I'm Not Scared by Niccolo Ammaniti

For most of this book, I was completely creeped out. And disturbed. In a Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, why-can't-you-just-figure-out-what's-going-on kind of way. Then I remembered that I forgave first one, on the grounds that a little boy can't possibly guess the horrors that go on in the world around him. I suppose I need to apply the same logic to Niccolo Ammaniti's I'm Not Scared. Though for some reason I don't want to.

Childhood innocence is a strange thing. You explain everything you see in your world with familiar and comfortable arguments. Oh and your parents are infallible. You might not always think they're fair, but you don't even entertain the thought of them doing something truly horrible. This is what I'm Not Scared deals with and I admit that it does it well.

But it doesn't change the fact that I was creeped out. The book is worth reading, that's for sure, but be warned that it's not relaxing Sunday afternoon reading.

Challenges: Orbis Terrarum, 1% Well-Read Challenge, 2010 Countdown