This is a great book, fun and full of significance. I can still see the main character riding his bike "Bice" and feel his loneliness. Very ironic the way in which the author describe everyday life: you will love it!

The work has its own narrative frame, i. e. people in a bar under the sea tell stories to each other. One may imagine the part given to the "marvellous", to the fairy-like genders. But, more than this, Stefano Benni is excellent in both the most crazy humour, based on exaggerations, and in the almost "romantic-like" poetry. This book mixes, in an harmonious way, both sides of this Italian writer. The tales told in the book belong to tender, nice stories (the extraterrester being, visiting Earth) or to funny sketches (the devil in a luxury restaurant). The work has its own narrative frame, i. e. people in a bar under the sea tell stories to each other.

It's one of the book I prefer. There are many stories, all
told in a bar under the sea. Very funny, a lot of poetry,
in the manner of Benni.

Stefano Benni's books have brought by a significant change in the tendencies of italian fiction in the last 20 years. He has pubblished many novels, short stories, poems, theatre pieces etc. Sadly, "Terra" is probably his worst book, and this according to many. His best novels present an incredible originality, both in linguistic form (following a tradition spanning from Gadda onwards) and in contents, with humorous pieces but also moral instances of great depth. Benni represents without doubt one of the best italian writers of the last years, and he must be by no means mistaken for a cheap satiric sf-writer. Other (better) novels I can suggest are: "Comici spaventati guerrieri", "La compagnia dei celestini", "Elianto", plus the short stories "Bar Sport" and "L'ultima lacrima".

I read this book when I was fifteen back in the 80's. I can still remember many of the vivid images and characters from this amazingly funny and wildly eccentric book. Dark technodromes, talking alligators, and video games that kill if you lose. And a terrific story to boot. I can't wait for the re-release!

If you liked D. Adams trilogy 'Don't panic', you should read this book. The author has extraordinary creativity and sense of humour. He gives us a scenario where after 3 nuclear wars the Earth enters another Ice Age and energy is the big problem for the people. And as they search for a solution, you get to know all the strange beings in the Galaxy. If you like science fiction that is also very funny, don't miss this book. It is about time people decided to translate it into English.

Stefano Benni wrote this book about twenty years after his first "Bar Sport" novel, actualizing a work written in the early 70's. Gee, how the world changed ! Yet Benni shows it in an acute way, describing the bars and what you find in them: grandfathers playing videogames, cellular phones and people addicted to them, poetry about lovers and musicians, and always the famous stinking "Luisona" pastry, which is so old that it shows the weather measuring the wetness of the air. So - Benni mixes his two strenghts: tender poetry of the modern ages and hard-blowing humour based on exaggerations and strange situations. Recommendable!