Description
Patrick Sammut belongs to the new generation of young writers and poets who have gradually and successfully managed to cross the all-important bridge connecting the earlier Sixties generation to their pre-World War II predecessors. His commitment to Maltese literature has seen him establishing himself as not only a respected writer and poet, but also as a top-class literary critic whose works have become standard reference to anyone seeking to study or further analyse the development of modern Maltese Literature by way of the various generations that have come up during the past half century.
These short stories continue to underline Sammut’s linguistic prowess even when set against a massive creative background. He has put together an anthology that both entices and entertains. He gives a scholarly touch to whatever he writes – the teacher in him? – but still somehow manages to steer clear from the overtly academic that sometimes can dampen or anchor an otherwise good work.
Charles Flores
Sammut’s stories are replete with characters that readers can relate to immediately. The imaginative is entwined with snapshots of daily life, resulting in an immediacy that reflects popular thought. Still, the author is not simply a transcriber, he’s very much involved in giving the narrative direction through the use of inspection, very often of social bent …
The inherent value of these short stories lies in their sociological value as a snapshot of life in the last decade of the 20th century seen through the eyes of a young writer who lambasts certain aspects of tradition on an island which defies intellectual progression so as to protect its static preferences. At the same time Sammut is seeking to preserve the individual stories of the elderly who will never make it to the history books.
Mario Azzopardi