Dispute Over a Very Italian Piglet - Paperback

by Amara Lakhous (Author)

An Italian journalist gets wrapped up in the criminality and cultural controversies of modern Turin in this "very funny" satirical novel (The New York Times).

It's October 2006. The northern Italian town of Turin has been rocked by a series of murders involving Albanians and Romanians, and journalist Enzo Lagan is determined to get to the bottom of the crime wave--even if he must invent a few sources to do so. But first he's been conscripted to mediate the issue of a pig running loose in a mosque.Gino the pig belongs to Enzo's Nigerian immigrant neighbor, Joseph. The Muslim community wants Gino killed, an animal rights group wants him saved, and Joseph is pleading his pig's innocence. As Enzo navigates various calamities large and small, he scrambles to keep track of his lies even as he uncovers some uncomfortable truths about contemporary, multicultural Italy.

"This very funny novel examines a town's heightened ignorance and hostility toward foreigners, and what it means to be a "true" Italian, even if the native in question is a small pig."--The New York Times

Author Biography

Amara Lakhous was born in Algiers in 1970. He has a degree in philosophy from the University of Algiers and another in cultural anthropology from the University la Sapienza, Rome. Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio (Europa Editions, 2008) was awarded Italy's prestigious Flaiano prize and was described by the Seattle Times as a "wonderfully offbeat novel."