JUM FATTO DI BUIO, LE STORIE DI OLGA DI CARTA / Elisabetta Gnone

Jum Fatto di Buio Le Storie di Olga di Carta di Elisabetta Gnone (2015)

A book for children who feel lonely, and feel an emptiness inside that frightens them. The stories told by Papermade Olga - a little girl as thin as a sheet of paper, like the pages of a book of stories - help them find their lost bearings and the meaning of life. They make us smile again. They comfort and heal us. They save us.

"Doesn't it remind you of someone, this emptiness?" asked Olga without stopping. Valdo did not answer, but the girl knew that her friend had understood: neither of them would ever forget Jum, because when you know Jum in the dark, you never forget him. (...)

"You once confided in me that you knew a story about loneliness. Do you remember? Oh dear Olga, one of your beautiful stories, now, to send away this sadness, that I am!" (...)

"Oh, but then...' Olga hesitated: 'Well, I have to tell you that the story I had in mind is not very funny'.(...)

"The main character's name is Jum, and he's not exactly a happy guy. To begin with, he walks dragging his weight, slow and squishy..." (...)

"His voice is the echo of a deep ravine, carrying cruel words. Although inaudible to the human ear, anguish and dismay accompany them, assailing the victim for whom they are intended: "Cry! Desperate!"(...)

"It drinks despair and knows no pity" (...)

"When someone we love, or something we care about, goes away and never comes back, or is lost forever, a big empty space is created inside us, and that empty space is as dark as the bottom of a well. And it is icy. And sometimes it is so vast that it seems as if we are only made of a cold, empty darkness. But it's not really like that, is it? It seems that way at the time, because we are desperate. But if you look closely, we're still made of flesh and bone and all that. Jum, on the other hand, is only made of that darkness. Of emptiness!" (...)

"Jum feeds on tears!" (...)

"Jum flees smiles, like a vampire flees the first rays of light. Smiles cause him pain, hurt him, pierce him, melt him like snow in the sun. As soon as a person smiles, Jum runs away fast (...)

A sad child who suddenly bursts out laughing, sometimes children do that, is the worst danger Jum can run. That's a good thing to know, isn't it?"