[(Between Two Seas)] [Author: Carmine Abate] published on

by Carmine Abate

In the years following the Second World War, photographer Hans Heumann travels to southern Italy in search of the light that has long attracted artists. There Heumann meets Giorgio Bellusci, who will accompany him on a journey through southern Italy as he captures the essence of this fabled land in a series of photographs that eventually make him world famous. As Heumann s stature grows, Bellusci s dream to rebuild the south s most famous inn deepens and darkens. The dream slowly becomes a dangerous obsession that will leave Giorgio with blood on his hands and put the two men s friendship to the test.With the exuberance of innocence and childlike urgency, the story of Heumann s fame and Bellusci s obsession is told through the eyes of Florian the two men s grandson, a child of two countries and two cultures that are often at odds, and the unlikely heir to his Italian grandfather s obsession.The first of Abate s novels to appear in English and winner of the Fenice-Europa prize for fiction, this is an exhilarating journey that takes readers to the storied heart of Italy and explores the meaning of memory and the nature of true friendship.

Genres: Italy, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Amazon, Italian Literature

Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Carmine Abate was born in Calabria, southern Italy. He immigrated to Germany at a young age and now lives in Trentino, northern Italy, where he teaches university. His first book, a collection of short stories, was published in 1984. He has since published numerous prize-winning novels including Between Two Seas and a collection of poetry.

Reviews

[Orsodimondo · Rating 4 out of 5]

UN CORO DI CICALE INVISIBILI O DI RONDINI FURIBONDE


La Calabria tra i due mari, Jonio e Tirreno, è larga 30 km: è un punto che si trova sulle Serre ed è chiamato l’istmo di Catanzaro e Marcellinara.

Pur continuando a intingere la sua penna nel ricordo, questa volta Abate abbandona in parte mito ed epica della cultura arberesh, va via dal paesello (Hora) per spostarsi un pochino più a occidente, pur sempre in Calabria.
Conferma la sua qualità di affabulatore e inventore di storie.
Siamo a Roccalba, terra tra afa e polvere, di colline d'olivastri e di fichi d'india. I due mari tra i quali si trova questo borgo a forma di ferro di cavallo sono lo Jonio e il Tirreno (il punto più stretto della regione, una parte della Calabria a dir poco splendida, con vista che toglie il fiato).

Abate racconta del Fondaco del Fico, una locanda che era vitale per i viaggiatori dell’Ottocento che andò distrutta nel 1865 durante uno scontro a fuoco tra briganti e guardia nazionale.
Il protagonista, però, è un giovane dei giorni nostri, Florian, ancora una volta prodotto dal rapporto Calabria-Germania, che rimane vitale anche qui: ma questa volta si tratta di madre calabrese e padre tedesco, il contrario di quanto succede di solito nei suoi romanzi (sono gli uomini a emigrare, dalla Calabria natia soprattutto in Germania). Abate ci racconta un caso di emigrazione al contrario.



C’era una volta Alexandre Dumas che trascorse una notte alla locanda (1835) insieme al pittore Jadin che fece uno schizzo del luogo. L’oste si chiamava Gioacchino Bellusci.
C’era una volta un fotografo tedesco, Hans Heumann, che negli anni Cinquanta del Novecento arrivò a Roccalba in cerca di colori forti, immagini solari, scorci assoluti, suggestioni violente. Fotografò le rovine della locanda e diventò amico del macellaio del paese, Giorgio Bellusci, discendente del Bellusci oste del Fondaco del Fico.
Il figlio di Hans, Klaus, sposerà Rosanna Bellusci, la figlia di Giorgio: i genitori di Florian. E così un passato che sa di mito s’incrocia e rigenera nel presente.


La possibile Roccalba: Marcellinara.

Nonno Giorgio Bellusci ha sempre avuto un sogno: ricostruire la locanda e lasciarla ai suoi eredi e discendenti. Come testimonianza della prosperità familiare, in una regione arretrata e povera: come segno concreto di attaccamento alle proprie origini e alla propria terra.
Pur pagando un prezzo molto alto (mafia locale, alias ‘ndrangheta), il sogno si realizza, la locanda viene ricostruita diventa albergo.


Jacurso, un altro paese dell’istmo di Catanzaro e Marcellinara.

Tutto viene raccontato, ma forse sarebbe meglio dire cantato, dal nipote Florian, che ripercorre le tappe dell’impresa, quasi leggendaria, e le commenta in un continuo andirivieni non cronologico nel tempo, tra presente e passato, e nello spazio, tra Calabria e Germania.
I due mari simbolicamente diventano il sud e il nord, oltre che quelli che si possono ammirare da Roccalba. La duplice radice di Florian diventa risoluzione del conflitto di identità e sorgente di arricchimento.


Marcellinara

[Jim Fonseca · Rating 4 out of 5]

A coming of age story of a boy in southern Italy. Most of the story is probably set around the 1970's. He has two dynamic memorable grandfathers who shaped his upbringing. His mother’s father is an Italian butcher who has a life-long dream of restoring his family’s dilapidated inn where Alexander Dumas once stayed. His father’s father is a famous German photographer. The two grandfathers became life-long friends years ago when the German photographer traveled to Italy to take pictures. Their children married.



A lot of the story revolves around the contrasting lives of the two men seen through the boy’s eyes. The boy grows up in Hamburg but travels to Italy for summers and holidays. One grandfather is rural and local and one is urban and cosmopolitan. The photographer is a wealthy celebrity with sports cars and a young woman always at his side.

The book is also a love story of Calabria, the “toe of the boot” of southern Italy. From the dilapidated inn at a crossroads in the hills of the middle of the peninsula, where it’s only 20 miles wide, you can see both coasts – the Ionian Sea to the south and the Tyrrhenian Sea to the north. Thus the title. There’s the contrast of cold, urban Hamburg and hot, rural Calabria.



We also learn of the contrasting personalities of the boy’s parents. His work-obsessed, timid and cold father and his expressive, warm, artistic mother. The boy has a girl in every port so to speak, one in Hamburg and one in Calabria. We watch the boy as puppy love turns into sexual experience. His Italian grandfather imbues in him the idea of being obligated to carry on the ownership and the running of the inn when the grandfather dies.

Contrasting with all the warm fuzziness is an undertone of violence from the local mob that wants a cut of the grandfather’s operations. It’s an understatement to say that the grandfather resists with violent and lifelong complications.



The author (1954-) knows both areas he writes about as he grew up in Calabria but emigrated to Germany. Although the novel is translated from the Italian, the author grew up speaking Arbëresh, a variant of the Albanian language. There was a constant flow of ethnic Albanians into southern Italy starting in the 1400’s when they fled the Balkans as the Ottoman Turks invaded. The new immigrants were often hired as mercenaries by the various armies of the constantly feuding Italian city states.

A good story, fairly fast-paced, and good writing. I found it an enjoyable read.

Top photo of Reggio Calabria from italymagazine.com
Map of Calabria by Kathleen Gwinnertt Art at i.etsystatic.com
The author from europaeditions.com

[Chrissie · Rating 3 out of 5]

NO SPOILERS

Rarely do I feel the need to read a second book by the same author. However The Homecoming Party, by the same author, was such a delight that I had to not only add Between Two Seas to my shelves, but also had to read it soon!

I have already read about 40 pages. I am now thinking that this could be one of my favorite authors. I immediately fall for the descriptive and perceptive prose. The characters come alive. The grandmother is soft and you just want to be hugged by her, smelling the aroma of her kitchen. The father has a plastered on smile. The mother is laughing and kissing everybody. She is so happy to be again visiting her home in the Calabrian village. And the grandfather, well I want to know the story behind this Calabrian grandfather, who is one minute boisterous and fun, the next, black with anger. The story is narrated by the grandson, Florian. His grandfathers are the best of friends, one German(Hans Heumann) and one Calabrian(Giorgio Bellusci). Fabian is a child of two countries and two cultures. The novel takes place in the 1950s, with episodes dating back to the 1800s when we learn of even earlier Calabrian descendants. This is the story of these lives. It is also the story of these characters' dreams....

On completion: Actually this is a novel about dreams, about how each of us has to decide what our own individual dreams and goals will be. What is most important to each of us. I am not so sure this is omething we decide. Isn't it perhaps something that we are simply born with, something we each seek to fulfil?

In this book each person in the family is both part of the family with characteristics common to that family and the culture of that family, but also each is unique. Yes, they all love each other as family members do, but at the same time they can laugh at each other's insane foibles.... This feels so real, and it makes the book something we can all relate to.

I will give a few examples, but remember the nastiness expressed isn't really mean, it is just saying in a nutshell (and with humor) how the person IS.

"Your father? He's nothing but a stack of paper, with a square computer monitor for a head and a pair of deranged little eyes that still don't know the Berlin Wall came down a long time ago." (page 90)

Banking, mortgages and financce, that was what ruled his life. These were his prime interests. And Florian's mother? Who was she at the core?

He (the father) barely noticed that we had come home, and our mother, romantic and in love as she was, took it hard. Worst of all, upon our return the house resembled a pig stye, she said, especially the kitchen: there wasn't a single clean dish, spoon or even a knife, with which to cut her husband's head off. The only way to get into his study...... (page 121)

My mother was relaxed that summer; she was blooming like a cherry tree in our backyard. It is just incredible, I thought to myself, the years go by, life poisons her blood, but in the end she is always renewed, as if time tickled her as it passes....Maybe it was her son, the other one, her youngest, the just eight-and-a-half years old, who kept her young. (page 141)

This is also a "coming of age" novel. Florian sees his parents and the other members of his family, their good qualities and their craziness, and from this he has to figure out what he will do with his own life. Where does he fit in. What is wonderful is that you see how his parents and his grandparents have made other choices. They are all different. None are right, none are wrong. I loved learning about the grandfathers' choices too. One a photographer. One simply must restore the inn that has been in the family for generations. The odds are really against him. In fact the inn existed when Alexander Dumas visited and stayed there in the 1830s. That too is a wonderful story! Also keep in mind where this novel takes place. What is the area known for?

I will say right off the bat, that if you are to choose one of these two novels, the Homecoming Party or Between Two Seas, choose the former. In my views it is a bit better. In the latter one, the reader is for quite some time confused about who is who. Grandfathers and grandsons often have identical names. Until you realize this, you can be confused. So there are two Gioacchino's and two Giorgios. There are even two different dogs named Milord..... Neither is there a map. It is not essential, but it would have been nice. I highly recommend getting out your atlas. The inn that is the dream of Giorgio is between two seas, the Tyrrhenian and the Ionian. And Florian is also between two seas, but in a cultural sense. So the title is perfect!

And the ending - well, I liked it. It isn't really sad! That is of course debatable. Jeeze, maybe I should have given this four stars.....

[Betty · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a lot about this novel to like, even though the first-third possesses a vigorous spark which fizzles somewhat in the remainder of the story. The novel speaks mostly about southern Italian culture in language, food, land cultivation, photogenic environment as well as about its beauty in vistas, women, cherished dreams, bergamot-scented memorabilia. The spunky characters cherish freedom and tradition. There are also threats to that idyll from commercial developers and vindictive thuggery. Roccalba, a hilltop village in Calabria (Italy's toe), is convincingly contrasted with big-city life in Hamburg, Germany, the coming-of-age-narrator Florian (Bellusci) Heumann being Italian-German. Despite obstacles, the grandfather Giorgio Bellusci is determined to rebuild his grandfather's nineteenth-century hotel, once visited by the famous French writer Dumas and artist Jadin, who left behind their journal manuscript and their Bellusci-family sketch, then after preserved under lock and key through generations of Belluscis. Determination, money, planning, and action complete the forty-plus room hotel at a great price. This novel depicts a soon-to-be-assimilated way-of-life.

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5
Basic premise of obsession, family, and culture, a good vibrant tale of Italian food and love of life. Speedy read, the ending was expected but not made boring by the predictability. I liked the details, it was very easy to maintain a colorful mental pictures while reading. No great insights into the human condition here, it's a juicy read filled with beautiful scenery/photography and mouthwatering food/women rather than a savory one. There's a bit of triumph, a bit of tragedy, and a whole lot of the incomprehensible human condition. All in all a decent read.

[Cheyenne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though this is a modern novel published in the current century, it has the same literary feel as classics from centuries past. It is written in a distant first person POV and, despite being such a slim volume, it spans the entire childhood of our point of view character and brings him into adulthood.

I will say that the summary that comes with this book is a bit misleading; it makes the book sound like it is about Hans Heumann and tells the tale of what happens to him after he meets Georgio Bellusci. In reality, the book is told from the perspective of Georgio's grandson, Florian; however, one could argue that, like The Great Gatsby, the point of view character of Between Two Seas is not our main character. Instead, the role of protagonist arguably belongs to Georgio Bellusci himself.

This book was very well-written, and despite utilizing a more old-fashioned writing style, it did make a few comments with more modern sensibilities that I appreciated. Despite this, however, there were some old-fashioned elements to the story. For example, this is definitely the type of book where the female characters are defined by their relationships to the male characters and don't really stand on their own.

Overall, I was impressed with how well the ending of this book built tension and how much of an emotional reaction I had to the ending, given the more detached writing style, which doesn't usually work as well for me. I enjoyed it and ended up having a lot of feelings about what happened in the end.

I'd recommend this book to fans of classic literature as well as to those who want to explore familial relationships and politics while mentally vacationing in a small town in Italy.

[GONZA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mi sono letta tre libri del Sig. Abate, per la precisione "Il ballo tondo", "La festa del ritorno" e "Tra due mari" e l'unica cosa seria che posso fare è ringraziare la compaggggna del cugggggino che mi ha consigliato di leggerlo.
Romanzi brevi che ti lasciano il sale nel cuore, io non conosco molto bene la Calabria, ma non faccio fatica ad immaginarla grazie alle parole che l'autore usa per descriverne la campagna riarsa dal sole, i panorami montuosi che si allungano tra due strisce di diversi mari e le persone che le abitano.
Sono persone con vite raminghe queste, già arrivavano 500 anni fa dall'Albania e poi sono partite in tante come migranti per la merica o la froncia per mandare a casa un po' di soldi, la Germania è stata invece la meta del nostro autore, e che commozione leggere nel racconto le parole di coloro che tornavano solo tre volte l'anno a casa per vedere moglie e figli. Ma forse è proprio quello l'ultimo posto in cui si sente il senso della parola "comunità", quando nessuna famiglia si sente troppo sola in un paese dove tutti si prendono cura di tutti e tutti sanno tutto, in queste situazioni nel bene o nel male deve essere difficile sentirsi troppo soli.
E allora nasce questa nuova generazione di persone mezze calabre e mezze qualcos'altro di europeo, che non vivono bene in nessuno dei due posti e che in entrambi si sentono a casa, li invidio tanto.

[Angelica · Rating 4 out of 5]

il romanzo e' scritto bene ed e' focalizzato sulla storia di tre generazioni di una famiglia. La trama e' un po' debole, ma il libro e' un'ottima lettura estiva.

[Mark Lisac · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nicely told little tale about love and other passions in a small Calabrian town, with broader overtones (indicated by the title) of dilemmas, choices and conflicted longings. Would give it 3.5 stars if that were an option; that would better separate it from some of the thrillers that I've rated at 3 stars in possible fits of too much generosity.
Why not 4 stars? Not sure the story had to be told by the first-person narrator in a coming-of-age setting. The narrator grows up in Germany, admittedly with a German father and Italian mother, but his voice seems unnaturally Italian. He is implausibly free and enthusiastic in providing details of his sex life with his girlfriend and, even more implausibly, in commenting on his mother's attractive sensuality. His paternal grandfather eventually takes on a fairly important role but drifts through the plot like smoke, hard to grasp and displaying an inconsistent character. There are a few overdone bits, too, but also some effective descriptions of the Calabrian countryside and readings of emotion. And the writing is thankfully and pleasantly concise.

[Philippe G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Florians Grossvater hat einen Lebenstraum: das alte Gasthaus seiner Vorfahren wieder zum Leben erwecken. Er baut die Ruine aus eigener Kraft wieder auf, lehnt die Unterstützung und den Schutz der ‚Ndrangheta ab und landet im Gefängnis.

Als er aus dem Gefängnis entlassen wird, ist Florian 17-jährig und reist mit seiner Mutter aus Deutschland an. Sein Grossvater nimmt das Projekt wieder auf und steckt Florian mit seinem Traum an. Florian beginnt sich für seine kalabrischen Wurzeln zu interessieren.

Abate beschreibt den Alltag und zeichnet dabei eine fiktive Familiengeschichte, eingebettet in die Realität der Südspitze des italienischen Stiefels. Seine bildhafte Beschreibung Kalabriens weckt die Lust, diese Gegend zu entdecken.

[Emanuela Corigliano · Rating 4 out of 5]

«Questa terra piace ed è piaciuta a tutti, tranne a chi ci è nato, ci vive e ci muore. Sono tutti ciechi, qui, e sordi».
«Non dire così, ch'è peccato» lo rimproverò la nonna.
«C'è gente in gamba anche qua, come dappertutto.
Pure tu sei nato qua, non scordartelo.»

[Petri · Rating 5 out of 5]

sembra di essere in Calabria con Giorgio, respiri e vedi con i protagonisti..scritto benissimo, pianto come non facevo da anni.

[Valia · Rating 3 out of 5]

🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑

[Paola Franceschini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Letto in un giorno, e lo ho molto apprezzato. La storia di un ragazzino italotedesco che è affascinato dalla figura di suo nonno , avvolta da un mistero,e del suo grande sogno.
La storia si svolge tra Amburgo piena di neve, e la polverosa e calda Calabria. I posti sono descritti così bene che sembra proprio di stare li, tra due mari, nella natura selvaggia di un borgo in collina.
Un aurore che voglio sicuramente approfondire

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a sun-struck, nostalgic coming of age novel about fathers and sons and echoes of values across generations. It is also about hotels and the Mafia and Alexandre Dumas (not necessarily in that order). I can say, with no hesitation, that this is the sweetest, loveliest, most generous tale I've ever read that also happens to be built around a horrific murder and a vicious blood feud. So, a little weird* but good. Note: I advise reading this book if and only if you have access to reasonably high-quality Italian food, because it will make you hungry.



*Digression: the relationships in this novel all hinge upon a chance meeting between a young German man and a young Italian man in the years immediately following World War II. That the war is hardly addressed at all (except as an afterthought that kind of, sort of allows the German man-twenty-two in 1945--a way to not be a Nazi, or at least fighting for the Nazi Army)feels like a deliberate omission. And I can't figure out if it's that Abate just doesn't think it's relevant (but how could it not be for a story that begins with two young men in Italy, in the immediate aftermath of WWII?) or if he thinks it redundant (does he just assume his readers will think, "Hey, these two guys are blithely wandering around bombed-out, immediately post-war Europe. They probably fought for the Axis and may have personally been fascists for a minute, but the war's over so they're ready to meet some ladies and work on their tans. Have some lasagna and listen to this tale of summer love and brutal Mafia vengeance!). Is it just that I'm an American that it bothers me? Like, is the whole "not talking about it" thing a convention among European writers of a certain generation? And I don't mean to harp on this, but seriously, ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM. Digression completed.

[Meagan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was intrigued by parts of this book, but I found some aspects confusing, from little things (why does Florian call his father by his first name but always refer to his mother as mother?) to structural issues (how does the author signal that he's jumping in time from the narrator's childhood to his mother's childhood to his grandfathers' initial meeting?). At 70 pages in, I decided I wasn't invested enough in the narrative to finish the book.

[Esther · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love lost, betrayed families, and a mysterious disappearance and reappearance of a beloved grandfather, as told by a young grandson named Florian. This story is partially in flashback and skips around its own timeline, creating parallels between generations.

Carmine Abate's style is lovely and descriptive, and the imagery is quite good. The flashback format got a little confusing in places, but the plot was still discernible at all times.

[61pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bello! Senti proprio i profumi della calabria, l'asprezza del paesaggio, il calore della sua gente. Senza dimenticare comunque le sue problematiche di fondo: la povertà e la criminalità.
Sono sempre più entusiasta degli autori italiani soprattutto per la ricchezza del linguaggio; credo che sia anche un problema di traduzione per gli autori stranieri perché non sempre le sfumature si possono rendere in una lingua diversa.

[giorgiafollenti · Rating 3 out of 5]

L’ho letto per scuola ma mi ha sorpreso veramente. Non è nulla di avvincente o chissà cosa, ma leggere della dedizione di un uomo nel realizzare il suo sogno quello sì che è avvincente. L’amore racconto in questo libro anche è unico: l’amore per la famiglia, l’amore per un luogo, l’amore per la storia, per chi ti circonda, per un oggetto. Questo libro è qualcosa di impressionante a modo suo.

[Cory · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't get into this book. The story is interesting enough, or should have been, but something about the language seemed flat to me. Maybe it's because this is translated from the Italian. My first failed read of the new year!

[Cadillacrazy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting little story set in Italy and Germany. I got through the book quickly, and while it may not grab you right away, it is much like the story it tells and sneaks in around you, and you find yourself more involved and happy about it then you thought you would be.

[Michaela Jane Solway]

Love it so far.....interesting juxtaposition between the marriage of the cold northerner & the sultry south...
Have just finished this wonderful book, with all my favourite components.. S Italy, food, & even photography..
Came to Abate late...but intend to become an avid reader of his work....

[Lisa Voutt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book so much. So much so, I have decided to take a year off and move to the nearby villages in this book!

[Tatiana Cuevas kemp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing story of perseverance,family ties and great friendships

[Giuseppe · Rating 5 out of 5]

E' uno dei libri che più ho amato. Le atmosfere, i colori e i sapori di una terra, la Calabria, che si fondono con la trama su cui scorre il filo logico del libro, sono il vero grande risultato di quest'opera di Abate. Lo scrittore calabrese riesce con grande bravura a narrare le vicende del protagonista senza mai abbandonare il piano descrittivo dei luoghi. Il fondaco del fico è il luogo da cui parte tutto. E' infatti il punto di partenza ma anche il punto di arrivo dell'opera. E' una storia di migrazioni, di passione per la propria terra, di grande sensibilità e soprattutto di ribellione, di lotta per l'onestà senza compromessi. Carmine Abate riesce, come sempre, a declinare tante sfaccettature e tanti intenti in un'opera snella e apparentemente fin troppo discorsiva. In realtà non vi è alcuna banalità. E' un libro che fa riflettere e che forse ci fa ritornare alle origini e che ci spinge a pensare ai veri valori della vita. 5 stelle su 5.