I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Although the content was at times disturbing I thought that this book had a very genuine and honest feel to it.
The way that this story is told feels very nostalgic and reminiscent of childhood. When Agostino is first introduced to the concept of sexual things, his world quickly and drastically derails itself. I found this to be a very accurate depiction of childhood. The way that new information about something can open a new world of possibilities and can also make you second guess everything you know or thought you knew is unbelievably accurate to the entire process and feelings surrounding growing up and discovery. Although I don’t relate to the exact struggle that Agostino is going through, I do deeply relate to the emotions that he is feeling of being confused and feeling deceived by seemingly everything and everyone he knows. Reading about Agostino’s journey on simply figuring things out, constantly made me reflect on my own childhood.
I feel a lot of sympathy for Agostino at pretty much all times throughout the book. I felt that I had to keep reminding myself that its just a book and not real life because the emotions that Agostino felt seemed so real and urgent. It was difficult to just sit there reading instead of being able to help him.
When Agostino was told by the gang about what they thought his mom and the man were doing on their boat trips and then Agostino simply couldn’t see his mother in the same light that he had previously, I felt very bad for him because it must have been lonely. His mother seemed to be his one true support and safe place in the world up until that day where is perspective became permanently changed. This forces Agostino to not only have to process these new emotions but to have to process them seemingly alone. The author portrays such an emotional part of childhood during this process. Childhood can often feel lonely because even though you are surrounded b support, psychologically you feel like you can’t talk to people about these new things. Often times you even feel like you are the only one in the world going through it.
My question for the class: Even though Agostino was clearly going through a tough time because of his sudden awareness to new information, do you think that he is happy to have found this out? Or do you think that he would’ve preferred to have never known? (obviously he would find out at sometime but try to approach this question from a child’s perspective)
“Reading about Agostino’s journey on simply figuring things out”
This is a nice point, but my question would be whether he does figure anything out… or perhaps simply ends up even more confused by the end? After all, in some ways things were nice and simple for him at the outset, and by the end this is not so true, is it?
Oh, and can you add the category or tag “Moravia,” please? Thanks!
Hi Daelyn,
I certainly agree that Agostino’s journey was about self-discovery and seeing his mother in a new light. In response to your question, I would like to think that Agostino was curious, or at least open to, learning about the reality of the world. As children, we are generally curious about questionable concepts, and sometimes we learn things we’d rather not have (hence the saying “curiosity killed the cat”), but I think our childhood is also a great opportunity to learn about the real world. This way, we can prepare or brace ourselves a bit before for adulthood, instead of being overly naive, ignorant, or even scared of these concepts in the future. At the same time, I also recognize that our childhood should be a time for us to enjoy, carefree of the harsh realities of the world, so there definitely needs to be a balance between the two.
I really like how you felt sympathy for Agostino’s confusion in encountering the new information and emotions of an “adult life”. I also felt the same sympathy as someone who went through this age of transition. It does seem like Agostino was lonely most of the time; in fact, his loneliness gets worse even after meeting the gangster boys, as he feels separation from his mother and gets bullied by the boys. I really wonder how this loneliness will play out back in his regular life, after he returns home.
– Daniel C
Hi Daelyn, I think Agostino’s affection for his mother is actually rather morbid because there is no mention of Agostino’s father in the book. I think more that he can only give all his love because he has little connection with his father. mother. It caused him to become nervous at the moment when he realized that he was about to lose, and used a more extreme way of dealing with it.