BOOK REVIEWS
FALL 2021
UNDER THE LIGHT OF THE ITALIAN MOON By Jennifer Anton
On the eve of World War I, Nina is just ten years old with an entire life ahead of her. She grows up in Fonzaso, a town in the Veneto region. And while much of Under the Light of the Italian Moon is set against the backdrop of Mussolini’s subsequent rise to power and the onset of World War II, the story focuses on themes that transcend any specific time period—themes such as childbirth and child loss, womanhood, and family.
“It came down to getting documents in order. Paperwork. How many fates lay on desks in office trays hoping to make it to the top of the pile before the decision-makers went home for dinner. Every minute lost to a toilet break or a long lunch meant another day a family stayed apart. Destinies decided in mundane pauses.”
Nina’s mother, Adelasia, works as a midwife, aiding pregnant women in the surrounding villages, and inspires Nina to follow in her footsteps. Meanwhile, the man that Nina marries, Pietro, leaves for America in search of opportunity. He finds this in the coal mines of Joliet, Illinois, and begins saving money to bring Nina and their children over. The novel vividly illustrates Mussolini’s rise, which initially comes with positive changes—such as domestic grain production, the building of the Autostrade, and programs for families and orphans. This, however, gradually gives way to changes that reflect a steady erosion of rights—such as taxes levied against unmarried men and the collection of gold wedding rings to help fund war in Africa. As the horrors of World War II mount, the novel steadily shines a spotlight on family, both in the struggle to survive and the struggle to build a better life. Nina endures these struggles in the only way a mother can and hopes that one day it will lead her and her children back to Pietro. Through Nina’s life, author Jennifer Anton captures the resilience of women in the face of tragedy and sorrow. FALL 2021
20
LAST SUMMER IN THE CITY
By Gianfranco Calligarich Last Summer in the City is an unromanticized and gritty novel in which the main character, Leo Gazzara, takes readers through his wayward summer of despair in Rome. Through Gazzara’s narration, Rome becomes a very humanized place, one that—like any city—is not perceived as being nearly as majestic when you live there. Through this, author Gianfranco Calligarich gives a very honest feel for the streets of Rome and daily life. Leo, who works for the newspaper Corriere dello Sport, weaves his Alfa Romeo through Rome as he tries to find himself and gain his footing in the world of adulthood.
It’s always the teeth that betray that a person was born poor, the teeth and the eyes, and Graziano had known a lot of hunger during the war. They’d had to operate on him twice before they’d discovered that what gave him those pains in his stomach was simply the memory of the hunger he’d experienced as a child. He pursues a summer love, Arianna, a character whose personality is charmingly reminiscent of Audrey Hepburn’s Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Together, they frequent many recognizable places—from Piazza Navona to Piazza di Spagna—as Arianna’s capriciousness constantly lures Leo in before casting him back out. While Leo can be despondent, aimless, and at times indulgent, he feels strikingly real, a character that is neither embellished nor glorified. It is in this vein that the overall mood and literary writing style of the novel bears a stark resemblance to John Fante’s Ask the Dust, a work which later greatly influenced Charles Bukowski. With main characters whose actions and narration share such similarity, Last Summer in the City and Ask the Dust mirror each other in many ways. Any reader who has appreciated Fante’s work will appreciate Calligarich’s, which certainly stands on its own merit as a fine literary novel. ITALIAN AMERICA
