"Like the Empty Sky" and the sacred story of motherly love.

For translator Bui Thi Thai Duong, "Like the Silence" is the work that took her the most time to read and translate. Because each page of Ada d'Adamo's book contains not only words, but also the pain, love, and helplessness of a mother facing illness and the limitations of time.

On the morning of May 8th, the seminar "Mother Melts into Child Like the Void" took place in a cozy setting in Hanoi , with the participation of numerous readers and the speaker - Ms. Bui Thi Thai Duong, M.A. - translator of Ada d'Adamo's book "Like the Void". She is a well-known Italian translator in Vietnam, notable for her Vietnamese translations of Gianni Rodari's works "Stories Told on the Telephone" (Favole al telefono); "20 Stories Plus One" (20 storie più uno) and the comic book series commemorating Rodari's 100th birthday. She is currently a lecturer in the Italian Department at Hanoi University.

Ada d'Adamo's novel , *The Silent Voice*, quickly touched the hearts of readers with its poignant authenticity and the rare, sacred bond of motherhood in adversity. The book has been genuinely received by readers worldwide , prompting profound dialogues about love, loss, and the meaning of life through a mother's perspective.

The seminar "Mother Dissolving into Child Like the Void" took place in Hanoi on the morning of May 8th.

During the discussion, Ms. Bui Thi Thai Duong, M.A., stated: "From the very first page, I felt this was an extremely difficult book to translate. The first chapter you read in the PDF version will also show the struggle of the translator into Vietnamese. For example, the word 'gravita' in Italian is a very easy-to-understand and easy-to-use word. It comes from 'gravet ,' meaning heavy, serious. It's an adjective, and that adjective is extremely fitting for her daughter's illness, an extremely serious disease."

In Italian, that expression sounds very natural. But translating it into Vietnamese is difficult because Vietnamese often uses the word "serious" to describe the severity of a medical condition. Therefore, trying to maintain the original nuance of the word required a lot of effort. You can see that struggle in the later part of the translation. Even just one paragraph was very challenging.

But then, as I read a little further, I realized Ada's story was incredibly authentic and captivating. It was so moving that I couldn't read it all in one night. I had to stop and read, because there were parts that were too emotional.

"This is the book that took me longer to read than any other work I've translated before. I read it many times, at different times. And even after finishing it, the feeling lingers for a long time. That's my initial feeling about this book."

"Like the Air" is the first and only book by Ada d'Adamo – born during her time in a sickbed, when her body was ravaged and wasting away, and when her time in this world was running out. The book is less than 200 pages long and has no thrilling plot or sensational events; it is simply the story of a mother writing to her daughter – Ada d'Adamo wrote "Like the Air" for Daria, a child born with a severe congenital brain defect, unable to speak, unable to care for herself, and unable to grow up in the way the world defines adulthood.

There's an unforgettable detail in the book: Ada observed Daria breathing. Breathing, something we do thousands of times a day unconsciously, now becomes an object of observation, evidence of life, the smallest yet most essential miracle. The title, "Like the Air," also stems from this. Air, breath, a presence so subtle it's invisible, yet without it, nothing can exist.

Source: https://phunuvietnam.vn/tua-thinh-khong-va-cau-chuyen-tinh-mau-tu-thieng-lieng-23826050813350353.htm