I would like to say up front, it was a pleasure to read a book set in Rome and Italy that actually told a story and didn't resemble a densely packed tourist brochure. However, if you are looking for a story full of gritty realism and a healthy dose of cynicism, step away, look elsewhere. If on the other hand, you are looking for many different shades of whimsy from unrestrained to selfish to delightful and blind, go right ahead and dive in. It was engagingly infuriating in places; I wanted to shake Lucio at times. His days were slipping away from him and before I knew it he only had twenty to go. But I guess that is what life is like, it carries on regardless. I also felt that while he almost got it, that his death wasn't just about him, he never completely got it. However his determination to die the death he wanted without any consultation with significant others in his life was an interesting counterpoint to his discovery that his life hadn't gone according to his laid out plan. In this way the book very gently asks the reader questions about living and dying. While the book wasn't perfect, it avoided being maudlin and paralysed by grief, probably because of its sole focus on Lucio's perspective of his journey, a feature which some readers may consider a gaping hole in the story. Probably the most important lesson to be distilled from the novel is to avoid being caught out cheating on your spouse just before you get diagnosed with cancer, you may only have 100 days to make it right.
