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The Jewish Husband
It is 1938 and fascist Italy has imposed its infamous race laws. A young Jewish professor entertains a tormented passion for the beautiful and enigmatic Sonia. She is everything that he is the privileged daughter of a family that is wealthy, prominent, and above all, gentile. He wins her affections, but the price is great. He must deny his origins in order to enter that jealously guarded circle of intimates composed of her family and their friends. It is a world that has no use for him and forces him into humiliating and painful compromises.
Winner of the Moravia Prize for fiction, The Jewish Husband is a bittersweet story of passion and hatred, cruelty and oppression. It is an account of a country and a time about which too little has been written, and the terrible consequences of that period?s race laws. Above all, however, it is a tender love story set at a time in which the world and its inhabitants appeared to have completely lost their ability to show tenderness.
Winner of the Moravia Prize for fiction, The Jewish Husband is a bittersweet story of passion and hatred, cruelty and oppression. It is an account of a country and a time about which too little has been written, and the terrible consequences of that period?s race laws. Above all, however, it is a tender love story set at a time in which the world and its inhabitants appeared to have completely lost their ability to show tenderness.
209 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
September 5, 2024
IN DIFESA DELLA RAZZA
”Concorrenza sleale” (2001) di Ettore Scola è un film che racconta le leggi razziali a Roma attraverso la storia di due commercianti di “razza” diversa.
Com’è noto nel XX secolo abbiamo inventato l’amore.
Prima di allora chi è che credeva all’amore, chi avrebbe mai rinunciato a qualcosa di sicuro a favore delle incertezze di questo (estremamente) volatile sentimento, chi avrebbe anteposto amore a sicurezza e benessere? Biancaneve e il suo principe azzurro. D’amore si narrava nelle fiabe per bambini.
E anche coi bambini il XX secolo è stato magnanimo inventando l’infanzia… Ma questa è un’altra storia.
Per tornare alla prima storia, non tutti erano d’accordo: non tutti erano pronti disponibili e aperti ad accogliere il sentimento d’amore e anteporlo ad altre esigenze di ben maggiore solidità e peso specifico.
È proprio quello che succede in questo romanzo di Lia Levi, cantrice per eccellenza degli anni che dal 1922 degenerarono nell’ultima guerra mondiale.
Dino è un’insegnante di lettere al liceo innamorato della poesia di Pindaro, figlio dei proprietari del romano Albergo della Magnolia. Si innamora a prima vista di Sonia, ospite dell’albergo per una festa di capodanno (1930) nella quale lei si rompe una gamba. Per Dino da questo momento è impossibile vedere le cose chiaramente: l’amore per Sonia vince su tutto, gli appanna la vista.
Anche sul fatto che lui è ebreo e lei invece di famiglia ‘gentile’, che siamo negli anni Trenta e a un certo punto il regime emana le cosiddette leggi razziali molto razziste, che il suocero è convinto fascista.
Per Dino comincia una lunga e relativamente lenta discesa: per difendere il suo amore dovrà obbedire a sempre più richieste imposte dal suocero. Una rinuncia dietro l’altra, tra le quali quella all’albergo di famiglia non è la più umiliante.
Un percorso di umiliazione spirituale ma anche fisica imposto dal suocero al quale l’ariana Sonia non si oppone: giustificato da un meschino perbenismo che non conosce dubbi, con il benestare di una società e di un regime pronto a emanare le leggi più inique.
Gli interpreti protagonisti del film di Scola sono Diego Abatantuono e Sergio Castellitto.
La purezza del sentimento d’amore accesosi al primo incontro tra i due giovani viene man mano contaminata e compromessa: ma Dino non è disposto a rinunciare a Sonia, per la quale è pronto a piegarsi, a pagare un prezzo che attraverso la prospettiva della Storia sembra davvero troppo alto.
E, tutto ci viene raccontato attraverso lettere che solo alla fine capiremo a chi sono indirizzate, ma che fin dall’inizio ci fanno capire che “vissero felici e contenti” rimane relegato al campo delle favole.
”Concorrenza sleale” (2001) di Ettore Scola è un film che racconta le leggi razziali a Roma attraverso la storia di due commercianti di “razza” diversa.
Com’è noto nel XX secolo abbiamo inventato l’amore.
Prima di allora chi è che credeva all’amore, chi avrebbe mai rinunciato a qualcosa di sicuro a favore delle incertezze di questo (estremamente) volatile sentimento, chi avrebbe anteposto amore a sicurezza e benessere? Biancaneve e il suo principe azzurro. D’amore si narrava nelle fiabe per bambini.
E anche coi bambini il XX secolo è stato magnanimo inventando l’infanzia… Ma questa è un’altra storia.
Per tornare alla prima storia, non tutti erano d’accordo: non tutti erano pronti disponibili e aperti ad accogliere il sentimento d’amore e anteporlo ad altre esigenze di ben maggiore solidità e peso specifico.
È proprio quello che succede in questo romanzo di Lia Levi, cantrice per eccellenza degli anni che dal 1922 degenerarono nell’ultima guerra mondiale.
Dino è un’insegnante di lettere al liceo innamorato della poesia di Pindaro, figlio dei proprietari del romano Albergo della Magnolia. Si innamora a prima vista di Sonia, ospite dell’albergo per una festa di capodanno (1930) nella quale lei si rompe una gamba. Per Dino da questo momento è impossibile vedere le cose chiaramente: l’amore per Sonia vince su tutto, gli appanna la vista.
Anche sul fatto che lui è ebreo e lei invece di famiglia ‘gentile’, che siamo negli anni Trenta e a un certo punto il regime emana le cosiddette leggi razziali molto razziste, che il suocero è convinto fascista.
Per Dino comincia una lunga e relativamente lenta discesa: per difendere il suo amore dovrà obbedire a sempre più richieste imposte dal suocero. Una rinuncia dietro l’altra, tra le quali quella all’albergo di famiglia non è la più umiliante.
Un percorso di umiliazione spirituale ma anche fisica imposto dal suocero al quale l’ariana Sonia non si oppone: giustificato da un meschino perbenismo che non conosce dubbi, con il benestare di una società e di un regime pronto a emanare le leggi più inique.
Gli interpreti protagonisti del film di Scola sono Diego Abatantuono e Sergio Castellitto.
La purezza del sentimento d’amore accesosi al primo incontro tra i due giovani viene man mano contaminata e compromessa: ma Dino non è disposto a rinunciare a Sonia, per la quale è pronto a piegarsi, a pagare un prezzo che attraverso la prospettiva della Storia sembra davvero troppo alto.
E, tutto ci viene raccontato attraverso lettere che solo alla fine capiremo a chi sono indirizzate, ma che fin dall’inizio ci fanno capire che “vissero felici e contenti” rimane relegato al campo delle favole.
January 20, 2010
an interesting look at facist italy during the 1930's and a love affair between a privileged italian girl (her last name is Gentile) and a jewish teacher. the Pauline law takes place to allow them to marry and the short book takes you through the conflicts that arise during this time period. i found the translation inspiring and some of the quotes from the main character quite provoking.
"But hatred is a poison that moves terribly quickly because, unlike love, it need waste no time seeking a soulmate."
"Nothing is unique, this I know, and not even our feelings are "unique," but it's equally true that no one can help but believe that their own emotions really are."
"But hatred is a poison that moves terribly quickly because, unlike love, it need waste no time seeking a soulmate."
"Nothing is unique, this I know, and not even our feelings are "unique," but it's equally true that no one can help but believe that their own emotions really are."
January 15, 2013
The Jewish Husband by Lia Levi
Europa Editions
The cover of the book is evocative of a beautiful and graceful Sophia Loren--I loved It!
What a wonderful surprise this book was! I've read many stories about WWII and the holocaust but not one about what life was like during Facist Italy. Dino Carpi, now David Katz and living in Israel, is writing a letter to his son, Michele. A letter to try to explain his abandonment of his family before WWII sweeps throughout Europe. A story of love for Sonia and the humiliations suffered for that love. Being Jewish, loving a gentile and living in Italy during the reign of Mussolini was frightening but Lia Levi tells us a fascinating story of love, loss and heartbreak.
Europa Editions
The cover of the book is evocative of a beautiful and graceful Sophia Loren--I loved It!
What a wonderful surprise this book was! I've read many stories about WWII and the holocaust but not one about what life was like during Facist Italy. Dino Carpi, now David Katz and living in Israel, is writing a letter to his son, Michele. A letter to try to explain his abandonment of his family before WWII sweeps throughout Europe. A story of love for Sonia and the humiliations suffered for that love. Being Jewish, loving a gentile and living in Italy during the reign of Mussolini was frightening but Lia Levi tells us a fascinating story of love, loss and heartbreak.
September 6, 2010
**** 1/2
Powerful, sad book about the Jewish experience in pre- and Fascist Italy. My only quibble with this book is the that Levi spent a lot of time, particularly early on, explaining *what* she was going to do and why, rather than just doing it. One of the most important rules of fiction to to "show, don't tell" and I found this to be distracting. The book was sufficiently strong otherwise that this flaw didn't overwhelm the rest of the story. I'm not certain the letter format was the most effective, but this is an incredible story from a time and place not always heard from. Most fiction set pre-World War II is based in other parts of Europe, not in Italy. Highly recommended.
Powerful, sad book about the Jewish experience in pre- and Fascist Italy. My only quibble with this book is the that Levi spent a lot of time, particularly early on, explaining *what* she was going to do and why, rather than just doing it. One of the most important rules of fiction to to "show, don't tell" and I found this to be distracting. The book was sufficiently strong otherwise that this flaw didn't overwhelm the rest of the story. I'm not certain the letter format was the most effective, but this is an incredible story from a time and place not always heard from. Most fiction set pre-World War II is based in other parts of Europe, not in Italy. Highly recommended.
June 21, 2020
A father writes to his son explaining some of the difficult choices he has made in life. I expected to be more engaged in the story and the characters as the setting is so fantastic: Italy in the 1930’s, a wealthy upperclass family, a struggling but very talented young student of Antiquity and his love for the daughter of the local aristos. I was also glad it wasn’t just another love story between two people from different social classes.
Overall it was an OK read for me. I’m glad it was relatively short so I could press on through the boring bits and actually finish it.
Overall it was an OK read for me. I’m glad it was relatively short so I could press on through the boring bits and actually finish it.
November 25, 2012
The jewish Husband moves slowly, but the prose is intense within many of the pages, more so during the last half of the book. I attribute the slowness to the fact that the book is written as a series of letters, and Dino is trying to tell his story in an exact manner.
There are predictable moments, yet, for some readers, there might be one or two surprises within the story line. Levi writes with forthrightness and vivid imagery, as she tries to inflect how daily life played out during a tumultuous time period. She is sensitive to the issues of romance under adverse conditions, playing the fascist mindset against the Jews, and interjecting the conflicts of a Jewish-Catholic marriage under those circumstances.
There isn’t much written about fascism in Italy, and Levi puts a distinct face on the subject. She gives the reader much to ponder regarding the oppression of the Jews, within the confines of the Italian ghettos and within Italian society as a whole. She writes with clarity and cognizance regarding the daily restrictions placed upon the Jews in Italy during the fascist regime. The Jewish Husband is educational in that respect. I applaud Lia Levi for the historical information she infuses within the pages, and for that aspect, I recommend The Jewish Husband.
There are predictable moments, yet, for some readers, there might be one or two surprises within the story line. Levi writes with forthrightness and vivid imagery, as she tries to inflect how daily life played out during a tumultuous time period. She is sensitive to the issues of romance under adverse conditions, playing the fascist mindset against the Jews, and interjecting the conflicts of a Jewish-Catholic marriage under those circumstances.
There isn’t much written about fascism in Italy, and Levi puts a distinct face on the subject. She gives the reader much to ponder regarding the oppression of the Jews, within the confines of the Italian ghettos and within Italian society as a whole. She writes with clarity and cognizance regarding the daily restrictions placed upon the Jews in Italy during the fascist regime. The Jewish Husband is educational in that respect. I applaud Lia Levi for the historical information she infuses within the pages, and for that aspect, I recommend The Jewish Husband.
August 13, 2012
If not for the fascinating historical setting--Italy in the 1930s as Fascism increasingly determined political, social, and personal relationships--I might not have finished this book. Despite a wealth of information about all the main characters, I never felt that I really knew them or cared about them.
October 18, 2009
I thought the story was interesting, but the language was extremely cumbersome. It's possible that's because it was translated from Italian into English.
I also wonder how or why it was so easy for Nico and his parents to get visas to Palestine so quickly.
I also wonder how or why it was so easy for Nico and his parents to get visas to Palestine so quickly.
November 20, 2017
Interesting subject matter but extremely clumsy framing device.
May 21, 2013
This novel offered answers to some questions that I had about the Jews of Italy during WW2. This novel is well written and the whole book is a letter written by the father to his son. He recounts this story to his son in order to explain what happened during the war that caused him to be absent from his life.
I was delighted to have discovered this author at a book festival and I made the right decision in reading this book right after seeing her. It is a pleasurable and easy read and the pages flow beautifully. I hope to read more from Lia Levi.
I was delighted to have discovered this author at a book festival and I made the right decision in reading this book right after seeing her. It is a pleasurable and easy read and the pages flow beautifully. I hope to read more from Lia Levi.
July 15, 2017
This one kind of crept on me. It is quietly told but gathers force as the story moves to the ultimate conclusion-rather like watching a wave break on shore.
I hope more books by this author are translated.
I hope more books by this author are translated.
December 3, 2009
This was an entertaining read, but more of a love story than an account of Fascism during WW2. I really liked it, but was wanting a little more historical substance.
April 11, 2010
Beautifully written,a poignant tale of yet another of life's tragedies stemming from the holocaust
March 11, 2017
Good one.
June 9, 2020
Il modo con cui Lia Levi scrive mi affascina, scorre piacevolmente pur sapendo quanto dolore ogni volta la storia narrata farà venire a galla. Il protagonista è un uomo ebreo che si innamora e poi sposa una ariana, di una famiglia vicina agli ambienti della Roma bene, se non fascisti comunque conniventi. Sembra una storia come tante ma come tutte le storie in cui i protagonisti hanno a che vedere con le persecuzioni ebraiche poi non lo è. Rinunciare ad un figlio, rinunciarci completamente per salvarlo, qualcosa di più che abbandonarlo e vivere tutto il resto della tua vita con questo pensiero
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 29, 2015
Puoi trovare questa recensione anche sul mio blog ---> La siepe di more
L'Albergo della Magnolia è un romanzo subdolo: inizia con un tono lieve, leggero, quasi frivolo. Ti fa quasi dubitare del suo valore letterario e ti fa pensare che sia solo la solita storia d'amore travolta dagli eventi storici.
In realtà, l'autrice tesse intorno ai suoi lettori una rete di inconsapevolezza simile a quella che avvolge Dino, il protagonista, ebreo, che vuole sposare una ragazza di buona famiglia, cattolica e benestante. Siamo nel periodo fascista e gli ostacoli a un'unione del genere sembrano insormontabili: tuttavia, con tenacia, il protagonista riesce a superarli e a sposare la sua bellissima Sonia Gentile.
Sembra non rendersi conto, però, che la sua non è affatto una vittoria: non è affatto riuscito a entrare nella famiglia di Sonia. Di fatto viene a malapena tollerato, come un cane rognoso che venga sopportato solo perché la bambina lo trova incomprensibilmente carino.
Ma l'aspetto peggiore è che Dino è disposto a perdere la propria dignità per diventare uno di famiglia, per essere amato e stimato come meriterebbero la sua cultura e la sua intelligenza, indiscutibilmente superiori a quelle dei membri della famiglia Gentile, appiattiti in una comoda visione del mondo borghese.
E quando il dramma delle leggi razziali si abbatterà su di lui, innescando una serie di eventi che, con il senno del poi, parevano inevitabili, Dino non potrà far altro che arrendersi alle logiche della famiglia Gentile.
L'Albergo della Magnolia è un romanzo subdolo: inizia con un tono lieve, leggero, quasi frivolo. Ti fa quasi dubitare del suo valore letterario e ti fa pensare che sia solo la solita storia d'amore travolta dagli eventi storici.
In realtà, l'autrice tesse intorno ai suoi lettori una rete di inconsapevolezza simile a quella che avvolge Dino, il protagonista, ebreo, che vuole sposare una ragazza di buona famiglia, cattolica e benestante. Siamo nel periodo fascista e gli ostacoli a un'unione del genere sembrano insormontabili: tuttavia, con tenacia, il protagonista riesce a superarli e a sposare la sua bellissima Sonia Gentile.
Sembra non rendersi conto, però, che la sua non è affatto una vittoria: non è affatto riuscito a entrare nella famiglia di Sonia. Di fatto viene a malapena tollerato, come un cane rognoso che venga sopportato solo perché la bambina lo trova incomprensibilmente carino.
Ma l'aspetto peggiore è che Dino è disposto a perdere la propria dignità per diventare uno di famiglia, per essere amato e stimato come meriterebbero la sua cultura e la sua intelligenza, indiscutibilmente superiori a quelle dei membri della famiglia Gentile, appiattiti in una comoda visione del mondo borghese.
E quando il dramma delle leggi razziali si abbatterà su di lui, innescando una serie di eventi che, con il senno del poi, parevano inevitabili, Dino non potrà far altro che arrendersi alle logiche della famiglia Gentile.
February 7, 2019
What a shame it is that this is the only novel by Lia Levi that's been translated into English. The Jewish Husband tells the story of a Jewish man who marries a Catholic woman from a family that is wealthy and well-connected - in 1938 when the Fascists have just taken over. (Is it too on the nose that they're literally called Gentile? Well I love it!) Having made the compromise that he is never to talk about his background amongst acquaintances in their rarefied family circles and never to let any children they produce know that he is Jewish, the protagonist and his wife are happy - at first. Then fascism all at once swallows up his life and existence.
A short, powerful novel about love in troubled times and how love will never save you. (Also: Ruben and Lorena <3 )
A short, powerful novel about love in troubled times and how love will never save you. (Also: Ruben and Lorena <3 )
February 15, 2013
In the Italy of the thirties, a young Jewish man, romantic, dreamy, and passionate, falls in love with a young girl who belongs to a high-society family affiliated with the fascist regime. This love will be his undoing – and almost destroys him. Yet, hope, born out of wisdom and resilience, shines at the end. What has been lost cannot be re-conquered, but maybe peace – with oneself, with the others – can be achieved, and tentative reconciliations may take place. Levi has written an interesting, curious story, which sometimes verges on the purely sentimental. But as it unfolds, and as the implacable machinery of the fascist trap into which the main character has fallen closes on him, the poignancy of all those lives destroyed becomes more acute, and the book reaches, at the end, a real emotional power. It’s not on the level of a masterpiece like The Garden of the Finzi-Contini, but it is a beautiful account of the devastations fascism brought into ordinary lives.
December 18, 2011
I quite liked this book. It's an extremely quiet, controlled, epistolary novel by a well known Italian writer, and I cannot, for the life of me, remember when or why I bought it. Was I meaning to buy Francisco Goldman's "The Divine Husband"!? Did I succumb to the lavender cover? Did I grab it because I'm so impressed by Europa Books? This is the third book by this discriminating publisher that I've enjoyed, the other two being "Old Filth" by Jane Gardam and Muriel Barbery's "The Elegqnce of the Hedgehog".
So. The book. An Italian gentleman, now elderly and who lives in Israel is, writing a letter to an unknown recipient. In fewer than 200 pages (Penelope Lively-length! ), a tale of prejudice, bigotry, love and loss is shared with us and, it is hoped, with its intended reader. Upon reflection, I think I'm going back to give it a fourth star.
So. The book. An Italian gentleman, now elderly and who lives in Israel is, writing a letter to an unknown recipient. In fewer than 200 pages (Penelope Lively-length! ), a tale of prejudice, bigotry, love and loss is shared with us and, it is hoped, with its intended reader. Upon reflection, I think I'm going back to give it a fourth star.
September 6, 2009
It took me a little while to get into this one however I'm glad I stuck with it. It was a thought-provoking and compelling novel about a Jewish-Italian teacher who falls in love with a privileged Catholic woman in the 1930s and the consequences of the compromises/sacrifices he makes so that they can marry.
September 7, 2009
The time is 1930, the place fascist Italy. A young Jewish professor falls in love with the beautiful Sonia. She is everything he is not; a privileged daughter of a wealthy, prominent Gentile family. He must have her at all costs, which he does at great cost to his religious nature. These costs snowball into even greater ones as Hitler makes his presence felt in Italy and the world.
May 12, 2010
A very uniquely written book from the perspective of a Jewish man in Israel looking back 30 years on his experience as a Jew in Fascist Italy. The beginning dragged a bit , but the end of the novel was engrossing with a good twist. A fairly easy read that I would classify as another good "airplane read".
February 4, 2010
A rather different story about life & love in Fascist Italy.
March 24, 2015
Well written. I very much enjoyed it, but got a little frustrated with how the main character is so accepting of restrictions imposed upon him by his in-laws, and never speaks up.
August 7, 2014
A lovely sad book.
October 16, 2014
A very enlightening novel...about a mixed marriage takes place in Rome...at the onset of the Fascist movement.
Read
January 25, 2016Didno Caarpi, a Jewish classics teacher and his love, Sonia - a Gentile living in Rome. Key words: Fascist, Italy, Dissimulated, Self-betrayal, Mournful, Reflective Greek lyric poet, Pindar
August 22, 2017
enjoyable read...heartbreaking!
March 26, 2019
Found this book on a blog post celebrating books and authors similar to Elena Ferrante. Given that I am permanently infected with Ferrante Fever, I was immediately intrigued.
The Jewish Husband is set in pre-war Rome, narrated in voice of a man writing a letter to an (at first) unidentified recipient. The letters recall the whirlwind romance he has with Sonia, a member of an affluent Roman Catholic family, and the many sacrifices he makes over the course of their marriage.
The narrative explores the insidious and gradual ways that fascism and antisemitism of the period destroyed lives, families, and fed directly into the blatant brutality and atrocities of WWII.
I thought this was a fantastic book.
The Jewish Husband is set in pre-war Rome, narrated in voice of a man writing a letter to an (at first) unidentified recipient. The letters recall the whirlwind romance he has with Sonia, a member of an affluent Roman Catholic family, and the many sacrifices he makes over the course of their marriage.
The narrative explores the insidious and gradual ways that fascism and antisemitism of the period destroyed lives, families, and fed directly into the blatant brutality and atrocities of WWII.
I thought this was a fantastic book.
July 26, 2025
Fast read, great character development, sad story. The backdrop of fascist Italy pre ww2 was new to me and interesting. Some eerie echoes of our own time. Like:
“You may wonder just what my personal position was at the time with respect to Fascism. I can sum it up in a word, a term that I coined. I wasn’t an opponent of the government. I was a ‘disapprovant’. What I mean by that is that nothing or almost nothing that Mussolini and his acolytes were doing met with my approval, if nothing else in terms of taste and intelligence, but my disapproval did not pass the threshold of commitment and action…. I had chosen to turn inward, focusing on myself and my studies, doing my best to ignore what was happening….all the intellectuals in Italy were behaving the same way.”
“You may wonder just what my personal position was at the time with respect to Fascism. I can sum it up in a word, a term that I coined. I wasn’t an opponent of the government. I was a ‘disapprovant’. What I mean by that is that nothing or almost nothing that Mussolini and his acolytes were doing met with my approval, if nothing else in terms of taste and intelligence, but my disapproval did not pass the threshold of commitment and action…. I had chosen to turn inward, focusing on myself and my studies, doing my best to ignore what was happening….all the intellectuals in Italy were behaving the same way.”
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