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Reviews and understatement
English and Italian reviewing cultures differ. English reviewers are known for understatement: «quietly devastating», «assured», «never less than intelligent» can be high praise, and a single «slightly» carries a lot of weight. Italian reviews, especially in the cultural pages of newspapers, can be more openly enthusiastic or more openly harsh, and are often longer and more essayistic. Translated fiction is reviewed less often than original fiction, and the translation itself is often mentioned in a single adjective — «fluent», «elegant», «invisible». A review that discusses the translator's choices in detail, as the first one here does, is a sign that the critic has read with care. The grammar of this lesson is the grammar of evaluation: adjectives like riuscito and convincente, attenuators like a tratti and leggermente, and framing phrases like tutto sommato, in un certo senso and diciamo che.