Atmospheric and summery. Like Midnight in Paris, but coming of age and without the whimsy. Hints of Call Me By Your Name. All in all my kind of punch you in the gut short little philosophical novel.

Just under 200 pages, this is a short coming-of-age novel about a father and son who spend two sleepless nights together. The two have a strained relationship, but while on this journey together they are forced to confront the distance between them.

This is a quiet little book with a meaningful story. A boy on the cusp of manhood spends an unexpectedly confined, sleepless two days with his father. In the quiet of the nights spent awake, the son asks questions that he would never have asked in their normal lives, and the father tells his son about his life, his hopes, his dreams. I admired Carofiglio’s ability to inhabit the minds of both the teen and the middle-aged man with empathy and honesty.

Favorite quote: "All teenagers suffer from the same schizophrenia. They do all they can to be the same and dream of being different.”

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Here is a story of a son spending forty-eight hours with a father he doesn't know very well. Within that simple framework of a story, so much happens. There is an absolute clarity of voice in this novel that reminds me of Javier Marias. The words are transparent, like a stream of glacial water--it's a clarity that makes you think you can see right through the words--but then you remember how many colors there are to see in pure running water. The sentence structure is simple. The paragraphs are short. The tone is a little cool and a little melancholy and a little distant--and yet how powerfully this novel affected me, by the end. The accumulation of precise observed detail was a delight to read. The emotional resonances of the characters had the truth of autobiography.

Much thanks to HarperVia for bringing me this novel in English, and for providing me with a review copy. HarperVia is rapidly becoming one of my favorite imprints.

“Two nights without sleep weaken you, slow down your reflexes, blur your vision, but they give you a very subtle, precise sense of what really matters.”

THREE O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING is a coming-of-age story about a father and son who, for unexpected reasons, must stay awake for two entire days. they spend the days and nights walking the streets of Marseilles, talking, connecting, and getting to know each other in ways they never had before. it’s a short novel, translated from Italian, that shows the power of intimate conversations.

Gianrico Carofiglio’s novel Three O’Clock In The Morning is a coming-of-age novel about Italian high school senior Antonio and his father. The English translation will be released on March 16, 2021. I received an advance copy from @harperviabooks in exchange for my honest review of this work.

Three O’Clock In The Morning tells the story of Antonio, a high school senior all but estranged from his father since his parents’ separation in his adolescence. Needing to fill 48 sleepless hours together in Marseille, they get to know both each other and themselves.

A copy of Three O’Clock In The Morning unexpectedly arrived in my mailbox - a perk of working at a bookstore. I needed “a translated book” for my 2021 Book Bingo card and couldn’t resist the cover description. What a lovely book! I wasn’t sure a father & son bonding story would be up my alley, but I truly enjoyed this so much. Comparisons to Before Sunrise aren’t so far off base, which was a welcome feeling. I was so engrossed in subjects I’d normally pay no attention to - just the perfect eavesdropping experience. I recommend reading as much of it as you can in one sitting - or maybe I just couldn’t put it down.

4/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A beautiful story of father and son, told over two long days and nights. This is written with such a delicate hand that it's bordering on poetry. A MUST read for any father, son, daughter and mother.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review.

*I was sent a free ARC of this book by HarperVia in exchange for an honest review*

Translated from the original Italian, Carofiglio’s coming-of-age novel “Three O’Clock in the Morning” follows Antonio, an Italian teenager who suffers from seizures, and his father, who have travelled to Marseilles for a medical appointment. Instructed by his doctor to stay up all night, Antonio and his father explore the city and their relationship as they traverse coffee shops and bars, beaches and parties, and explore innocence and the loss thereof.

This was an overall lackluster read that skewed into outright distasteful at the end. I am a fan of slice-of-life stories, but this one lacked any meaningful conflict or dramatic tension to make it very interesting. I’m unsure of what the real stakes of the story were - it’s set up such that Antonio’s future health is at risk, but there’s little gravity given to his experience with epilepsy, and his condition is well controlled with medication. Chronic illness is a serious issue and I don’t think this story gave it the weight it needed to propel the plot along. I generally liked the prose, and unlike some commenters, I can forgive the weird sex store moment. A few exchanges between Antonio and his father were really moving and meaningful, particularly the revelations about the parents’ relationship.

What I CANNOT forgive is the events that take place at the party scene toward the end, and the way this event is brushed off and overlooked, even romanticized in the epilogue. I was primed to give this story three stars but had to knock it down to two at this point.

If you’re searching for a coming of age narrative that explores father/son relationships there are much better choices out there. Skip this one.

Such a beautiful, simple story of a boy on the cusp of manhood being gifted an unexpected trip to reconnect with his father, who he has felt quite distant from physically and emotionally since his parents' divorce. Their time together ends up almost like a new lease on life for both of them and brings about an exploration on what is really important. Very well written and immediately endearing.

A coming-of-age, literary novel about a young Italian teen who discovers more about himself and his estranged father while both are on a trip to a clinic in Marseilles. Heartfelt story told in the teen's words. Very moving at times. Excellent writing.

"There are occasions when you need to talk, and you mustn’t take anything for granted. Then there are other occasions when you have to keep silent because there’s something intangible, something precious in the air, and your words might dispel it in an instant. These are two simple concepts. The hard part is to know when to apply one rule and when the other."

Loved this beautiful story of a father and son who spend two days awake in Marseilles because of a medical procedure and walk and talk and bond during that time. They talk, really talk, for the first time. The book is told from the son's perspective (he's a senior in high school) and the reader gets to experience both their dialogue and the son's inner thoughts.

"In other words, I again blended in with my contemporaries, while at the same time wanting to be very different from them. All teenagers suffer from the same schizophrenia. They do all they can to be the same and dream of being different."

They go through many different topics : family, life, career, choices, sex, and more. I often think about how we as children do not get to experience our parents as adults or even full humans really. They are always playing the role of "parent" in our life so it's hard to see them as humans with their own lives and regrets and choices and thoughts alongside that. In this story, the son is experiencing his dad as a human for that brief period.

“I don’t know. Maybe leaving something you care about in a place you don’t really want to leave is a way of staying connected to that place—of hoping to get back there. I don’t know.”

I loved so much of the dialogue, the son's thoughts, the quiet and deep and wise nature of this book. It was like a perfect movie. I was in Marseilles just a few years ago so I was also able to visualize some of the scenery and imagine them walking down the streets.

“Perfect comes from the Latin perficere, to do something completely. Imperfection, in the etymological sense, is that which isn’t complete. Incompleteness distinguishes jazz from any other kind of music. In classical music, for example, the score contains all the notes to be played. The performer reads it and plays the written notes, nothing less but also nothing more. His performance is all about the many different ways he can interpret those notes, but the notes are always the same. In jazz, the score is just the starting point.”

The blurb of this book likened it to the movie "Before Sunrise" and I think it was a perfectly apt comparison. I loved every moment I spent with this book.

With gratitude to netgalley and HarperVia for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

What in the hell was this???!!! I thought this was going to be a nice coming of age story and a nice literary fiction book. What kind of father brings their son to a porn store??? That is not good parenting!

Glad this book was short and liked the cover, but cannot recommend it. Was able to finish this one sitting. WASTE OF TIME and glad this was a free. I would not pay money for this and would be very upset if I had. Total garbage.

Thanks to Netgalley, Gianrico Carofiglio and Harper Via for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 3/16/21

I was really enjoying this book until the father and son visit a porn shop together. Creepy and disgusting!

Thoughtful, self-reflective, nostalgic and warm. I enjoyed the father-son dynamic, watching them learn about and connect with each other. Concise, sweet and endearing, the character development is strong for such a short novella, I just wish the prose was more aligned with the emotion.