Agostino I’m Speechless
This book really kept me on my toes. Every time I would go to read it I had no idea what was going to happen next but at the same time I did. This was such a weird read and I can’t possibly imagine how the author came up with this story. Maybe he was on drugs.
I think Agostino should definitely be in some sort of therapy for his mommy issues and his (likely) assault from Saro. From the very beginning he has some interesting things to say about his mother and a lot of it has to do with her body. Like “He would dive into the mother’s wake and feel as if even the cold compact water conserved traces of the passage of that beloved body.” (pg. 4). In general, the book objectifies and treats women as something for the male gaze. However, to read from the perspective of a thirteen year old boy talking about his mother that way is really unsettling. The only time that women are ever mentioned is if they are talked about in a sexual way. Also, Agostino’s boat ride with Saro and the moments leading up to it are very uncomfortable. Saro’s insistence of holding Agostino’s hand (with his six fingers) while he recited poetry was just weird. What was even weirder was Homs’s insistence on being alone with Saro on the boat. It’s clear that Saro was grooming them, but how about the other boys? It seems that Agostino was able to leave the boat generally unharmed but I feel like with the way this was written there is no way to actually tell. There is a lot that is left up to our interpretation or for us to infer like Sandro’s explanation of why the boys were making fun of Agostino for being alone with Saro on the boat.
Another thing I found interesting was the constant description of Homs’s race. In almost every description of him he was mentioned as being black, like on page. 58 “The vindictive black boy seemed to be enjoying this more than anyone.” He was also said to be often left out of the group and was the only one who Saro seemed to have taken advantage of. On top of all of this, we were to not forget about his race.
Overall this was an interesting read because I understood but I also didn’t. I think that maybe all the inferences were clear but I didn’t want to infer what I was inferring so I decided to be confused instead.
I’m going to pair this read with the fourth movement of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique because he was having an opium dream when he wrote it and I think Moravia was too.
Finally, my question for this week is why did Agostino keep hanging out with the gang of boys when they were so mean to him?
“The only time that women are ever mentioned is if they are talked about in a sexual way.”
I think this is mostly true, but requires some nuance… at least when it comes to Agostino’s relationship with his mother. Isn’t the heart of this book that he sees her at the same time as a mother (i.e. not sexualized, but as the provider of wellbeing and comfort) and at the same time, especially as he learns how others (above al the boys) see her, as a sexualized woman. He then has to deal with this uncomfortable tension or contradiction.
On the other hand, however, it seems to be true that the boys see women purely in these terms: as sexualized objects.
“why did Agostino keep hanging out with the gang of boys when they were so mean to him?”
This is a good question. What might be a possible answer?
Hi Matteya, I absolutely agree that Agostino needs some intensive therapy after that extremely dysfunctional “vacation” – it was more like a nightmare. And yes, Saro’s character was definitely the worst in the book, he somehow managed to make me even more uncomfortable than Agostino did. In response to your question, I think that Agostino kept hanging out with the gang because he felt some sort of longing to know more about social realities, particularly with regards to women. For him, this meant gaining a deeper understanding of his mother as something more than a mother, and as a woman (SO WEIRD BTW).
Hi Matteya! I enjoyed reading your blog! “My question for this week is, why did Agostino keep hanging out with the gang of boys when they were so mean to him?” To answer this question, I think Agostino is at an age where the opinions of those around him matter way more than they should to him. He might see the gang of boys as some sort of an escape from his sheltered life. They are the ones who teach him about the ‘real world’, which is why perhaps he might have formed some sort of attachment to them.