From Publishers Weekly
In this provocative collection of three novellas set in modern-day Italy, Tamaro (Follow Your Heart) skillfully explores themes of religion, depression, jealousy, violence and isolation. Using starkly wrought first-person narratives, the Umbria-based author establishes taut story lines punctuated with bold, provocative statements. For Rosa, the bitter protagonist of the title novella, worshiping the statue of the Virgin Mary is tantamount to genuflecting before a box of laundry detergent or, as she says, "Had I knelt down before a stack of canned tomatoes at the supermarket, it would have been exactly the same thing." The troubled 19-year-old orphan daughter of a prostitute, Rosa suffers from isolation and self-medicates with alcohol to ease her loneliness. Soon, the bitter young woman is caught in a twisted psychosexual game involving two men and a horrific twist of events. In a second, equally strong novella, "Hell Doesn't Exist," a widow in her mid-50s confronts her limitations as a mother and human being while remembering her catastrophic marriage and the sadistic behavior of her deceased husband. In the third entry, "The Burning Forest," Tamaro links her tales about maligned, misunderstood and fettered women with a clarion call to free will. An intriguing touch is the white dog that appears in all three tales perhaps an agent of redemption. If Tamaro's view is dark, the care she takes with character development infuses her narratives with a clear and resonant moral vision.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
The three novellas in this collection, translated from the Italian and set in contemporary Italy, share themes of faith and redemption in the face of overwhelming personal tragedy. The title story (Italian for "answer me") concerns an orphaned girl who begins to develop a sense of self-worth when she takes a job as an au pair. The tale is undermined, however, when stereotypical plot devices intervene. "Hell Does Not Exist" tells of an abused wife who is unable to save her son, while the protagonist of "The Burning Forest" cannot reconcile himself to his wife's personal and spiritual awakening. All three protagonists are beginning to come to terms with the universe as the stories end, but Tamaro, the author of six books of fiction and nonfiction (e.g., Follow Your Heart), has failed to make them sympathetic. Their bitterness at the world and inability to love or be loved is so off-putting that the reader is likely to stop caring long before they reach their moments of truth. Not recommended. Christine DeZelar-Tiedman, Univ. of Minnesota Libs., Minneapolis
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
