lives of the saints

by nino ricci

interestingly enough, this book was made into a tv mini-series this year. i never did get around to watching it, especially since the book was sitting on my shelf still waiting to be read. i usually prefer reading the book to the film/television version and find it's usually best to read before watching.

so anyway, this was a pretty quick read. and very interesting as well. it was set in the italian mountainy type area in the 1960s. the village was basically inhabited by peasants and didn't have electricity or anything like that. it's strange - i would have imagined that electricity and cars were the norm by 1960 - but that's a rather north american assumption, isn't it?

the story is narrated by a 6 - 7 year old boy (it occurs over a year) whose mother is ... well, a little loose. his father lives in canada and she's gotten a little bored in his absence, i suppose you can say. since it's such a small and pious town, she becomes subject to quite the ... ridicule and meanness, as does little vitto. he sometimes seems to understand, but oftentimes does not.

however, through the eyes of the child, you can figure out what's going on. while he might not understand, he still reports what he's seeing, hearing and experiencing. his mother counts on him for a lot, even if it's something over his head. like, when his mother is in labour and he's trying to find a doctor. he keeps telling ppl that his mother has pains. it's on a ship during a storm - so the nurses and doctor keep telling the little boy that everyone has pains at the moment and his mother is nothing special. it takes quite a while for him to explain what is happening. he doesn't really understand that his mother is even pregnant. he knows that she has a warm swelling in her belly, but that's it.

sometimes while we think that children may be too young to understand, it can be important to explain to them what's happening. you don't have to explain everything, but the basics are probably important to know. children are a lot more sensitive and observant than we think. if things aren't explained properly, they will believe things that are possibly quite untrue and which may cause them to be fearful of events they should not be scared of. but maybe that's just my feeling. who knows what i'll think when i'm a parent.