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From the author of Heaven and Earth, a searing novel of the journey from youth into manhood A heartrending, at times darkly comic but ultimately redemptive novel, Paolo Giordano’s The Human Body is an exploration of brotherhood and family, of modern war and the wars we wage within ourselves. It is a novel that reminds us of what it means to be human.A platoon of young men and a single woman leave Italy for one of the most dangerous places on earth. At their forward operating base in Afghanistan—an exposed sandpit scorched by inescapable sunlight and mortar fire—this band of inexperienced soldiers navigates the irreversible journey from youth to adulthood. But when a much-debated mission goes devastatingly awry, their lives are changed in an instant. And on their return home, they will confront the most difficult challenge of all: to create a life worth living.
Right before the prologue, Paolo Giordano provides a helpful list of characters from the seventh alpine regiment and the third platoon. He needn't have taken the trouble. The characters in The Human Body are so intricately rendered that each of them is impossible to forget.There's medical officer Egirto who has willfully exchanged the war zone at home for the war zone overseas. Marshal and troup leader Antonio Rene, a male prostitute who has just learned that he is to become a father. Corporate Marshal Roberto Ietri, a wet-behind-the-ears 20 year old virgin, for whom everything is new and interesting. Senior corporal Major Francesco Caderna, a brusque bully who singles out one unfortunate soldier for his cruel pranks. And there's First Corporal Major Angelo Torsu, who falls seriously ill after food poisoning and spends his spare time online, trying to connect to a virtual "sweetheart."These are just some of the characters that populate The Human Body, and if they sound one-dimensional or stereotypical, that is far from the truth. Each is fleshed out with subtle brushstrokes and yet given his (or in a few cases, her) own individuality.For readers looking for a "war book", with details of battle and wins and losses, they won't find it here. Although the background is Afghanistan, there is very little action depicted. As readers, we know from the prologue that there will be one ill-fated mission and that some will live and some will die. But even that engagement is narrated from the internal lives of the characters more than the action outside.Ultimately, we begin to care greatly about these imperfect characters, placed in a heinous pattern of waiting, and the struggles they embody: what they've left behind, what they're experiencing, and what they are destined to endure. The war zone itself serves as a catalyst for helping each of these men - and women - realize who they are and the necessity of eventual transformation and connection.Beautifully translated by Anne Milano Appel, the book is particularly strong in its details: for example, right before disaster, a teeming herd of red sheep overcomes the convoy. These images are powerful and disturbing. Heartrending, insightful and brimming with pathos, The Human Body is an outstanding character study.
