further, the police have just discovered that Amedeo, though speaking flawless Italian and knowing Rome better than most residents, is actually an immigrant.From this starting point, Lakhous has ten other residents and the police inspector each speak for a chapter, providing their perceptions of Amedeo. They all, except the last, admire or love him and are firm in their convictions that he simply cannot be the culprit. However, the revelation of his foreign status leads each to wander off into their own thoughts on immigrants: ranging from those who are also immigrants struggling with Italy, through Italians who resent the presence of foreigners, to those who view even those from a different region of Italy as less civilized. Interspersed with each of these voices is Amedeo, commenting on the person who just spoke, explaining them more fully, pointing out their prejudices, valuing them.The book is laugh-out-loud funny at some points, but there is always an undercurrent of seriousness, of somber comment on what it means to be an immigrant. There is also observation on the blindness of prejudice and stereotyping.A quick read that will certainly repay the time—a strong recommendation.

[ficusfan · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a very interesting, sad, and funny book. I saw it in the store and was intrigued by the cover.It is set in modern day Rome, and deals with a group of residents in one apartment building in Piazza Vittorio. A resident has been killed and another has disappeared. There is only one 'Roman' among the residents, and the rest are foreigners both immigrants and illegals. There are several other Italians from different cities/regions, but they too are considered outsiders by the Romans, and they also consider themselves as 'others'.The book is short and the structure has each of 10 residents telling their story about the killing and the disappearance. While talking about the incidents, they of course tell their own story, and express their attitudes, experiences, hopes, goals and disappointments. They talk about discrimination, and being hurt, yet they in turn disparage others in certain groups that they think are the root of problems.Each resident chapter is followed by a chapter from the resident who has disappeared. He talks about his experience with the resident, and about himself. The police have determined that the man who disappeared is not really Italian, but an immigrant. Because he argued with the dead resident, is an immigrant, and missing the police also consider him the killer - though there is no evidence.The other residents are all shocked that the disappeared man is not Italian or Roman. Because they all thought he was, and because he was so kind and helpful, he alone crosses the barriers of ethnicity.The final chapter is of the policeman who is working on the case. It provides a wrap up, and 2 endings.I liked the writing, the story was in turns funny and sad, because of the prejudice that was rampant. The characters were interesting, as was the structure of the story.