Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

We are in Liguria, a rugged region of Italy overlooking the Mediterranean coast. We follow the daily life of a band of partisans coming up against the fascists and the Germans. Our resistance fighters are not the thunderbolts of war; it is a heterogeneous collection of individuals representing the scum of the armed struggle, of all those who are hardly considering reliable and not very seasoned, damaging the prestige of the resistance. So, we cannot say they are on the operations' front line. There are shots exchanges at the novel's end but a respectable distance from our calamitous mavericks. They spend most of their time daydreaming and exchanging what little political ideology they have mastered, staying by the fireside to listen to the central character singing and throwing things up. Paradoxically, the only figure that floats in this cluster of failures is a young boy. Pino managed to mow down the p38 of a German naval soldier, although the latter had an intimate relationship with Pino's big sister; you have to put turnips in the soup. He hid it in a place known only to him where spider nests abound. The kid does not lack resources; the kid is resourceful, and being able to mingle with adults makes him proud. However, he has no illusions about the intrinsic value of his elders, and his greatest delight is to put them in a box at a distance.
The Spider's Nest Trail is Italo Calvino's first novel. It's a classically crafted story with an endearing kid. Nothing, however, appears from the brilliant Italian's future exercises of styles and literary machine. That's a work for fans.