Alfonso

by Felix Calvino

Alfonso is a gentle yet searching exploration of a Spanish migrant's feelings and experiences in the country Australia used to be more than forty years ago. Felix Calvino infuses the stuff of everyday life with tenderness and magic. He recovers a lost time and sensibility. The past shimmers back to life.

- Venero Armanno

125 pages, Paperback

First published December 22, 2013

About the author

Felix Calvino’s short stories are subtle and soulful, of life growing up in the villages of northern Spain under Franco, and in Australia, where the ghosts and habits of the old country have not vanished.


You can find more information at
my website

https://www.facebook.com/felixcalvino...

Felix Calvino's Fiction http://ahatfulofcherries.blogspot.com/

http://www.scholarly.info/author/84/

Reviews

[Ivana - Diary of Difference · Rating 2 out of 5]

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Alfonso is a young man that has moved to Australia to find a better life. Through his story, we follow his feelings and search for purpose.

As a person that moved to another country to find a better life, I can understand Alfonso and I can relate to what he feels and thinks. Coming into another country can be extremely difficult, leaving your family and friends behind, knowing those relationships will never be the same again. Coming to terms with the fact that you will always be a foreigner and have trouble with people accepting you. Trying to make friends and get inside inner circles of people that have been together since high-school – yeah, good luck with that…

Given how I can relate to Alfonso’s situation, and the similarities I have with this character, I thought I would love this book. But I didn’t. Even though I could relate with him, I couldn’t agree with his perceptions and beliefs. Alfonso was always trying to find a girl to spend his life with. Which is normal and expected. However, instead of being his true and authentic self, he desperately tries to be as “less foreign” as possible and adapt to his audience. This is something that seemed to push the potential women away. Not to mention that he was being quite creepy at times (following a girl’s bus schedule and being there before she departs etc.)

Living in a new environment shouldn’t mean that people should stop being who they are and stop believing in what they do, or respecting and practicing the customs from the country they were born and raised from.

All my friends know that in my country we boil and colour actual eggs for Easter, rather than eat chocolate ones. In our home, me and my boyfriend celebrate two Christmases; one on the 25th December, where he does everything by his tradition, and one on 7th January, where I prepare everything in my tradition. And it works. And it’s double the fun and jolly spirit.

I couldn’t relate with the fact that Alfonso feels that he needs to change and adapt, and leave behind his culture. I also couldn’t comprehend the fact that he needs to have a woman to be happy. He couldn’t seem to find happiness with just himself. And maybe, this is again, part of the tradition. In my country, marriages and forming a family are very important, and this may have influenced Alfonso’s behaviour perhaps.

The most upsetting part about this book was that the book ended, and everything remained the same. No earnings, no character development, no closure. Just a bad vibe of negativity, that was lingering in the air and stayed with me for days, like a bad taste in my mouth that you cannot wash with brushing your teeth.

I am not sure how to properly rate “Alfonso”. It was relatable, but conflicting. Very understandable, but unsatisfactory. And I will be honest, I read books that will either make me feel good, or teach me something new (or both), but this book didn’t provide either…

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[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Felix Calvino is my favorite writer.

[Grady · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cultural Heritage and Miscegenation

Félix Calvino knows the immigrant experience as well as anyone writing. His newest novel, ALFONSO, not only substantiates that his book of short stories, A HATFUL OF CHERRIES, suggested the arrival of an important new voice on the literary scene, it also proves that his brief ideas about finding one’s place in a new country can and have been successfully developed into a full fledged novel.
Calvino was born in Galicia and spent his childhood on a farm not unlike that of his main character the title. Under the reign of General Franco, Calvino fled to England to study and work and eventually migrated to Australia where he currently lives and writes his magical prose. And it is with that insight that Calvino writes about Alfonso, a Spaniard who has immigrated to Australia (Sydney) via stopovers in England and other entertainingly at times hilarious and at other times frightening places. Once in Australia he must learn a new language, work at any job available to immigrants whose language skills of the new home are nascent, make friends with both other people who are form Spain as immigrants and form other countries: Australia is as much a melting pot a s the USA!

But Alfonso is determined, moves form his meager ‘bed sitter’ to purchase a house that needs more than cosmetic repairs, discovers the behavior patterns of neighbors not used to immigrant status and cultures and customs, continues to seek the woman whom he can share his life, meets his dream, Nancy, who is Australian and takes trips to Europe, placing what Alfonso perceives is already an inherent distance between their lives. How Alfonso adjusts during the years in which this novel takes place (1962 to 1971) defines so much more about the immigrant experience and the effects of the Vietnam War and other world events on our transplanted Spanish Australian that many history books piled atop each other could.
Félix Calvino’s voice may be a gentle and quiet one, but it is all the more powerful for the caring way he imparts his story. He has created such poignant phrases as ‘Divorces and funerals are wives’ ultimate weddings’, but to give the reader a sample of his rather astonishingly vivid method of approaching his subject the following extract is a fine one to study:

‘The four walls he had washed and painted twice as a gesture of friendship would have captured, as a mirror would, his frustration at trying to sew on a button, or trying not to scorch a new shirt; his clumsy attempts at cooking dinner with half of the ingredients missing until he trained himself to write a shopping list before going shopping; his relentless learning and relearning of English words; his chores of washing, cleaning, daily bed-making, and weekly changing of the bed sheets. These same walls would have recorded his loneliness in daytime and sadness always at night. The narrow wardrobe, the Triumph stove, the couch, two wooden chairs, and the aluminum table with the green Formica top would have watched his character crossing from youth to man, although he could not identify the exact turning point. Perhaps the pieces came together like a jigsaw. He remembered feeling proud of doing his job well, of having the first thousand-dollar balance stamped in his ANZ Bank savings book. Above all, he had been deeply thankful for having escaped poverty, for being in control of his life, and for how good a life he had. And there was the vague beginning, and understanding, of the forming of his two selves – one made of past memories, the other of new dreams. Dreams had been good companions in the village and they remained so in Australia. Three of them had crystallized into purpose: the satisfactory command of the English language, the owning of a house, and the companionship of a woman. The first two were going well, he thought.’
This extraction from his novel, not unlike his short stories, shows the power in this writer’s mind and hands. He has arrived.

[Timothy Bazzett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Felix Calvino, born in Spain, emigrated to Australia in the sixties where, according to his bio note, he worked for many years in the travel, restaurant and wine industry. He did not attend college until the late 1990s when he studied Spanish and English at the University of Melbourne and began writing. In 2007 he published his first book, a story collection, A HATFUL OF CHERRIES. As of this moment (February 2014) I'm not sure if Felix Calvino's ALFONSO is even available for sale in the United States, but I hope it will be very soon. Because I can't remember enjoying a first novel (a novella really, at just 117 pages) this much in a very long time.

ALFONSO is a deceptively simple story of the life of an immigrant worker, transplanted from his native Galicia in Spain, to Sydney, Australia in the early sixties. Having grown up desperately poor in Franco's Spain, left fatherless by that country's Civil War, Alfonso (there are no last names in the story) is fortunate enough to be apprenticed to a wise old woodworker/carpenter from the age of twelve. Several years later, armed with a skilled trade, an inbred sense of right and wrong, and a strong work ethic, the young man bids farewell to his mother and brother, and sets off for Australia. There he finds regular work with a Sydney construction firm, lives very frugally, saves his money and dreams of a house and family. He takes night courses to learn English and mixes shyly at the local Spanish Club, but fails to find the love he is looking for, feeling torn between the old ways of Spain and those of his newly adopted country, of which a friend says, "Australia had no soul, only overtime, beer, and poker machines."

But Alfonso perseveres in pursuing his dream, buys a ruined row house which he repairs and restores over a three-year period, as he watches his friends and co-workers begin to marry and start families - the part of his dream which comes harder. He listens to other friends complain about Australian women and struggles to slough off the Spanish idea of marriage in which the man must always be dominant and the woman submissive, and engages in a cautious and almost fearful chase-and-retreat courtship of Nancy, a strong young Australian woman. The story culminates with an extremely satisfying and exquisitely crafted scene suggesting rebirth and new beginnings.

Alfonso is a wonderfully imagined and fully realized character that will resonate with readers for a long time. I loved this book! Highly recommended.

[Dhanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

A semi-autobiographical novel by Felix Calvino, is the story of an immigrant who is trying to find his way in a new country. Alfonso is a Spanish immigrant who finds himself attached to his home country’s culture and art. He moves to Australia in search of a job. He manages to grow in this job and buys himself a livable but by no measure a luxury house. The routine gets to his nerves. Alfonso dreams of settling down with a girl and having a family. However, he lets a rare encounter with a beautiful and smart girl go by in fear of marriage and the complications it comes with. He regrets this decision too late in his life. Alfonso goes through bouts of depression, loneliness and monotonous living. As an immigrant who is often surrounded by men and women of his country, he often finds it hard to integrate in the new country. However, he consciously tries to assimilate. Alfonso clearly sees that no matter what he tries, he will still feel distant from the new country.

“It was clear to him that the pain of nostalgia paralyses him, and if left unguarded, might ruin this new life of his that provided all he needed and more than he had ever expected.“

I identified with the protagonist in more ways than one. Although one is in a new country, the heart and soul goes back to home country every single minute, like Felix Calvino puts it, “Ahead, the empty hours between mealtimes and bedtime. Ahead, old dreams, old omens and regrets dying within the coils of his memory.” The memories of home are inextricable from one’s life. It’s almost as valiant an effort as separating a fish from water.

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful, gentle book - filled with longing and exquisitely phrased.
The pace is slow and the story subtle, both good things in this case.
Calvino captures the loneliness and dislocation of the migrant's experience perfectly.

[Rosannal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Calvino's pared back style takes the reader into the life of Alfonso, a newly arrived migrant to Australia in the 1960s. Set in Sydney, it gives a good description of the city at that time and the issues faced by Alfonso and his friends. An engaging read.

[Jessica Foster · Rating 5 out of 5]

I met Félix Calvino only yesterday by chance in the library and he was so generous as to give me a copy of his lovely book and sign it. It is always delightful to receive a book, better still when the book in question is so wise and addictive to read.

Calvino’s writing is precise. Nothing is out of place. But it is beautiful. I came back to the library today and sat down and read the whole thing, forgetting lunch. If only I had known who I had really met when I ran into Calvino!

This succinct story is about Alfonso, a Spanish migrant to Australia in the 60s/early 70s, and his determination to succeed in this country. He succeeds in almost every sense. But he is lonely, he wants a family and he feels he is stuck between two worlds, two ways of thinking. The thing is, Alfonso never really has to ‘assimilate’, there is so much Spanish culture right in Sydney he could go on and never really learn English properly – he could surround himself by Spanish entirely. He works in construction and like his fellow migrant colleagues, he could partake in the misogynistic attitude and suspicion of women and either never get married or marry a ‘submissive’ Spanish girl, just happy just to have running hot and cold water. Australian women seem to want it all, too much. His friend Raul is suspicious of Australian women and soon Alfonso gives in to this suspicion, and superstition - he grew up surrounded by superstition.

But what is so admirable about Alfonso is that he wants more, he knows he needs more, something more soulful and seeks it. He can’t be silent, he learns English masterfully. And he doesn't want to sit keeping his prosperity to himself, his heart beats and he longs for all that a woman can provide. This is such a beautiful story about finding a place, in a new country and with oneself.

Australia is very present in this novel, from the yearning to succeed in material ways – the Australian dream as it were to build a home from hard work and renovation to those familiar Sydney streets, the barbeque and compulsory beer and chops with friends and the housewarming that’s a little past its due date! And there is a lovely hum to the prose, it is meditative, the walking to work, the train, reaching for bread and cheese washed down with wine. It’s as reliable and punctuating as a smoker leaving the table to satisfy their latest craving. It’s a short spell and it’s beautiful.

Above all, it’s a relevant story, this was a time when Australia really grew and this idea of multiculturalism took hold. My own mother came to Australia from India and in Sydney sought company mostly with fellow Indians. Finally she married an Australian but I’m not sure that she made the same leap as Alfonso. She lost her Hindi language and never properly mastered the English one. Her Indian friends moved on but she never replaced them with Australian ones. Growing up, it felt I was a stranger to both cultures; never able to enjoy Aussie culture or play with other kids but I was also a big-boned foreigner to my Indian family. So there has been a lot of wishing that mum had done both, embraced English and taught me Hindi - but I can’t exactly understand what it’s like to come so far, to face the struggles of working in another country, knowing you just escaped poverty. No, I can’t exactly complain having grown up here, knowing nothing else. Calvino has given me wonderful insight.
I will treasure the kind gift, thank you.

[Melissa Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have just finished this beautiful book. There is so much wisdom packed into those 117 pages. The closing image of the snake shedding its skin and Alfonso in the house he renovated brought tears to my eyes. Calvino uses clothing and the home as great images for Alfonso transforming into a man. I loved how the author merged the imagery on the final page. Were they ghosts, memories, of Alfonso as a boy with his mother, or was it the light, when you just open your eyes? It all works and flows together. Calvino’s writing is exquisite, the sadness, the complexity of the emotion that he has invested in Alfonso, told through his daily rituals, his habits and behaviour, feels very real. I can relate to his struggles to go out into the world, and then the rewards, or the love, the living, he receives when he does muster up the courage to do so.

I really liked Nancy. She is portrayed in a way that grows more and more complex, with different layers of her personality unfolding. I think her patience with Alfonso the most important aspect of her, in a way. That is what he needs, at that moment. He is unable to help himself, he is paralysed, and in fact, acts in ways to push her away. He is so exquisitely conflicted and tortured by his inexperience, expectations, and needs. Nancy does not seem to know Alfonso well, but it seems that she accepts him and, not necessarily understands him, maybe she does, I cannot tell, but she is patient with him. She allows him to be himself. I am pleased the author allowed the reader hope in the end. I find Calvino’s writing very comforting, and that is the writing that I love most of all. Writing that is true, that tells me something about living, about being alive, wrapping sadness and joy up together. That is why I read literature, to discover something that is true in a story, and to be comforted.

[Cass Moriarty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes a novella is the perfect length - long enough to engage with the characters and to get your teeth into the story; short enough to carry around with you, and to still get that satisfactory feeling of finishing a book! And when the novella is a colourful tale, simply told, full of smells and sounds and visions and ideas and memories and dreams and hopes ... well, so much the better. Felix Calvino's novella Alfonso is all of these things. Alfonso is a Spanish migrant who hopes to master the English language, to prosper, and to meet a good woman, in his new homeland of Australia (not necessarily in that order). This is the story of his journey. It begins with clear and distinct memories of what and who he has left behind - his family, his church, his village, his dead father (killed in the war). It progresses to his first experiences in a land far removed from his place of birth in terms of, well, almost everything - climate and weather, landscape, language, culture, customs and people. It depicts in vivid detail his first struggling attempts to gain a foothold in his new country - simple steps such as purchasing furniture and household implements, to eventually buying a small house and completely renovating it, room by room. And always, hovering in the background of all his successes and failures over the years, is his want and need for a woman to share his life, and his bed.
This is a book that is easy to read; a straightforward story of home and travels, of arrivals and departures, of making a nest of one's own. It is an interesting and sensitive portrait of the migrant experience of the sixties and seventies, and of just how much it costs - financially, socially, and emotionally - to leave behind all you know in order to follow your hopes for something better.

[Joanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this book from Goodreads in exchange for an honest review.

I thought the imagery in this book was great. I felt as if I was actually there with Alfonso, living his day-to-day life. I do wish the passage of time had been a little more clear, and sometimes the book mentioned previous events that didn't seem to have actually happened, but overall it was great.