'Fil-Gżira Apatija u rakkonti skomdi oħra'

Author: Patrick Sammut

Publisher: Horizons Publications / 2025

Pages: 140

The title that was given to this collection of essays is the title of one of the essays and does not reflect the tenor of the book.

For neither do the essays as a whole reflect this negative comment on Malta's "apathetic" approach to things nor are the essays, as the sub-heading has it, "tales".

The author, who teaches at the De La Salle Sixth Form, was for many years the PRO of the Malta Poets' Association and the editor of Il-Gens' literary page.

He has also obtained a doctorate on Italian Contemporary Literature with a study on Elena.

So, the essays. These begin with a description of Cairo, not from a tourist's perspective, but as it appeared to an ordinary visitor.

The rest of the next 17 essays are difficult to disagree with, mostly dealing with Malta's degraded environment and the overwhelming construction that's causing most of the degradation.

Twice he tells us of a visit to Buskett but only to describe the degradation he found there.

In some of the essays the author harkens back to his childhood and the people who mattered to him then and the environment of his childhood now gone for ever.

He prefers to be left alone in a little room on the roof where the sounds of the street are muted.

And he rails against the enforced optimism forced on the people for political reasons.

The migrants flocking to Malta get a mention too, not in a condemnatory tone but rather one that is aware of the human dimension of the issue.

Reading the essays can be rather heavy going with the author's stream of conscience style. I wish more authors stick to a more classical approach to writing than this circular or rather haphazard throwing of sentences after each other.

And on reflection, I too at times find that what I've written could have been more objective and positive.