A book a day: Natalia Ginzburg: Valentino

I like to occasionally visit works that I enjoyed in the past. One author who never disappoints when I do is Natalia Ginzburg. Not only because her books are usually quite short and therefore easy to reread, but because the passage of time never tarnishes her quality.

Proof of this is Valentino, a short novel that has dazzled me as much now as when I first tasted it years ago. Everything about it is pure Ginzburg: the prose, the tone, the rhythm, the plot, the characters, the themes…

It is about a poor family that has placed too many expectations on their son, a lively and lazy carer. This son will marry a rich woman, much to the displeasure of his parents and sister. Another sister, the narrator of the story, tells how such a decision affects each of those involved.

Ginzburg, always far from stylistic litter and narrative histrionics, gives us a simple (but not simple) fiction. This fiction is characterized by a prose of a craft that is as undeniable as it is invisible, the customs of its plot, how believable its characters seem, the sensitivity it exudes and the sadness it evokes. I insist: Valentino es pura Ginzburg.