1 of 1 copy available
The central character in this powerful and unforgiving novel is Ida Mancuso, a schoolteacher whose husband has died and whose feckless teenage son treats the war as his playground. A German soldier on his way to North Africa rapes her, falls in love with her, and leaves her pregnant with a boy whose survival becomes Ida's passion.
Around these two other characters come and go, each caught up by the war which is like a river in flood. We catch glimpses of bombing raids, street crimes, a cattle car from which human cries emerge, an Italian soldier succumbing to frostbite on the Russian front, the dumb endurance of peasants who have lived their whole lives with nothing and now must get by with less than nothing.
-
Creators
-
Publisher
-
Release date
February 24, 2015 -
Formats
-
OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781586422370
-
EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781586422370
- File size: 2680 KB
-
-
Languages
- English
-
Reviews
-
January 1, 2001
Written in 1974 but first published in the United States in 1977, this was Morante's first novel in 18 years. As the cryptic title indicates, the theme of this novel, said LJ's reviewer, is how "history obscures individual lives." Though the book portrays the brutal existence of one Italian family after World War II, LJ's reviewer added that "there is so much to praise in this long, wonderfully rich novel, including the effortless translation, that its flaws--occasional clumsiness of narration, repetition--are minor indeed" (LJ 4/15/77). The edition contains a new foreword by Barbara Grizzuti Harrison.Copyright 2001 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
-