I'm Not Scared

By: Niccolò Ammaniti

Narrated by: Dennis Olsen

A widely acclaimed international best seller, I'm Not Scared combines a coming-of-age narrative with a satisfying and spine-tingling story of suspense.

A sweltering heat wave hits a tiny village in Southern Italy, sending the adults to seek shelter, while their children bicycle freely throughout the countryside, playing games and getting into trouble. When the gang find a dilapidated farmhouse, nine-year-old Michele Amitrano makes a discovery so momentous he dare not tell a soul. It is a secret that will force Michele to question everything and everyone around him.

An enthralling thriller, I'm Not Scared is also a devastatingly authentic portrayal of childhood and the tension when it must join the adult world.

©2001 Niccolò Ammaniti, 2001. English Translation Jonathan Hunt, 2003 (P)2017 Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Critic reviews

"There is horror and beauty so neatly juxtaposed and well-crafted that the effect is breath-taking." ( Vogue)

"An exquisite parable about the loss of innocence." ( The Daily Telegraph)

"Ammaniti’s prose is faultless from the first." ( The Independent on Sunday)

muy bien leido...

el narrador cambia las voces muy elocuentemente! me gusto como se expresa y como cambia sus exclamaciones!

transported to southern Italy

This b0ok pulled me in immediately with quick, terse, beautiful prose and a boy full of heart at its center. It is tightly paced and narrated perfectly because the young boy actually sounds like a boy and not an adult trying to sound like a boy. Mr Ammaniti painted the countryside of wheat fields that stretch across the horizon, 5 small homes nestled together and children racing each other across the fields on their bicycles. He built tension and fear and allowed me to mistrust the adults of the village along with Michele. And the book barrels forward with stronger reactions of anxiety as the pages turn all the way to the last one. It is not a hopeful book and doesn't end with all the frayed ends brought together, but that would have been the wrong choice. I was so shocked by the lack of resolution that I rewound my book and listened to the final two chapters again. Nothing changed. And although I wanted it to change for emotional reasons, this ending was the perfect ending.

Unabridged but Some Passages are Omitted

Story and narration were well done and immensely entertaining but not too happy certain passages from the book were omitted from the audio recording. To get the full story, you are going to have to listen along and do some of your own reading-like I did.