Italian poet Daniele Mencarelli’s debut novel – first published in Italy in 2018 and now here – was inspired by his own experiences. It’s 1999, and the protagonist, Daniele, is a 25-year-old poet who lives with his parents. He is dealing with “an invisible disease affecting his brain, or heart, or all the blood flowing through his body”. The doctors are defeated by Dan’s mental pain, referring to his condition variously as: “Manic depressive. Borderline. Personality disorder. Generalised anxiety disorder.” Until the age of 20, Dan numbed himself with drugs, but when his friends realised that “my pleasure concealed a homicidal intent, complete loneliness set in”.
In his second novel in Italian, Everything Calls for Salvation (published in Wendy Wheatley’s English translation in 2022 and adapted into a Netflix series), Mencarelli went further back to the week in 1994 he spent in a psychiatric ward. In The House of Gazes, also a work of autofiction (deftly translated by Octavian MacEwen), Dan has quit cocaine, but relies on alcohol for “sweeping away the sharp edges that wound me”. Beset by violent outbursts and tremors, he repeatedly crashes his car when drunk or gets into fights.
In a bid to pull himself out of this self-destructive spiral, Dan lands a job as a janitor at a children’s hospital in Rome, where he is surrounded by sick kids, many of them terminally ill. He comes to see the hospital as “the house of gazes”, because he has to avert his gaze from the horror of seeing a child in pain or, worse, dead.
Like Everything Calls…, The House of Gazes explores the lives of marginalised people – this time Dan’s fellow workers. It’s a slow-burn tale, but Mencarelli’s message of hope is immensely rewarding. Using simple prose with an occasional lyrical flourish, the author describes how compassion for others helps his troubled protagonist confront his own vulnerabilities. Bearing witness through poetry proves Dan’s liberation. By the end, he wants to remember everything.
The House of Gazes by Daniele Mencarelli (translated by Octavian MacEwen) is published by Europa Editions (£14.99). To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply
