agostino :/

Reading Agostino felt worse than Proust for me. Besides the fact that it is uncomfortable in a way that seems very intentional, it lost my attention at many parts of the book. The way it is written felt repetitive or bland, yet there are some interesting parts in this story.

“She wasn’t naked, as he had almost sensed and hoped while entering, but rather partly undressed and in the act of removing her necklace and earrings in front of the mirror.”

I did not like phrases like these. It seems unnatural, a kid thinking like that about his mother, and it honestly made me uncomfortable as a reader. I understand that this reaction is probably the whole point of the book, but instead of helping me connect to Agostino, moments like this often pushed me away from the story.

One thing I did like about the book is how social class is represented. I found it interesting that Agostino wanted to belong to a group that was technically “lower” than him, but because of his lack of a strong personality, he felt like they were “higher up”.

“But there was something so bland about the polite children who awaited him there; their amusements ruled by parents’ warnings and nannies’ supervision were so boring, their talk of school, stamp collections, adventure books, and other such things, so insipid.”

It is like Agostino is drawn to the boys on the beach; compared to his old friends, they seem more exciting, more adult, and less controlled. The foul language, the talk about women, stealing, and even violence feel forbidden, and that is exactly what attracts him. Agostino’s interactions with this group highlight how out of place he is. He wants to belong, but he lacks the experience and confidence that the other boys appear to have. I think instead of helping him grow naturally, this group exposes his insecurity and accelerates his loss of innocence.

Another thing I found most interesting is how Moravia portrays adulthood as something disappointing or bland. The adults in the novel are distant, careless, or emotionally unavailable. From Agostino’s perspective, growing up does not mean gaining freedom, but losing the comfort and certainty he is used to having. Moreover, the novel leaves Agostino in an in-between state, no longer a child but not yet ready to be an adult.

Regarding the lecture and answering the question, I feel that because the novel is so brief, Moravia leaves many questions unanswered. One for me is what will happen to Agostino’s relationship with his mother in the future. Throughout the book, the idealized image he has of his mom collapses, and this made me wonder whether this is a normal thing for boys to experience, a kind of detachment from the mother. Maybe this detachment is even more potent because he does not have a dad around, which makes his mother his only emotional reference and intensifies both his attachment to her and his sense of loss when that image breaks. Maybe when they reach a certain age, they gain a different type of respect or trust for her, but in a more mature, less idealized way. Or maybe their relationship will not be the same.