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A review by graywacke
Arturo's Island by Elsa Morante
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I was a bad reader. This is a beautiful book, but I never settled down into it. I was constantly impatient.
The story of Arturo, a 14-yr old boy raised on an island off Naples, Italy, named Procida, by an absent father. Left on his own in a large house on the island, there is no education other than a lot of books in the house, a dog, and the island to roam. And a hired nurse, Silvestro, who nursed him on fresh milk and took care of him when he was younger, but has gone off to join Italian army. His mother died in childbirth. His father only visits occasionally, and randomly. The untethered Arturo, bound only by his island, has a rough transition into puberty as his father marries a 16-yr-old uneducated Neapolitan girl, and leaves her in the house with Arturo.
The story of Arturo, a 14-yr old boy raised on an island off Naples, Italy, named Procida, by an absent father. Left on his own in a large house on the island, there is no education other than a lot of books in the house, a dog, and the island to roam. And a hired nurse, Silvestro, who nursed him on fresh milk and took care of him when he was younger, but has gone off to join Italian army. His mother died in childbirth. His father only visits occasionally, and randomly. The untethered Arturo, bound only by his island, has a rough transition into puberty as his father marries a 16-yr-old uneducated Neapolitan girl, and leaves her in the house with Arturo.