If You Kept a Record of Sins Summary
Andrea Bajani

If You Kept a Record of Sins Overview

Andrea Bajani’s novel, If You Kept a Record of Sins (translated from the original Italian by Elizabeth Harris), is a young man’s account of visiting Romania for his mother’s funeral. It was first published in 2007 as Se consideri le colpe. The narrator, Lorenzo, intersperses his brooding narrative with childhood memories, and strikingly employs the first-person direct address throughout, thereby speaking to his mother after years of estrangement. Set over a few days in and around Bucharest, the novel features no dramatic events but deals richly with themes including death, humanity and the passing of time, as well as relationships both familial and international.