'Sad, funny, wise and unblinkingly honest, this is truly wonderful.'
*
Daily Mail *
'Uh-oh, here comes another one of those colourful curmudgeons who drop pearls of senior wisdom on their way to a new lease on life. Cesare certainly fits the stereotype, but he's funny, interesting and grumpy enough to stay on the winning side of the formula.'
*
New York Times Book Review *
'Immensely charming... Uplifting and very much on the side of life.'
*
Mail on Sunday *
'Marone's characters, irreverent and absurd, embark on adventures they had ceased to allow themselves to imagine in this darkly comedic take on ageing.'
*
World Literature Today *
'An impressive literary feat...a charming tale of opportunities taken and missed.'
*
Reading Magazine *
'Lorenzo Marone is the new voice that literature needs.'
*
Corriere della Sera *
'Unforgettable...comical and cynical while remaining tender and dramatic.'
*
Corriere della Sera *
'The Temptation to be Happy is that very rare thing - a book that can make you both laugh and cry... Marone's undoubted skill [is] demonstrated in some beautiful lyrical passages.'
*
TripFiction *
'Poignant...[with] moments of touching eccentricity.'
*
bookoxygen *
'A wonderful novel about ageing - ironic and light-footed.'
*
Italien Magazin *
'Packed with dark humour, the writer's embodiment of a near-octogenarian is an impressive feat.'
*
Northern Echo *
'A charming tale.'
*
Daily Telegraph *
'A toast to real happiness!'
*
La Stampa *
'A book that touches the heart...wonderfully honest, ingenious, quick and tragic.'
*
Siegener Zeitung *
'This novel owes its success largely to Lorenzo Marone's wonderful character Cesare Annunziata, and to the funny and paradoxical fact that this is an excellent coming-of-age novel whose protagonist is over seventy years old.'
*
Il Mattino *
'Comic, ironic, sarcastic descriptions that will make you smile but will also make you take a deep look at life in old age.'
*
Wochenspiegel *
