Sujoya - theoverbookedbibliophile (recovering from an arm injury; on a short review-writing break)'s Reviews > A Girl Returned
A Girl Returned
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Sujoya - theoverbookedbibliophile (recovering from an arm injury; on a short review-writing break)'s review
bookshelves: favorites, 2022-favorite-reads, fiction-in-translation
Mar 07, 2022
bookshelves: favorites, 2022-favorite-reads, fiction-in-translation
4.5⭐️
On an August afternoon in 1975, a thirteen-year-old girl (our narrator) drags a suitcase up the stairs to an apartment belonging to her biological parents. She is 'returned' to her family by her adoptive parents, the only family she has ever known and whom she believed to be her true parents. This family, this apartment just a bus ride away from her seaside home and her new siblings are all alien to her. This family is related to her adoptive father and she was adopted by Signora Adalgisa when she was an infant of six months – an arrangement mutually agreed upon by both sets of parents. The circumstances surrounding her 'return' remain a mystery to her. She worries for the health of her adoptive mother. Is she sick? Is she even alive? Will she ever return to the safe, happy cocoon that was once her home? She is thrust into a life completely different from the one she was accustomed to -an only child, living in a seaside community with loving parents, friends, dance classes and wanting for nothing. Here she becomes part of a dysfunctional family plagued by poverty and abusive dynamics within. Her parents mostly ignore her with her mother expecting her to be well versed in household chores including plucking a chicken, her older brothers taunt and bully her except for the eighteen-year-old Vincenzo whose interest in her leads to some uncomfortable moments.
“I wasn’t acquainted with hunger and I lived like a foreigner among the hungry. The privilege I bore from my earlier life distinguished me, isolated me in the family. I was the arminuta, the one who’d returned. I spoke another language and I no longer knew who I belonged to.”
Adriana, her younger sister and Guiseppe, her youngest brother who has a developmental disability are the only two people she connects with, a connection that continues into her adulthood, details of which she gives brief glimpses of as she narrates these incidents from a timeline twenty year in the future. She shares how she is unable to connect with her “parents”- a disconnect that continues throughout her narrative referring to them as “the mother” and “the father”. When tragedy strikes the family “the mother” retreats into herself further.
“In time I lost that confused idea of normality, too, and today I really don’t know what place a mother is. It’s absent from my life the way good health, shelter, certainty can be absent. It’s an enduring emptiness, which I know but can’t get past. My head whirls if I look inside it. A desolate landscape that keeps you from sleeping at night and constructs nightmares in the little sleep it allows. The only mother I never lost is the one of my fears.”
As the story progresses and the reasons for her abandonment by her adoptive mother are revealed, her world is once again turned upside down and our protagonist is compelled to question the very definition of motherhood and family. The protagonist’s loneliness, confusion and inner turmoil in her darkest moments are palpable and will break your heart.
A Girl Returned by Donatella Di Pietrantonio (translated by Ann Goldstein), is a sad, moving and powerful novel that explores the themes of family, coming-of-age, trust, abandonment and resilience. The author’s strength lies in her characterizations and the realistic depiction of complex relationships.
A character that stands out in our narrator's story is Adriana, her younger sister. Accustomed to the hardships of life and the abusive environment in their home, Adriana, only ten years old and still wetting the bed welcomes her older sister, is both protective and possessive of her at school and at home, even willing to take the blows directed towards her by their mother in moments of rage. Initially, our narrator is embarrassed by her sister’s lack of fine manners, her shabby appearance and her rustic diction and there are moments of friction and resentment from Adriana’s side as well but as time progresses she becomes the only person our protagonist can truly rely on, her only light in the darkness.
“My sister. Like an improbable flower, growing in a clump of earth stuck in the rock. From her I learned resistance. We look less like each other now, but we find the same meaning in this being thrown into the world. In our alliance we survived.”
The writing is unambiguous and elegant and the narrative is sharp and well-paced, laced with real emotions without exaggeration or melodrama with its share of memorable characters (some likable and some not so much) - all of which render this a compelling read. This is a short novel and I felt invested in the lives of our narrator and her sister Adriana. I wanted to know more about their lives. In other words, I did not want the story to end. This is a book that will stay with me for a long time. I look forward to reading more of Donatella Di Pietrantonio’s work in the future.
(Readers should note that Vincenzo’s behavior towards the protagonist borders on incestuous, which may upset some readers, though this angle is not developed beyond a certain point in the story and thankfully, does not feature as a running theme but is used to depict one of the dysfunctional situations the protagonist is exposed to in her new home.)
On an August afternoon in 1975, a thirteen-year-old girl (our narrator) drags a suitcase up the stairs to an apartment belonging to her biological parents. She is 'returned' to her family by her adoptive parents, the only family she has ever known and whom she believed to be her true parents. This family, this apartment just a bus ride away from her seaside home and her new siblings are all alien to her. This family is related to her adoptive father and she was adopted by Signora Adalgisa when she was an infant of six months – an arrangement mutually agreed upon by both sets of parents. The circumstances surrounding her 'return' remain a mystery to her. She worries for the health of her adoptive mother. Is she sick? Is she even alive? Will she ever return to the safe, happy cocoon that was once her home? She is thrust into a life completely different from the one she was accustomed to -an only child, living in a seaside community with loving parents, friends, dance classes and wanting for nothing. Here she becomes part of a dysfunctional family plagued by poverty and abusive dynamics within. Her parents mostly ignore her with her mother expecting her to be well versed in household chores including plucking a chicken, her older brothers taunt and bully her except for the eighteen-year-old Vincenzo whose interest in her leads to some uncomfortable moments.
“I wasn’t acquainted with hunger and I lived like a foreigner among the hungry. The privilege I bore from my earlier life distinguished me, isolated me in the family. I was the arminuta, the one who’d returned. I spoke another language and I no longer knew who I belonged to.”
Adriana, her younger sister and Guiseppe, her youngest brother who has a developmental disability are the only two people she connects with, a connection that continues into her adulthood, details of which she gives brief glimpses of as she narrates these incidents from a timeline twenty year in the future. She shares how she is unable to connect with her “parents”- a disconnect that continues throughout her narrative referring to them as “the mother” and “the father”. When tragedy strikes the family “the mother” retreats into herself further.
“In time I lost that confused idea of normality, too, and today I really don’t know what place a mother is. It’s absent from my life the way good health, shelter, certainty can be absent. It’s an enduring emptiness, which I know but can’t get past. My head whirls if I look inside it. A desolate landscape that keeps you from sleeping at night and constructs nightmares in the little sleep it allows. The only mother I never lost is the one of my fears.”
As the story progresses and the reasons for her abandonment by her adoptive mother are revealed, her world is once again turned upside down and our protagonist is compelled to question the very definition of motherhood and family. The protagonist’s loneliness, confusion and inner turmoil in her darkest moments are palpable and will break your heart.
A Girl Returned by Donatella Di Pietrantonio (translated by Ann Goldstein), is a sad, moving and powerful novel that explores the themes of family, coming-of-age, trust, abandonment and resilience. The author’s strength lies in her characterizations and the realistic depiction of complex relationships.
A character that stands out in our narrator's story is Adriana, her younger sister. Accustomed to the hardships of life and the abusive environment in their home, Adriana, only ten years old and still wetting the bed welcomes her older sister, is both protective and possessive of her at school and at home, even willing to take the blows directed towards her by their mother in moments of rage. Initially, our narrator is embarrassed by her sister’s lack of fine manners, her shabby appearance and her rustic diction and there are moments of friction and resentment from Adriana’s side as well but as time progresses she becomes the only person our protagonist can truly rely on, her only light in the darkness.
“My sister. Like an improbable flower, growing in a clump of earth stuck in the rock. From her I learned resistance. We look less like each other now, but we find the same meaning in this being thrown into the world. In our alliance we survived.”
The writing is unambiguous and elegant and the narrative is sharp and well-paced, laced with real emotions without exaggeration or melodrama with its share of memorable characters (some likable and some not so much) - all of which render this a compelling read. This is a short novel and I felt invested in the lives of our narrator and her sister Adriana. I wanted to know more about their lives. In other words, I did not want the story to end. This is a book that will stay with me for a long time. I look forward to reading more of Donatella Di Pietrantonio’s work in the future.
(Readers should note that Vincenzo’s behavior towards the protagonist borders on incestuous, which may upset some readers, though this angle is not developed beyond a certain point in the story and thankfully, does not feature as a running theme but is used to depict one of the dysfunctional situations the protagonist is exposed to in her new home.)
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Reading Progress
March 6, 2022
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Started Reading
March 7, 2022
– Shelved
March 7, 2022
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Finished Reading
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Kerrin
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Mar 07, 2022 08:07PM
Great review, Sujoya!
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This sounds heartbreaking and I hope there’s some hope to be found for these characters. Excellent review Sujoya!
message 7:
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Sujoya - theoverbookedbibliophile (recovering from
(last edited Mar 08, 2022 07:22PM)
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rated it 5 stars
JanB wrote: "This sounds heartbreaking and I hope there’s some hope to be found for these characters. Excellent review Sujoya!"
Thanks, Jan! 😊While the overall tone of the book is sad, we do get hints from the narrator in the present day that the sisters have better lives in the future.
Thanks, Jan! 😊While the overall tone of the book is sad, we do get hints from the narrator in the present day that the sisters have better lives in the future.
RoshReviews wrote: "Lovely review, Sujoya! :)"
Thanks, Rosh! 😊 This author's work is somewhat similar to that of Elena Ferrante whose Neapolitan novels I adore!
Thanks, Rosh! 😊 This author's work is somewhat similar to that of Elena Ferrante whose Neapolitan novels I adore!
message 10:
by
Sujoya - theoverbookedbibliophile (recovering from
(last edited Mar 08, 2022 06:46AM)
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rated it 5 stars
Lisa wrote: "Lovely review. I enjoyed this novel very much."
Thank you, Lisa!💕Glad you also enjoyed this one! I've already pre-ordered the author's next book(kindle). From the summary, I gather it will focus on Adriana.I think it is already available in paperback.
Thank you, Lisa!💕Glad you also enjoyed this one! I've already pre-ordered the author's next book(kindle). From the summary, I gather it will focus on Adriana.I think it is already available in paperback.
Jayme wrote: "This sounds heartbreaking 💔! Terrific review!"
Thank you, Jayme!💖 It is an emotionally heavy read.
Thank you, Jayme!💖 It is an emotionally heavy read.
Ellie wrote: "This sounds like such an emotional but great read! Incredible review Sujoya!"
Thanks,Ellie!😊 It is a powerful read indeed!
Thanks,Ellie!😊 It is a powerful read indeed!
Kat (Books are Comfort Food) wrote: "Thank you for your beautiful review, Sujoya. I am glad that this was 5-star for you. 💓"
Thank you so much for your kind words , Kat! :-)
Thank you so much for your kind words , Kat! :-)
Cheri wrote: "A wonderful review for what sounds like a powerful novel, Sujoya!"
Than you Cheri! :-) It was indeed a powerful novel!
Than you Cheri! :-) It was indeed a powerful novel!
Holly wrote: "I can see why this would be a sad one! But still a worthy read!"
Thank you so much, Holly!
Thank you so much, Holly!
Lovely that this read was so poignant - between the characters and the prose, it sounds like this one has a lot to recommend it. Wonderful review, Sujoya!
Lori wrote: "This sounds like such a fascinating plotline; thank you for your thorough review, Sujoya!"
Thank you! It is a fascinating read, Lori! Short yet incredibly impactful!😊
Thank you! It is a fascinating read, Lori! Short yet incredibly impactful!😊
Meredith (Slowly Catching Up) wrote: "That you didn't want this to end says a lot! Fabulous review, Sujoya!"
Thank you kindly, Meredith!🧡
Thank you kindly, Meredith!🧡
A wrote: "Lovely that this read was so poignant - between the characters and the prose, it sounds like this one has a lot to recommend it. Wonderful review, Sujoya!"
Thank you, A! 😊 For those you enjoy literary fiction with complex female characters, I couldn't recommend this one enough.
Thank you, A! 😊 For those you enjoy literary fiction with complex female characters, I couldn't recommend this one enough.
Linda wrote: "Outstanding review. It sounds like a painful novel to read."
Thank you, Linda!😊 It is a difficult read but so very worth it!
Thank you, Linda!😊 It is a difficult read but so very worth it!
Lovely review, Sujoya. This sounds like a heavy, heart-wrenching read. I want to read it, but I also don't, if it makes any sense!
Sneha Pathak (reader_girl_reader) wrote: "Lovely review, Sujoya. This sounds like a heavy, heart-wrenching read. I want to read it, but I also don't, if it makes any sense!"
Thank you so much, Sneha!😊 It makes perfect sense. These kind of reads require the reader to be on the right mood.
I apologize for my delayed response to your comments. I just saw it!
Thank you so much, Sneha!😊 It makes perfect sense. These kind of reads require the reader to be on the right mood.
I apologize for my delayed response to your comments. I just saw it!
Fantastic review Sujoya. This book was recommended to me by Antoinette. It sounds fabulous. I added it.
Glenda wrote: "Fantastic review Sujoya. This book was recommended to me by Antoinette. It sounds fabulous. I added it."
Thank you, Glenda!😊 I apologize for my delayed response.
Thank you, Glenda!😊 I apologize for my delayed response.