Cultural Writing. Memoir. "THE LITTLE SAILOR is a literary gem from one of our foremost writers. Anthony Valerio's evocative prose woos the characters onto the page and into the hearts of its readers. His charming, eccentric, deeply moving women emerge from a world of distant memories with extraordinary force and passion--sensual, enticing, unforgettable-and the reader is mesmerized"-Edvige Giunta. "He's just crazy enough. He knows his characters. He gets in, tells his story and gets out. It's what good writing should be"-Shel Silverstein. The author began his publishing career with a short story in the Paris Review, which was followed by books several books, including Valentino and the Great Italians and Toni Cade Bambara's One Sicilian Night.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Gourmet Fiction,
By
This review is from: The Little Sailor (Paperback)
Is it a novel? a memoir? A book-length prose poem? Actually, Anthony Valerio's latest book is a little bit of all three and a whole lot more. You might know him as the author of two books of short essays, ("The Mediterranean Runs Through Brooklyn" and "Valentino and the Great Italians"), a novel ("Lefty and the Button Men"), two biographies (A. Bart Giamatti and Anita Garibaldi) and a memoir ("Toni Cade Bambara's One Sicilian Night"). His new book, "The Little Sailor," reveals skills he's honed to perfection through his previous work.
It's not what happens in "Little Sailor" that matters--for much of it could have, and probably has happened to many of us: we've all had childhood desires, crushes and adult fantasies. What's unique about this work is how this master storyteller concocts and serves the prose that works literary magic. This is nothing short of what I can only describe as gourmet writing. That's how carefully this writer chooses his words. "The pleasure you'll extract from this writing comes from savoring lean sentences that hold the weight of paragraphs such as: In the late afternoon, amid gulls and marsh smells of sea salt and clams and crabs, the most beautiful woman the Little Sailor's father had ever seen walks along Shelter Island's Silver Beach." It all results in images that will remain with you like powerful photographs--an avocation Valerio took up not too long ago. "Little Sailor" is divided into two parts. The first, reads more like a traditional memoir, only Valerio presents his younger self as a character in the story of his past, and from this distance, anything can happen. Part One traces the evolution of the female presence in Antonio's life. The first section is entitled Brooklyn and focuses on the women of his past: friends of his mother, girl playmates, fawning aunts and strangers, and early lovers. The second section, "Italy," presents more recent life experiences in Italy where he travels with his professor wife and meditates on Italian history, art and currency. Part Two, playfully entitled "& Beyond," with two sections ("Missing Persons" and "The Bensonhurst Pigeon") is a fantasy of sorts that involves young Antonio who witnesses what could be a real-life make over of "The Maltese Falcon"; in many ways it becomes a projection of the author's dreams and nightmares and echoes ideas and actions of Part One. Cleverly punctuating the sections are interesting photographs taken by Valerio that enhance the reading experience. In the end, we're not quite sure how to categorize the writing for if it is really a memoir, as the book's back cover suggests, then what are we to make of the appearances of a Fat Man, ex-cop, a Baronessa, Bridget O'Shaunessey, Sam Spade and their search for the real "Maltese Falcon." We can only imagine that these are extensions of the people in Antonio's life--self projections that happen in an extended fiction realized only in the author's mind shaped by such cinematic influences of his past. Whatever you call it, "Little Sailor" is entertaining from start to finish and holds up after several readings that its 81 pages invites and rewards. Fred Gardaphe, Fra Noi News, March 2009
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