Daniele Mencarelli

Tutto chiede salvezza

La casa degli sguardi

WINNER OF THE 2020 YOUTH STREGA PRIZE From one of the most exciting voices in a new generation of Italian writers, a powerful and moving novel that explores both the darkest recesses and the most luminous regions of the human heart June 1994. Twenty-year-old Daniele wakes up in a hospital room, confused and surrounded by strangers. Slowly, memories of the previous night return to him: a spiral of anxiety and anger, an explosion of violence so intense that it almost inflicted irreparable damage to him and his family... To his horror, Daniele learns from the doctors that he's been sentenced to a week of mandatory treatment in a psychiatric ward. Writing with lucid realism and stunning emotional force, and drawing from his own personal experience of mental illness, Mencarelli chronicles Daniele's seven days in the hospital as he struggles to find a way out of the darkness. Daniele finds unexpected companions in his fellow patients--men who, like him, have felt the full brunt of life's pain. Together they will realize the hidden strength and value of their common fragility and of the boundless empathy they feel towards others. By focusing on some of the most marginalized people in our society, Mencarelli has written a heartbreaking and unforgettable novel that challenges our notion of normality and celebrates the salvific power of solidarity and vulnerability.

Everything Calls for Salvation

The critically acclaimed novel from the author of Everything Calls for Salvation, adapted into a Netflix Original series, is a powerful coming-of-age story about loss, identity, and rebirth
Daniele is a young poet plagued by an unknown darkness, "an invisible disease of the heart, or of the mind." He refuses to conform to society's expectations--finding a job, starting a family--yet he struggles to define a path of his own and find a sense of purpose in life.
 In a desperate attempt to pull himself out of a dangerous spiral of emptiness and self-destruction, Daniele accepts a job at a pediatric hospital in Rome, the Bambino Gesù, where he'll work with sick children, many of them terminally ill. In the "house of gazes," that is, the hospital, through his interactions with patients and co-workers, and forced to confront pain in some of its most heartbreaking forms, Daniele will slowly start to look at life with new eyes, and learn to accept it in all its brutality and beauty.
Writing with the evocative power and sharp focus of a poet, Mencarelli tells a raw and moving story of self-discovery, renewal, and liberation achieved through solidarity and compassion, a story closely inspired by the events of his own life.

The House of Gazes

NETFLIX SERIES TO BE RELEASED OCTOBER 2022 WINNER OF THE 2020 YOUTH STREGA PRIZE “Mencarelli writes with the grace and power of a poet. His words illuminate truth like a flash of lightning.”—Il Sole 24 Ore “Moving and engaging. This novel will stay with you.”—Goffredo Fofi, Internazionale “Extraordinary for its intensity and empathy.”—Radio Tre﻿ June 1994. Twenty-year-old Daniele wakes up in a hospital room surrounded by strangers. Slowly, memories of the previous night return to him: a spiral of anxiety and anger, an explosion of violence so intense that it almost inflicted irreparable damage to him and his family. To his horror, he learns that he’s been sentenced to a week of mandatory treatment in a psychiatric ward. Writing with lucid realism and stunning emotional force and drawing from his own personal experience of mental illness, Mencarelli chronicles seven days in the hospital as he struggles to find a way out of the darkness. Daniele finds unexpected companions in his fellow patients—men who, like him, have felt the full brunt of life’s pain. Together they will realise the hidden strength and value of their common fragility and the boundless empathy they feel towards others. By focusing on some of the most marginalized people in our society, Mencarelli has written a heart-breaking and unforgettable novel that challenges our notion of normality and celebrates the salvific power of solidarity and vulnerability.

Daniele es un joven poeta en profunda crisis, trastocado por una «enfermedad invisible» que le ha generado una fuerte dependencia del alcohol y ha arrastrado a su familia a habitar un infierno. Sin embargo, la oportunidad de un trabajo en el servicio de limpieza en un hospital pediátrico de Roma abrirá una perspectiva nueva en su vida. El hospital se convertirá para Daniele en una casa particular, en la que irá encontrando miradas que le herirán y le empujarán a plantearse preguntas incómodas sobre el sufrimiento y el dolor. Pero que también le brindarán respuestas. Con la precisión y la maestría propias del poeta, Daniele Mencarelli nos ofrece este impactante relato de tintes autobiográficos con el que transitar el portentoso camino de quien vuelve a nacer tras vivir inmerso en una espiral de soledad, abandono y oscuridad. «La belleza absoluta y la magia de la palabra escrita están en este libro». (Elena Giorgi, La lettrice geniale). «Mencarelli nos enseña, como solo puede hacerlo quien ha sido golpeado por la vida, qué difícil —pero qué necesario— es escribir la alegría, describir el propio renacer». (Davide Brullo, Il Giornale). «Cuando un poeta se pone a escribir una novela y tiene una historia impactante que contar, el resultado es una pequeña obra maestra». (Daria Bignardi, Vanity Fair).

Daniele Mencarelli

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