Italian Literature Book Group: The Silence of the Choir BY Mohamed Mbougar Sarr

Dante Italian Book Club: Winter-Spring 2025

Participation is open to all Dante members.  The book selections are mainly by Italian authors of any genre (of course, translated into English).  The group will meet once every 6 weeks, on Friday evening from 5-6:30 pm, in  private homes.  Our self directed group will be facilitated by two co-organizers (Genine & Carol). All 3 books are all available to order through Bookshop Santa Cruz or Thrift Books, taking 1-5 days to ship; digital versions of all three are available immediately through iBooks and probably Amazon, Kindle.

 📚 The May  Book Selection  — The Silence of the Choir  BY Mohamed Mbougar Sarr (Alison Anderson, translator)  A polyphonic tale of immigration and community.  Seventy-two “immigrants,” “refugees” or “migrants arrive in a small Sicilian town, where  they’re called the ragazzi, the “guys";  their arrival changes life for everybody.

A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

AN ECONOMIST BEST BOOK OF THE YEARA

NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR

A BOOK RIOT BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR 

FROM THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD-LONGLISTED AUTHOR OF THE MOST SECRET MEMORY OF MEN

Seventy-two men arrive in the middle of the Sicilian countryside. They are “immigrants,” “refugees” or “migrants.” But in Altino, they’re called the ragazzi, the “guys” that the Santa Marta Association have taken responsibility for. In this small Sicilian town, their arrival changes life for everybody.

While they wait to know their fate, the ragazzi encounter all kinds of people: a strange vicar who rewrites their pasts, a woman committed to ensuring them asylum, a man determined to fight against it, an older ragazzo who has become an interpreter, and a reclusive poet who no longer writes.

Each character in this moving and important saga is forced to reflect on what it means to encounter people they know nothing about. They watch as a situation unfolds over which they have little control or insight. A story told through a growing symphony of voices that ends only when one final voice brings silence to the choir.

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*the size of the group is limited to 10 members.  If you are not yet a paid member of Dante, sign-up here.  

Questions about Book Club? You can message Genine at geninescelfo@gmail.com