Me and You by Niccolo Ammaniti is a book I found in the library. It's pretty short (I'd actually call it a novella) and it got rave reviews, all of which say that Ammaniti is devastatingly talented. So I thought I'd read it and see what the fuss is about.
The story is about this kid named Lorenzo, a loner who has no real desire to connect with anyone, except for his mother, and perhaps his grandmother, who is very ill. Spring break is upon him, and he gets stuck in a lie, telling his mother he's been invited on a ski trip with some classmates. She's so excited he actually has friends that he can't break her heart and tell her the truth. Instead he hides out their cellar for a week, which has a bed and other creature comforts. Everything goes great until his drug-addict half sister shows up, and she's going through withdrawl. Lorenzon is forced to finally care for someone other than himself.
I did enjoy this book, but I had a problem with the ending. I shouldn't have been surprised, because Ammaniti even states in his novel that endings shouldn't matter so much. The middle is actually more important. True, but there were a lot of questions left unanswered, and I felt like it was a cop-out. Still, if you run across it at the library I'd give it a try. It won't take longer than an afternoon to read, which is why I wouldn't pay nine bucks for it.
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