Book #14: When The World Was Young

Book #14: When the World Was Young
Author: Tony Romano
Pages: about 310
Final Grade: B+
Buyability: 3/10
Status: Owned (freebie) but since given away to charity


Review: This is yet another First Look book, meaning it won't be out for a few months. The story is set in Chicago's Italian sector in 1957 and follows the life of an immigrant family (well the parents anyway, the kids are first-gen Americans and the culture gap is massive) as they undergo and try to make sense of a series of tragic events that are only curtailed by deception and unspoken agreements.

Agostino & his wife Angela Rosa are trapped in a relatively loveless, once arranged marriage - Agostino is prone to giving into his desire for other women while Angela Rosa's life is wrapped up in being a mother, not a wife. Their children are a different story altogether - focusing primarily on the two eldest, the just and determined Santo, and the wild and rambunctious Victoria. I can't pinpoint the main focus of the story without giving away too much, but basically the two children and their parent's affairs are inextricably linked through a series of unfortunate events (Lemony Snickit what?) where a series of lies is woven to keep the family structure together, particularly after a tragic event early on.

The plot weaves between a few 'future flashes' from the other three son's perceptions in 1977/78, twenty years after the story's main events take place. Although at first I was confused at this - the other son's stories give away a good deal of what happens in the 57 chapters - I found they provided a valuable way of puzzling together the plot, culminating in what I call 'lightbulb moments' where all of a sudden I'd be like "OH that makes so much more sense now". Because the three youngest siblings are the ones telling their perspective of what happened in the 50's, it makes the story far more interesting because they were far less informed than the four main characters.

Overall this was a pretty enjoyable book - the prose was a bit drawn out and stuffy at times, but I found I could easily breeze through the 300-odd pages quite quickly. I think I would have liked for *more* to happen, at least more often, rather than inexplicably stated in flash forwards or flash backs, but looking back the book does pack a LOT into it. A decent read if you're interested in family drama and the irony of deception.