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The Ninth Sphere
THE PAST CAN EITHER BE YOUR POISON, OR YOUR TUTOR. Native New Yorker Joe Caggiano moved to Los Angeles in the 1980s with a dream to make it big in the movie business. Instead, like millions of young hopefuls, he spent 30 years working in the restaurant business. An avid reader with multiple advanced degrees but no instinct for self-promotion, Joe watched his dreams fritter away while others in his circle achieved their goals and, in some cases, made the world a better place. Now suddenly unemployed, Joe seems destined to spend the rest of his life on the sidelines, until a chance meeting with a bright young girl turns everything around. Thanks to an angel-faced orphan on the run from an abusive foster home, Joe embarks on a path of discovery, happiness, and enlightenment that promises to far outshine any of the Hollywood dreams that originally brought him to the City of Angels.
289 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 7, 2021
824 people want to read
About the author
Joseph Sciuto
11 books171 followersJoseph Sciuto was born and raised in New York City, where he spent his early years listening to his Italian-American grandmother’s vivid stories about how their family was responsible for building much of the impressive Manhattan skyline, including the Empire State Building. The rich flavor of her stories about their family’s heritage still works its way through his writing.
Sciuto holds degrees from both John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Stony Brook University and a certificate in film studies from New York University. After studying psychology, film, theater, literature, and English as an undergraduate, he relocated to Southern California to attend graduate school at Loyola Marymount University, where he studied writing and film.
Sciuto holds degrees from both John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Stony Brook University and a certificate in film studies from New York University. After studying psychology, film, theater, literature, and English as an undergraduate, he relocated to Southern California to attend graduate school at Loyola Marymount University, where he studied writing and film.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 21, 2024
"The past can be either your tutor or your poison."
The narrator of The Ninth Sphere, Joe Caggiano, grew up in a loving, supportive Italian-American family in the Bronx. He left New York for Los Angeles to pursue his dream of working in the movie business. However, like most Hollywood hopefuls, he never achieved these big aspirations and spent his career working in the restaurant industry.
Joe's life is full of regret. Although he had a fulfilling career in the restaurant business, he feels like a failure for not achieving his original career ambitions. Worse yet, he feels that he failed his family. They had always been so supportive of his dreams, even when he moved to the other side of the country. Although his family just wanted him to be happy, Joe feels like he let them down. As a result, Joe struggled with depression for many years, even contemplating suicide.
Salvation comes in the form of Bee, a precocious nine-year-old orphan girl who finds Joe one day and asks him to rescue her from abusive foster parents. Bee has lived a very difficult life, abused by her biological parents before they were killed in an accident, and then abused even more severely by her foster parents, who were just using her to collect a monthly check from the government. Bee is covered in bruises and even mentions to Joe about her own suicidical thoughts.
The title of the book is a reference to Dante's Paradiso, the third part of his Divine Comedy after Inferno and Purgatorio. In Paradiso, Dante represents heaven as a series of nine concentric spheres surrounding the Earth. The ninth sphere represents the outermost layer of the physical universe before reaching the Divine. In other words, the ninth sphere represents the interface between the physical universe and heaven, i.e., the closest we can come to Paradise while still existing in this world.
In The Ninth Sphere, we follow two characters as they escape from either their inferno (in the case of Bee) or their purgatory (in the case of Joe) to help each other in finding their own peace and happiness here on Earth. To do so, they must come to terms with their past, understanding that Paradise isn't necessarily what we think it will be. Despite years of abuse, Bee gradually learns to understand that the world is a better place with her in it, that she can be loved for who she is, and that she can bring genuine joy to others, helping to save Joe in the process.
I would like to thank the author, Joseph Sciuto, for sending me a copy of this book. Joe did not ask me to write a review, but I am happy to do so anyway!
The narrator of The Ninth Sphere, Joe Caggiano, grew up in a loving, supportive Italian-American family in the Bronx. He left New York for Los Angeles to pursue his dream of working in the movie business. However, like most Hollywood hopefuls, he never achieved these big aspirations and spent his career working in the restaurant industry.
Joe's life is full of regret. Although he had a fulfilling career in the restaurant business, he feels like a failure for not achieving his original career ambitions. Worse yet, he feels that he failed his family. They had always been so supportive of his dreams, even when he moved to the other side of the country. Although his family just wanted him to be happy, Joe feels like he let them down. As a result, Joe struggled with depression for many years, even contemplating suicide.
Salvation comes in the form of Bee, a precocious nine-year-old orphan girl who finds Joe one day and asks him to rescue her from abusive foster parents. Bee has lived a very difficult life, abused by her biological parents before they were killed in an accident, and then abused even more severely by her foster parents, who were just using her to collect a monthly check from the government. Bee is covered in bruises and even mentions to Joe about her own suicidical thoughts.
The title of the book is a reference to Dante's Paradiso, the third part of his Divine Comedy after Inferno and Purgatorio. In Paradiso, Dante represents heaven as a series of nine concentric spheres surrounding the Earth. The ninth sphere represents the outermost layer of the physical universe before reaching the Divine. In other words, the ninth sphere represents the interface between the physical universe and heaven, i.e., the closest we can come to Paradise while still existing in this world.
In The Ninth Sphere, we follow two characters as they escape from either their inferno (in the case of Bee) or their purgatory (in the case of Joe) to help each other in finding their own peace and happiness here on Earth. To do so, they must come to terms with their past, understanding that Paradise isn't necessarily what we think it will be. Despite years of abuse, Bee gradually learns to understand that the world is a better place with her in it, that she can be loved for who she is, and that she can bring genuine joy to others, helping to save Joe in the process.
I would like to thank the author, Joseph Sciuto, for sending me a copy of this book. Joe did not ask me to write a review, but I am happy to do so anyway!
June 13, 2021
Joseph Sciuto’s “Ninth Sphere” is about one man’s journey to heave . . . figuratively speaking. In this heart-warming saga a middle-aged man’s life is suddenly given a new purpose when he encounters Bee, an abused orphan girl whose childhood is the polar opposite of what had been his own. The poor little girl even admits to having thoughts of suicide, as had Joe over the past several years. Joe, through a series of dreams/flashbacks, feels he has sinned against God The Father for he had known only kindness and good his entire childhood and never paid back any of it in his adult life. That is until he meets Bee.
Having been too busy simply living life and working in the restaurant business, Joe had pushed aside his dreams of becoming a famous screenwriter, the very reason he had moved to Los Angeles in the first place. Yet during his extensive career in the restaurant business, he had gotten to meet many famous and influential people in the industry, though by doing such had let slip away his own dreams. Some very touching scenes were when Joe would dream about his family back in Brooklyn, his Uncle Tony especially, whom he brought beer and a newspaper to even though he was visiting him in a funeral parlor. Joe had had a very close relationship with his uncle, and aunts while growing up, his parents both working. His dreams were brought about by his fear of having let his family down by never marrying and having a family of his own, or ever carrying through with his dream of fame and fortune. It was at the end of his restaurant career that Joe was having doubts about the direction of his life, thus for the book’s namesake comparing it to Dante’s Ninth Sphere.
Again, it’s when he meets the little street urchin, Bee, that all that changes. He had earlier been let go from his restaurant job—though no matter to that because he’d just inherited a large sum of money and a portion of a film studio from a close friend, Simon, whom he’d met while waiting tables at an exclusive restaurant—and was in a very confused state of being. With trepidation at first, he comes to learn about the little girl’s tragic past and begins to feel for her . . . in fact eventually coming to see her as to being near “angelic”. Along about this time, too, Joe had met the woman of his dreams via the passing of his close friend, Simon. Anne was Simon’s sister, though through no blood relation, he being an orphan himself, and after spending an enchanting afternoon at lunch with Joe, after the reading of Simon’s last will and testament, falls in love with him. Joe is, for all intents and purposes, the consummate gentleman.
Simon had placed Joe on a pedestal due to their mutual interest in literature, and many other matters outside of Hollywood, which Simon admittedly despised. The way Simon had planned affairs (for surely the meeting of the two seemed divinely inspired, in a way) he brought together these two lonely hearts--Anne currently suffering through a loveless marriage--Simon just knew the two would somehow carry on his company, not to mention fall in love with one another. Simon did not know, however, about little Bee having inadvertently come into Joe’s life . . . and now Anne’s. Yet as it turned out it was meant to be, the love between the three of them was positively Heaven sent.
The main take-away from this book is that joe makes it to heaven, one here on earth, after his feeling he had let down his family and was near living in hell. The flashbacks worked wonderfully throughout the book, giving you a true feeling for the depth of Joe’s character. He may have squandered his middle years, but with a little help from Simon, and his devotion to family, and a strong belief in God, Joe ends up in absolute bliss, which is repeatedly evidenced by both his new loves, Bee, and Anne. Joe’s is a fantastic story that pulls upon one’s heartstrings, often times making the reader take a better look at their own life. And with the turmoil’s occurring in our world of today, it is very difficult for any author not to make mention of it—yet Joe Sciuto manages to achieve this sparingly, and quite appropriately I might add, further anchoring his latest story in today’s upside-down world. Thank you, Mr. Sciuto!
Having been too busy simply living life and working in the restaurant business, Joe had pushed aside his dreams of becoming a famous screenwriter, the very reason he had moved to Los Angeles in the first place. Yet during his extensive career in the restaurant business, he had gotten to meet many famous and influential people in the industry, though by doing such had let slip away his own dreams. Some very touching scenes were when Joe would dream about his family back in Brooklyn, his Uncle Tony especially, whom he brought beer and a newspaper to even though he was visiting him in a funeral parlor. Joe had had a very close relationship with his uncle, and aunts while growing up, his parents both working. His dreams were brought about by his fear of having let his family down by never marrying and having a family of his own, or ever carrying through with his dream of fame and fortune. It was at the end of his restaurant career that Joe was having doubts about the direction of his life, thus for the book’s namesake comparing it to Dante’s Ninth Sphere.
Again, it’s when he meets the little street urchin, Bee, that all that changes. He had earlier been let go from his restaurant job—though no matter to that because he’d just inherited a large sum of money and a portion of a film studio from a close friend, Simon, whom he’d met while waiting tables at an exclusive restaurant—and was in a very confused state of being. With trepidation at first, he comes to learn about the little girl’s tragic past and begins to feel for her . . . in fact eventually coming to see her as to being near “angelic”. Along about this time, too, Joe had met the woman of his dreams via the passing of his close friend, Simon. Anne was Simon’s sister, though through no blood relation, he being an orphan himself, and after spending an enchanting afternoon at lunch with Joe, after the reading of Simon’s last will and testament, falls in love with him. Joe is, for all intents and purposes, the consummate gentleman.
Simon had placed Joe on a pedestal due to their mutual interest in literature, and many other matters outside of Hollywood, which Simon admittedly despised. The way Simon had planned affairs (for surely the meeting of the two seemed divinely inspired, in a way) he brought together these two lonely hearts--Anne currently suffering through a loveless marriage--Simon just knew the two would somehow carry on his company, not to mention fall in love with one another. Simon did not know, however, about little Bee having inadvertently come into Joe’s life . . . and now Anne’s. Yet as it turned out it was meant to be, the love between the three of them was positively Heaven sent.
The main take-away from this book is that joe makes it to heaven, one here on earth, after his feeling he had let down his family and was near living in hell. The flashbacks worked wonderfully throughout the book, giving you a true feeling for the depth of Joe’s character. He may have squandered his middle years, but with a little help from Simon, and his devotion to family, and a strong belief in God, Joe ends up in absolute bliss, which is repeatedly evidenced by both his new loves, Bee, and Anne. Joe’s is a fantastic story that pulls upon one’s heartstrings, often times making the reader take a better look at their own life. And with the turmoil’s occurring in our world of today, it is very difficult for any author not to make mention of it—yet Joe Sciuto manages to achieve this sparingly, and quite appropriately I might add, further anchoring his latest story in today’s upside-down world. Thank you, Mr. Sciuto!
March 21, 2023
Wow! Joseph Sciuto did it again! I was in such a reading slump for several months and I decided to pick up Ninth Sphere last night and I finished it in one sitting. Joseph Sciuto’s work should speak for him and it’s such a breath of fresh air. My introduction to his work was a few years ago and each time a new book comes out I’m even more impressed. His books are webs of love, second chances, regrets and redemption, hope and death and one was an international espionage.
Ninth Sphere’s story chronicles the life of our protagonist named Joe living in Hollywood, single, loves playing basketball in the neighborhood courts and loves his friends at the restaurant. He meets a 9 year old runaway named Bee who came from a decent family but her parents tragically died in an accident. She was then moved around different foster homes and was sadly abused. Joe decides to help her and I think they met when they really needed each other. It’s such a heartwarming story. I can’t help but to relate to every aspect of Bee’s story because one of my sweetest friends grew up in foster homes. Despite what Bee has been through she’s brilliant, fun, gracious, mature and emotionally stable. Joe’s willingness to help her and take in a deserving child made me cry! I cried because I loved seeing hope for this child. And the book continues on their story through ups and downs. Wealth changes some people while others choose to change peoples lives.
Many writers come and go but not many can achieve the level of emotion Sciuto can bring out of me. Some I cry and some I laugh and most of them I have re-read and have some favorite scenes. But its safe to say that the moment I open a Sciutto book, guaranteed I can’t do anything else but finish the book. That’s how good each one of his books and this one is no exception.
Ninth Sphere’s story chronicles the life of our protagonist named Joe living in Hollywood, single, loves playing basketball in the neighborhood courts and loves his friends at the restaurant. He meets a 9 year old runaway named Bee who came from a decent family but her parents tragically died in an accident. She was then moved around different foster homes and was sadly abused. Joe decides to help her and I think they met when they really needed each other. It’s such a heartwarming story. I can’t help but to relate to every aspect of Bee’s story because one of my sweetest friends grew up in foster homes. Despite what Bee has been through she’s brilliant, fun, gracious, mature and emotionally stable. Joe’s willingness to help her and take in a deserving child made me cry! I cried because I loved seeing hope for this child. And the book continues on their story through ups and downs. Wealth changes some people while others choose to change peoples lives.
Many writers come and go but not many can achieve the level of emotion Sciuto can bring out of me. Some I cry and some I laugh and most of them I have re-read and have some favorite scenes. But its safe to say that the moment I open a Sciutto book, guaranteed I can’t do anything else but finish the book. That’s how good each one of his books and this one is no exception.
June 10, 2021
"The Ninth Sphere," by Joseph Sciuto just might be his best book in a long list of wonderful novels written by the author.
At the very heart of the novel, is the theme that redemption and renewal can still be achieved at any age. Joe, the main character in the novel, is sixty-one years old when he is fired from the restaurant he worked at for over thirty years.
Like millions of other individuals, he moved to Los Angeles from New York in the early 1980's in hope of making it in the film business, but instead settled for a career in an upscale restaurant working as a busboy, waiter, part-time manager, and occasional bartender.
Equipped with multiple degrees and a love for books and knowledge, his family back east felt that he would make a difference, a positive contribution, to the world and humanity. The idea that the worst of sins is to be able to make a positive difference and to do nothing.
Joe caught in a world wind of guilt and regrets, feeling he has let down his family... Who are now mostly deceased in a big way... Is sitting on a park bench in Studio City, Ca. when a dirty little girl who seems like she just came up from the sewer sits next to him. His first response, is to try to get away from her, but when that doesn't work he finds himself taking her back to his home to clean up and get a good night sleep. She has run away from her foster parents who have beat and abused her.
The little girl, Bee, has the face of an angel after she gets all cleaned up. This unwanted, abused little angel, will guide Joe on a path of redemption and fulfillment he never would have thought possible. "The Ninth Sphere," is one of the most beautiful, inspiring, and heartwarming novels I have ever read. It is truly fantastic.
At the very heart of the novel, is the theme that redemption and renewal can still be achieved at any age. Joe, the main character in the novel, is sixty-one years old when he is fired from the restaurant he worked at for over thirty years.
Like millions of other individuals, he moved to Los Angeles from New York in the early 1980's in hope of making it in the film business, but instead settled for a career in an upscale restaurant working as a busboy, waiter, part-time manager, and occasional bartender.
Equipped with multiple degrees and a love for books and knowledge, his family back east felt that he would make a difference, a positive contribution, to the world and humanity. The idea that the worst of sins is to be able to make a positive difference and to do nothing.
Joe caught in a world wind of guilt and regrets, feeling he has let down his family... Who are now mostly deceased in a big way... Is sitting on a park bench in Studio City, Ca. when a dirty little girl who seems like she just came up from the sewer sits next to him. His first response, is to try to get away from her, but when that doesn't work he finds himself taking her back to his home to clean up and get a good night sleep. She has run away from her foster parents who have beat and abused her.
The little girl, Bee, has the face of an angel after she gets all cleaned up. This unwanted, abused little angel, will guide Joe on a path of redemption and fulfillment he never would have thought possible. "The Ninth Sphere," is one of the most beautiful, inspiring, and heartwarming novels I have ever read. It is truly fantastic.
April 21, 2022
Only someone with an angelic heart and an iridescent soul could write a book of such joy and mended sorrow and have me believe it.
Joe, a jaded, hard-drinking pensioned-off manager of a fashionable restaurant in downtown L.A. paces through his days in a world-weary pattern that starts with his morning run, now walk due to a hip replacement. As he perambulates the same well-worn path around his attractive neighborhood, barely acknowledging his neighbours, he remembers conversations with his Uncle Tony, the sage and mentor of his childhood.
Mid-morning, Joe sits in the bleachers of a basketball court watching the youngsters play. Thoughts come tumbling in and he beats himself up for the little he has made of his life given his gifts - a scholar with a towering intellect, a passion for basketball and dreams of becoming a screenwriter. Joe mourns the life that might have been had he been courageous enough to follow just one of his dreams as opposed to settling for the well-paid job managing the restaurant. This musing and regretting is punctuated by vivid memories of an idyllic childhood growing up in the Bronx in the bosom of an extended, loving Italian family. And his nights are febrile with dreams of his Uncle Tony, conversations that take place in the morgue where Tony is laid out in readiness for the funeral that never quite takes place. These conversations cycle over Joe's regrets and he is forever apologizing to his family via Uncle Tony for failing to fulfill his potential.
Into Joe's stale life a child tumbles - a scruffy, dirty, orphaned child who sits next to him one morning on a bleacher and asks him to take her home so she can have a shower and sleep in a warm bed as opposed to the streets. Reluctant Joe tries to buy her off with a wad of cash and when that fails, he disappears into a bar and downs a dozen beers. But the child is waiting and Joe, because he is fundamentally decent, offers her the use of his shower, a meal and one night only under his roof.
One night turns into two and when the girl shows him her bruises from the daily beatings she has run away from his weary heart breaks open and here the story transitions into such a life-affirming fairy-tale the reader is tempted to clap her hands and cry, "I do believe in fairies! I do! I do!" And in a subtle way Joseph Sciuto asks us to suspend belief and listen to his spellbinding tale with an open heart. I strongly suggest you do because the wonder is worth it.
Now Joe's dreary life is turned upside down with the arrival of this angelic nine-year-old girl whose capacity for love is matched only by Joe's long-departed and much-adored family, specifically the sage-like Uncle Tony. Joe, who has avoided matrimony and never risked friendship beyond selected customers in the restaurant and one delightful Chinese delivery man, suddenly finds himself the object of female attention and the saviour of one divine little girl. Love flows off these pages like ambrosia and wounds heal in a brush of celestial feathers. Rose-colored glasses? Perhaps. But I believe there is a spiritual readiness all souls acquire, if they're lucky and if they're willing, a state of heart and mind in which love is a natural exchange and life flows from a font of grace.
Mr Joseph Sciuto understands life too well to be duped by subterfuge so when he writes that love can be given and received without consequence, exaggeration, duplicity or graft I believe him. I want to believe him.
The Ninth Sphere is where Beatrice saves Dante from the devil by virtue of her innocence and the power of Dante's love, a love bordering on worship. Unreal? Perhaps. But if the power of love is transformation then let's allow the lens. In this skillfully written parable, Joseph Sciuto invites us all to believe in love and I for one, am willing. Highly recommended.
Joe, a jaded, hard-drinking pensioned-off manager of a fashionable restaurant in downtown L.A. paces through his days in a world-weary pattern that starts with his morning run, now walk due to a hip replacement. As he perambulates the same well-worn path around his attractive neighborhood, barely acknowledging his neighbours, he remembers conversations with his Uncle Tony, the sage and mentor of his childhood.
Mid-morning, Joe sits in the bleachers of a basketball court watching the youngsters play. Thoughts come tumbling in and he beats himself up for the little he has made of his life given his gifts - a scholar with a towering intellect, a passion for basketball and dreams of becoming a screenwriter. Joe mourns the life that might have been had he been courageous enough to follow just one of his dreams as opposed to settling for the well-paid job managing the restaurant. This musing and regretting is punctuated by vivid memories of an idyllic childhood growing up in the Bronx in the bosom of an extended, loving Italian family. And his nights are febrile with dreams of his Uncle Tony, conversations that take place in the morgue where Tony is laid out in readiness for the funeral that never quite takes place. These conversations cycle over Joe's regrets and he is forever apologizing to his family via Uncle Tony for failing to fulfill his potential.
Into Joe's stale life a child tumbles - a scruffy, dirty, orphaned child who sits next to him one morning on a bleacher and asks him to take her home so she can have a shower and sleep in a warm bed as opposed to the streets. Reluctant Joe tries to buy her off with a wad of cash and when that fails, he disappears into a bar and downs a dozen beers. But the child is waiting and Joe, because he is fundamentally decent, offers her the use of his shower, a meal and one night only under his roof.
One night turns into two and when the girl shows him her bruises from the daily beatings she has run away from his weary heart breaks open and here the story transitions into such a life-affirming fairy-tale the reader is tempted to clap her hands and cry, "I do believe in fairies! I do! I do!" And in a subtle way Joseph Sciuto asks us to suspend belief and listen to his spellbinding tale with an open heart. I strongly suggest you do because the wonder is worth it.
Now Joe's dreary life is turned upside down with the arrival of this angelic nine-year-old girl whose capacity for love is matched only by Joe's long-departed and much-adored family, specifically the sage-like Uncle Tony. Joe, who has avoided matrimony and never risked friendship beyond selected customers in the restaurant and one delightful Chinese delivery man, suddenly finds himself the object of female attention and the saviour of one divine little girl. Love flows off these pages like ambrosia and wounds heal in a brush of celestial feathers. Rose-colored glasses? Perhaps. But I believe there is a spiritual readiness all souls acquire, if they're lucky and if they're willing, a state of heart and mind in which love is a natural exchange and life flows from a font of grace.
Mr Joseph Sciuto understands life too well to be duped by subterfuge so when he writes that love can be given and received without consequence, exaggeration, duplicity or graft I believe him. I want to believe him.
The Ninth Sphere is where Beatrice saves Dante from the devil by virtue of her innocence and the power of Dante's love, a love bordering on worship. Unreal? Perhaps. But if the power of love is transformation then let's allow the lens. In this skillfully written parable, Joseph Sciuto invites us all to believe in love and I for one, am willing. Highly recommended.
June 9, 2021
A simply wonderful novel, heartwarming, insightful, and beautifully written... and let me repeat that: "The Ninth Sphere" is a beautifully written novel. It flows like a mountain stream on a sunny spring day in late May.
Joe, the main character, is lost in a state of regret and guilt after losing his job in the restaurant he has worked in for over thirty years. In the early 1980's he moved from New York to Los Angeles. Like millions of other individuals, he hoped to make it in the film business but instead found an unwanted career in the restaurant business.
His regrets stem from the fact that, in his mind, he has let down his family and relatives. Lucky, to have been raised surrounded by unconditional love and support and the ability to graduate college and go to graduate school, his family and relatives expected him to make a difference in the world... not so much in the film industry, but to make a difference where he helped make the lives of less unfortunate people better... where he made a difference that really mattered.
Now, at age sixty-one, and with almost all his family and relatives that helped raise him dead, he finds himself sitting on a park bench in Studio City, Ca. when a dirty little girl sits down beside him. She tells him that she is on the run away from her foster parents who beat and abuse her.
Together with this angel face child as a guide, Joe will embark on a journey of redemption that will leave you breathless and with a feeling that it is never too late to make a difference. A truly amazing book.
Joe, the main character, is lost in a state of regret and guilt after losing his job in the restaurant he has worked in for over thirty years. In the early 1980's he moved from New York to Los Angeles. Like millions of other individuals, he hoped to make it in the film business but instead found an unwanted career in the restaurant business.
His regrets stem from the fact that, in his mind, he has let down his family and relatives. Lucky, to have been raised surrounded by unconditional love and support and the ability to graduate college and go to graduate school, his family and relatives expected him to make a difference in the world... not so much in the film industry, but to make a difference where he helped make the lives of less unfortunate people better... where he made a difference that really mattered.
Now, at age sixty-one, and with almost all his family and relatives that helped raise him dead, he finds himself sitting on a park bench in Studio City, Ca. when a dirty little girl sits down beside him. She tells him that she is on the run away from her foster parents who beat and abuse her.
Together with this angel face child as a guide, Joe will embark on a journey of redemption that will leave you breathless and with a feeling that it is never too late to make a difference. A truly amazing book.
December 11, 2025
I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway. This book was fine. I found a lot of the dialogue a bit awkward and stiff. Not flowing naturally like most books I read.
SPOILERS AHEAD
I thought it was strange how quickly Joe fell for Bee, especially when he had never been a parent before. How do you fall in love with a child in less than 24 hours? And what’s with all the pizza? I get it, for the first night but they eat pizza multiple times in this story. The character of Lisa seems super unstable to be a social worker. Who curls up into a ball crying because a 9 year old won’t open a bedroom door? And things between Joe and Annie moved way too quickly. They didn’t even know each other. I thought at the end of the book it was going to be revealed that Bee really was an angel, which might explain the weird behavior of people around her but no, that didn’t happen. I give the author credit for writing the book. That is an achievement in itself but the story was odd.
SPOILERS AHEAD
I thought it was strange how quickly Joe fell for Bee, especially when he had never been a parent before. How do you fall in love with a child in less than 24 hours? And what’s with all the pizza? I get it, for the first night but they eat pizza multiple times in this story. The character of Lisa seems super unstable to be a social worker. Who curls up into a ball crying because a 9 year old won’t open a bedroom door? And things between Joe and Annie moved way too quickly. They didn’t even know each other. I thought at the end of the book it was going to be revealed that Bee really was an angel, which might explain the weird behavior of people around her but no, that didn’t happen. I give the author credit for writing the book. That is an achievement in itself but the story was odd.
June 12, 2021
I loved THE NINTH SPHERE! It was engaging and the characters drew me in immediately. It touched my heart, and I laughed and cried and fell in love all at the same time. The characters "feel real" and I felt like I had an extended family with whom I could share my hopes, dreams and disappointments. If. you are lonely from Covid quarantine or missing your family, THE NINTH SPHERE helps fill the void. Beautiful descriptions, kindness and warmth restore one's faith in humanity. I highly recommend THE NINTH SPHERE.
June 8, 2021
Another great book from my favorite writer. A book about redemption and renewal, shroud and bonded in the sacred words of Dante, Yeats, Byron and Aristotle.
"The Ninth Sphere," is the the final sphere in Dante's masterpiece, "Paradisco," where the poet, guided by Beatrice, encounters the glowing lights of God.
Mr. Sciuto cleverly uses the title as a metaphor for a Heavenly paradise here on earth. The main character, Joe, after being fired from his job after thirty years, is filled with regrets. After arriving in Los Angeles in the early 1980's, in hope of making it in the film business, like millions of other individuals, finds himself working in a restaurant that eventually becomes a lifetime job.
His extended family back in New York had high hopes that one day he would achieve success, that he would make a difference, that 'he' with a massive education behind him would help change the world in a positive and meaningful way.
In a serious of stunning flashbacks, we meet many members of his family, all deceased, who provided him with nothing but unconditional love and support. They never criticized him for working in a restaurant, but deep down he knows that he has let them all down.
Sitting on a park bench in Studio City, watching a group of teenagers play basketball, a dirty, little girl name Bee sits next to him. She tells him that she is running away from her foster parents who have beat and abused her.
This angel face child guides Joe through his constant feelings of guilt and remorse, and shows him a path toward redemption that he never thought possible. Together, they enter an earthly paradise, where the glitter of film making is replaced with the things that truly matter in life. Those things that his loving family would truly be proud that he has achieved.
This book is absolutely beautiful. I cried, and laughed, and came away with a feeling that anything is possible, even when all feels so hopeless and lost.
"The Ninth Sphere," is the the final sphere in Dante's masterpiece, "Paradisco," where the poet, guided by Beatrice, encounters the glowing lights of God.
Mr. Sciuto cleverly uses the title as a metaphor for a Heavenly paradise here on earth. The main character, Joe, after being fired from his job after thirty years, is filled with regrets. After arriving in Los Angeles in the early 1980's, in hope of making it in the film business, like millions of other individuals, finds himself working in a restaurant that eventually becomes a lifetime job.
His extended family back in New York had high hopes that one day he would achieve success, that he would make a difference, that 'he' with a massive education behind him would help change the world in a positive and meaningful way.
In a serious of stunning flashbacks, we meet many members of his family, all deceased, who provided him with nothing but unconditional love and support. They never criticized him for working in a restaurant, but deep down he knows that he has let them all down.
Sitting on a park bench in Studio City, watching a group of teenagers play basketball, a dirty, little girl name Bee sits next to him. She tells him that she is running away from her foster parents who have beat and abused her.
This angel face child guides Joe through his constant feelings of guilt and remorse, and shows him a path toward redemption that he never thought possible. Together, they enter an earthly paradise, where the glitter of film making is replaced with the things that truly matter in life. Those things that his loving family would truly be proud that he has achieved.
This book is absolutely beautiful. I cried, and laughed, and came away with a feeling that anything is possible, even when all feels so hopeless and lost.
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