La chiave a stella

The Wrench, published in the U.S. under the title of The Monkey's Wrench, is a novel by Primo Levi that takes the form a collection of interconnected stories exchanged between the two main characters. It is similar in form to his collection of connected memoir stories, The Periodic Table. First published as La Chiave a Stella by Einaudi in 1978, the book was written after Levi had retired from the family paint business SIVA. It takes the form of an interview by a chemist of a rigger. They are both working in a remote work camp where there is little to do in the evenings except tell stories. The scene is loosely based upon Togliattigrad, the Fiat camp set up in Russia to build a car factory. The rigger is Libertino Faussone and the chemist is clearly autobiographical.