Fiction – Page 13 – The Relentless Reader

Publisher: Viking Adult

Categories: Coming of Age, Contemporary Women, Italy

Description:

Anna and Francesca are on the brink of everything: high school, adulthood, and the edge of ambition in their provincial town. It’s summer in Piombino, Italy, and in their skimpy bathing suits, flaunting their newly acquired curves, the girls suddenly have everyone in their thrall. This power opens their imagination to a destiny beyond Piombino; the resort town of Elba is just a ferry ride away and yet they’ve never dared to go. Maybe the future is waiting for them there, or somewhere beyond.

When their friendship suffers a blow, the girls set off on their own only to discover that their budding sexuality takes them further than they expect, though not as far as their dreams. As their choices take them to a painful crossroads, the girls must reconnect if they have any hope of escaping their small town destinies.

In this poetic, prizewinning debut, Silvia Avallone captures the lost innocence of a generation. Harrowing yet ultimately redemptive, Swimming to Elba is a story about the power of friendship, and the way that family, friendship, and economics shape our world.

My Thoughts:

This book explores the transition from adolescence to adulthood in a gritty and emotional way. This transition is never easy, but it’s especially hard for Anna and Francesca. They live in a poverty stricken town next to a dying steel mill.

In Piombino, drug addiction is prevalent, abuse is frequent, and criminal activity is routine. I don’t believe I’ve ever read about more despondent characters.

This novel nearly suffocated me with it’s hopelessness. It made me uncomfortable as well. Reading about these young girls using their sexuality left me feeling squeamish.

And yet…

While Swimming to Elba is far from a cheerful story I found it powerful and important. Anna and Francesca are still on my mind. They won’t soon be forgotten.

The Hope Factory by Lavanya Sankaran

Publisher: The Dial Press

Publication Date: April 2013

Categories: Family Life, Literary, India

Source: Random House

Description:

Anand is a Bangalore success story: successful, well married, rich. At least, that’s how he appears. But if his little factory is to grow, he needs land and money, and, in the New India, neither of these is easy to find.

Kamala, Anand’s family’s maid, lives perilously close to the edge of disaster. She and her clever teenage son have almost nothing, and their small hopes for self-betterment depend on the contentment of Anand’s wife: a woman to whom whims come easily.

But Kamala’s son keeps bad company, and Anand’s marriage is in trouble. The murky world where crime and land and politics meet is a dangerous place for a good man, particularly one on whom the well-being of so many depends.

My Thoughts:

I’m smitten with tales set in India. I’m besotted by convincing characters. I’m crazy about skillful prose. The Hope Factory contains everything on my literary wish list.

This is the tale of two families. Anand and his family seem to have it all. Kamala and her son live on the very edge of poverty. In reality both families are dealing with matters that could send them over the brink to ruin.

This novel is populated with corrupt politicians, shady coworkers, and unseemly friends. Anand and Kamala even have to be cautious of their own family members who don’t have their best interests at heart.

At the core of The Hope Factory is the desire that Anand and Kamala have to be good parents. I was especially struck by the struggle that Kamala goes through to make sure that her son is educated and able to rise above their current station.

The desire for a better and secure future is something we can all understand. Lavanya Sankaran uses that theme to write an outstanding story.

Tag: Fiction

Swimming to Elba by Silvia Avallone

The Hope Factory by Lavanya Sankaran