Success and failure are a thread away from each other, but is happiness from success always guaranteed, while failure is necessarily a loss? This is the book "Number two" in one sentence ("Numero deux", the title in the original).
General information about the book: In 1999, auditions were held to find the leading actor to play the role of Harry Potter, a role that would make the winning boy the most famous man in the world. Hundreds of candidates participated in that audition, but in the end only two remained. This novel tells the story of the boy who was not chosen. The story is not based on true events, but combines the writer's imagination with facts from the casting process.
Martin Hilli is a ten-year-old little boy with an ordinary life. As much as the conditions where he lives after his parents' divorce can allow him. Almost by chance, while following his father to a film set, Martin catches the eye of a producer who is developing the first film of the Harry Potter saga. Stage by stage, the boy will pass hundreds of other candidates, until in the final there will be only two rivals. But the winner of the role will be the other boy. Thus, Martin will have all the hopes he had nurtured shattered and will henceforth be constantly compared to the omnipresent triumph of his rival.
How can he recover from this failure, when the adventures of the little wizard and their cinematic adaptations will achieve success after success? How will Martin live after what he calls the biggest failure of his life?
This entertaining and unusual new novel by David Foenkinos is not just the story of a failure. Martin almost made it, by a thread he didn't succeed and the second place is definitely the most unbearable. A melancholic fantasy runs through the entire novel, which manages to accurately and easily capture the haunting of a boy who is constantly faced with the comparison of what his life could have been.
David Foenkinos is known in Albania through his other books, published by Pegi, such as: "Delicatesa", "Charlota" and "Zigzage takimesh". In May 2014, he was present at the promotion of his first book published in Albania, "Delicacy". He is a famous French writer, director and screenwriter. He has been honored many times with various prizes, including Reanaudot and Goncourt des lycées for the novel "Charlotte".
