The Eight Mountains, Paolo Cognetti
The Eight Mountains, Paolo Cognetti
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

The Eight Mountains

Author: Paolo Cognetti

Narrator: Jacques Roy

Unabridged: 6 hr 26 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/20/2018


Synopsis

*The book that inspired the film The Eight Mountains*

For fans of Elena Ferrante and Paulo Coelho comes a moving and elegant novel about the friendship between two young Italian boys from different backgrounds and how their connection evolves and challenges them throughout their lives.

“Few books have so accurately described the way stony heights can define one's sense of joy and rightness...an exquisite unfolding of the deep way humans may love one another” (Annie Proulx).

Pietro is a lonely boy living in Milan. With his parents becoming more distant each day, the only thing the family shares is their love for the mountains that surround Italy.

While on vacation at the foot of the Aosta Valley, Pietro meets Bruno, an adventurous, spirited local boy. Together they spend many summers exploring the mountains’ meadows and peaks and discover the similarities and differences in their lives, their backgrounds, and their futures. The two boys come to find the true meaning of friendship and camaraderie, even as their divergent paths in life—Bruno’s in the mountains, Pietro’s across the world—test the strength and meaning of their connection.

“A slim novel of startling expansion that subtly echoes its setting” (Vogue), The Eight Mountains is a lyrical coming-of-age story about the power of male friendships and the enduring bond between fathers and sons. “There are no more universal themes than those of the landscape, friendship, and becoming adults, and Cognetti’s writing becomes classical (and elegant) to best tell this story…a true novel by a great writer” (Rolling Stone Italia).

About Paolo Cognetti

Paolo Cognetti is an Italian writer, novelist, and editor from Milan. He divides his time between the city and his cabin in the Italian Alps. He is the author of The Wild Boy and The Eight Mountains, an international sensation that won  Italy's Strega Prize and the French Prix Médicis étranger.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Bart on February 13, 2018

Bovenop de stapel boeken die ik heel goed vind, liggen er een paar die nog bijzonderder zijn dan de andere heel goede boeken. Naar die boeken ben ik ook nog eens hevig blijven verlangen terwijl ik iets anders moest doen, zoals eten of de mailbox te lijf gaan. Vanochtend werd ik om halfzeven wakker. I......more

Goodreads review by Angela M on March 20, 2022

Quiet, introspective, first person narrative, things that I am always drawn to in a book, combined with beautiful writing that had me highlighting passages right from the start. This along with characters I cared about made for a five star book for me . The mountains, the Dolomites in northern Italy......more

Goodreads review by Jim on September 03, 2023

A great story of two boys, a city boy and a country boy, growing up in the dolomite mountains in northern Italy - the Italian Alps. This book won the 2017 Strega Prize, Italy’s highest literary honor. The city boy lives in Milan but spends summers with his parents in the mountains. They turn him loo......more

Goodreads review by Lea on January 15, 2022

“We believe that at the center of the earth there is a tremendously high mountain, Sumeru. Around Sumeru there are eight mountains and eight seas. This is the world for us.” A very subtle, quiet and meditative work of Italian contemporary fiction, The Eight Mountains won both Italy’s Premio Strega an......more

Goodreads review by stefano on November 14, 2019

Lamberto Dini è bruttissimo. Dice: sì, ma si veste bene. Porca puttana, brutto com’è ci mancherebbe altro che si vestisse male. Paolo Hendel Ognuno ha i maestri che si merita e io, sia detto senza falsa modestia, Paolo Hendel me lo merito tutto. Così, mentre leggevo Le otto montagne, riflettevo sul pe......more


Quotes

“A fine book, a rich, achingly painful story that is made for all of us who have ever felt a hunger for the mountains. Few books have so accurately described the way stony heights can define one's sense of joy and rightness. And it is an exquisite unfolding of the deep way humans may love one another.”