A Servant's Tale

by Paula Fox, Melanie Rehak (Introduction)

"A rare and wondrous thing....[Fox] knows how to create a character."― Vogue Luisa de la Cueva was born on the Caribbean island of Malagita, of a plantation owner's son and a native woman, a servant in the kitchen. Her years on Malagita were sweet with the beauty of bamboo, banana, and mango trees with flocks of silver-feathered guinea hens underneath, the magic of a victrola, and the caramel flan that Mama sneaked home from the plantation kitchen. Luisa's father, fearing revolution, takes his family to New York. In the barrio his once-powerful name means nothing, and the family establishes itself in a basement tenement. For Luisa, Malagita becomes a dream. Luisa does not dream of going to college, as her friend Ellen does, or of winning the lottery, as her father does. She takes a job as a servant and, paradoxically, grows more independent. She marries and later raises a son alone. She works as a servant all her life. A Servant's Tale is the story of a life that is simple on the surface but full of depth and richness as we come to know it, a story told with consummate grace and compassion by Paula Fox.

Genres: Fiction, The United States Of America

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Paula Fox was an American author of novels for adults and children and two memoirs. Her novel The Slave Dancer (1973) received the Newbery Medal in 1974; and in 1978, she was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Medal. More recently, A Portrait of Ivan won the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis in 2008.

A teenage marriage produced a daughter, Linda, in 1944. Given the tumultuous relationship with her own biological parents, she gave the child up for adoption. Linda Carroll, the daughter Fox gave up for adoption, is the mother of musician Courtney Love.

Fox then attended Columbia University, married the literary critic and translator Martin Greenberg, raised two sons, taught, and began to write.

Reviews

[Dagio_maya · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Sono il pubblico di una commedia che non capisco"

Dall'isola caraibica di San Pedro a New York; da meravigliosi paesaggi a tetri appartamenti.
Luisa si rifugia nell'idealizzato e nostalgico ricordo della terra d'infanzia.
Soccombe senza neppur aver imbracciato un'arma e ci conduce in un noioso racconto di una vita dove non succede nulla.

Una donna-bambina la cui unica decisione ferrea è quella di essere una domestica per confermare una filosofia di vita:
meglio prendere degli ordini che dare una svolta alla propria vita.

N o i o s o e deludente.

[Sally68 · Rating 3 out of 5]

È una storia triste, che mi ha lasciato l'amaro in bocca, dove a tratti avrei voluto scuotere Luisa, avrei voluto che cercasse e pretendesse di più dalla sua vita. Nata in una famiglia dove non c'era dialogo, dove le vicende personali spesso l'hanno costretta a giostrarsi, ad elemosinare i sentimenti, schiacciata da un cognome troppo grande e indegna di portare il nome dei De la Cueva. Saranno costretti a lasciare San Pedro, Malagita, per finire nei bassi fondi di New York dove la loro situazione familiare ed economica peggiorerà.
Da Luisa adulta, per tutto il libro ci si aspetta un riscatto, una volontà per lo meno di cambiare o di tentare di cambiare il destino. Luisa non farà niente di tutto ciò, anzi si accontenterà di seguire le orme della madre, anche lei cameriera, di seguire il suo stesso destino. Per gran parte del libro Luisa si lascia vivere, impegnandosi, cambiando diversi lavori ma non riuscendo a dare una svolta. Per la nostra mentalità difficile da accettare ma non posso dimenticarmi del contesto storico in cui questa vicenda è narrati. Siamo all'inizio degli anni 20, nei Caraibi, i proprietari terrieri importavano schiavi africani, costretti a lavorare per loro, per cui disuguaglianza, sfruttamento, bassa considerazione di se ecc...Libro che si fa leggere, soprattutto la prima metà del libro, poi un pochino diventa prolisso ma nel finale un pochino si riprende...

[Moushine Zahr · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first novel I've read from American author Paula Fox. The entire story is about a domestic living and working in New York for rich families. It is rare to find an entire novel whose main story evolves about the life and work of a servant, domestic, or housekeeper. Thus although the story occurs mainly in New York, USA, the story is universal and timeless.

The author wrote a very interesting story about the domestic staying away from stereotypical negative images and stories. The first part of the novel is about the leading character's origins from the island of San Pedro, her families'origins from both parents. Despite Luisa Sanchez, the leading character, seeing her mother work as a domestic and noticing the rich family she worked for being arrogant and snobish against her, when she became of a late teenager she chose to quite school and become herself a domestic.

This decision is misunderstood by her entire entourage. There are several plausible reasons that no outsider can understand. The leading character is strongly attached to origins and marked for life by her childhood. Life is about choices made and to assume it troughout life regardless of the decision.

Readers can realize that the situation of domestics or poor versus rich doesn't change whether a person moves to another countries or time passes by in the same country.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't quite know what to think about this story. So much happened. The main character is born of the son of a wealthy landowner in San Pedro a Caribean island and a house servant. He moves them to NY - away form Luisa's 2 grandmothers. Nana, her mother's mother stopped speaking with her daughter - actually it was the other way around when Luisa was born. Presumably it was because it was who the father was, Luisa grows up to be a servant/maid herself and has a son by a man who falls in love with her and rejects her for being who she was - a maid, At the end Luisa goes back to San Pedro and finds nothing there for her - no "inheritance" of the place. She is estranged from her father and her son - having had an affair with one of her clients is more distant to her. There are so many things to think about in this book. How the people with servants "take" from the servant. How it isn't enough to have money for a maid that gets a happy life. Luisa actually connects with her "clients". This makes her vulnerable to them and yet gives her great pleasure in real or more real relationships. Luisa'a mother, a servant herself, allows her life to be "wasted" by the desires of her husband - who had felt entitled to some inheritance. Luisa ends up like her father says "stranded" but where is the place she wants to be stranded? A perfect portrait of this woman. Luisa. Such an ordinary woman with a rich life.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I adore Paula Fox’s writing, and I have savored each book with delight—the language of A Servant’s Tale is just as lush and beautiful as all of her books that I’ve read before—so much wisdom—the wealth of life—extraordinary –yet, so ordinary. It’s the quiet one compared to the others that I’ve read (books are so much like siblings.) It maintained a steady, mesmerizing pace from beginning to end, a life unraveling, time and place, from the Caribbean to New York City—the choices made and the opportunities missed—or just not taken—one’s potential explored to its limits or at least up to the point of personal set parameters—this is life.

As an owner of a wee donkey, I loved this one small part:

Nana had told me a story: The devil announced he was bored with four-footed creatures and was going to kill them all. When he got to the donkey, it gasped in terror, “Not me! Not me! Not me!” And was still crying out in terror although the devil had so enjoyed the donkey’s voice he had promised to always spare him. (From page 70)

The urgent voice of a braying donkey…my little Elizabeth greets me with a hearty hee-haw that is akin to having a mini Godzilla bellowing in the barn…there’s nothing like it. A book by Paula Fox—there’s nothing like it.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first, I was lukewarm on the book, having a difficult time relating to the protagonist, Luisa. Here was a woman who rejected the chance at self-improvement through education, although encouraged by family and best friend. Her choice to become a house servant seemed perverse: although her miserable mother had served the local family in power in their home country, Luisa's choice provoked tears in her mother, grim dismissal from her already distant father, incomprehension from her friend, Ellen. Ellen, determined to use her intelligence to improve her own status and serve her notions of social justice, felt Luisa should be pursuing like goals.

Luisa's choices only barely kept her on the right side of independence, if this was her aim. She saw her mother sink into helplessness and despair with the family's move to the U.S., although it was illness that finally took her. So was Luisa acting on what she saw modeled when they lived in San Pedro, or was she rebelling against the hopes, expectations, and advice of others?

Without either solving this question or judging Luisa's actions, the book draws a portrait of this woman that I predict will stay with me.

[Kallie · Rating 5 out of 5]

After my third, most recent read, I have to review and comment that this novel and all of Fox's novels are among the best ever written in the English language. If I were to compare her to any earlier great writers I'd perhaps choose Hardy, because he also had sympathy for working class women, like Fox's characters, who were not only on their own but insisted on following their inner, ethical counsel, which is never one to choose material advantage and status over the promptings of one's inner compass. These novels and their characters never strike the false notes so many novels are pray too, i.e., of sounding hip, of sounding admirable, of sounding anything other than what they simply are -- stories about people getting through their lives and relating to others with dignity, awareness and insight. Too much of the writing is brilliant to single out passages here, but that is a bonus (in addition to real characters) for the reader of Paula Fox's novels. I've just read through all the 'adult' novels again, and will hang onto them for another cycle through in the next few years.

[Rose Gowen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointing. At first it reminded me of Oscar Wao (because the characters are from a Caribbean island, and are poor in the cold Northeast, and suffer from being unable to go home again), and I was prepared to say it was the superior novel-- but the differences are greater than the similarities, so it's not a useful comparison.

(Although they do have in common the problem of anticipating the end prematurely-- Fox does it by winding down too soon, while Diaz brings in a parade to celebrate the end of his way way too soon.)

Anyhow, Fox is a good writer and there are some interesting things to think about here: the complicated relationship between servants and their employers-- how much of the servant's self [and body:] does the employer buy when she hands out a paycheck? Do the habits of a poor person-- thrift, doing without, using things until they fall apart-- become a kind of impoverishment of the soul when they are no longer necessary?

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so difficult to engage with to start. I just could not immerse in it and it did not hold my attention for about 100 pages. I was surprised to think I'd rate one of her novels a 2-star book. But maybe she just wasn't able to take the point of view of a child or of the island nation. Once the family immigrated to NYC in 1936 when the protagonist was 10 years old I was completely engrossed by the story. It has Paula Fox's signature heavy, oppressive mood and dysfunctional family done so well. It is a story everyone can identify with. We lose loved ones, we are used by people, and we can't ever go home. She is so sad, lonely, and alone. And the writing is perfect.

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first 100 pages are slow but worth wading through. When I reflect on the whole novel, they are actually the best pages in the book, but not much happens. The author does a fantastic job describing the world through a child's eyes, and as the pages go on, her eyes are opened wider and wider.

Paula Fox has a similar writing style to the way I think I would write my own novel (a far horizon dream of mine), so I paid particular attention to the way she weaved her story and characters. I loved the wide cast of characters but wish she had paid more attention to their physical appearances, which I could never see quite clearly in my mind. An enjoyable read but not one to rush through.

[HansBlog · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deutschspr. Besprechung aus HansBlog.de:


In diesem Buch passiert nicht viel, und die Hauptfiguren sind wunderlich. Fast hätte ich es nach 20 Seiten weggelegt, und das gibt's selten, erst recht bei Paula Fox (1923 – 2017). 17 Verlage wollten das Manuskript nicht herausbringen. Zum Glück erkannten letztlich ein Verlag und dann auch ich die Qualitäten, und ich war bald umso mehr gefesselt:
- Fox liefert eine äußerst genaue Figurenzeichnung mit wenigen Strichen, hochinteressanten Dialogzeilen und Beobachtungen; selten ist man so nah dran am Personal. Wie eine hochinteressante, genaue Doku (auch weil die Hauptfigur als Putzfrau in allerlei Privathaushalte schaut).
- Die Figuren, so skurril und so verstritten sie sind, wecken Interesse und sogar Sympathie. Gerade wie sie sich streiten und gegen alle Erwartung reden und agieren, das zieht an – und wirkt hier nie unplausibel und erfunden. Später ist die Hauptfigur dezidiert durchschnittlich und wirkt gerade wegen ihres schrillen Umfelds sympathisch.
- Paula Fox erzählt konsequent nur aus der Ich-Erzählerin-Perspektive von Luisa, die in der ersten Buchhälfte minderjährig ist. Keine wilden Perspektivwechsel. Jeweils mit einer kleinen Ausnahme keine modischen Rückblenden oder Träume. Dafür schöne, unaufdringliche Querbezüge zwischen den Buchteilen; wiederholte Lektüre lohnt sicherlich.
Vielleicht hat mir noch nie ein Roman mit so wenig Handlung so gut gefallen. Die Hauptfigur ist eine genau beobachtende Haushaltshilfe, die auf mögliche Bildung und Karriere bewusst verzichtet. Und Fox dichtet ihr auch keine Privatbildungsexzesse an, zum Beispiel nächtliche Proustlektüre oder so was; schon dass sie das Wort "bourgeois" widergibt, befremdet (S. 294 der engl. Norton-TB-Ausgabe; die dt. Übersetzung von Alissa Walser kann ich nicht beurteilen).
Mich störte höchstens, dass die von Anfang an erwachsene Ich-Erzählerin aus früher Kindheit so feine Details berichtet, die sie eigentlich kaum erinnern kann. Und ein paar Sätze über Haushälterinnenarbeit versus Ausbildung klingen etwas zu belehrend, zu politisch, verlassen den sonst so realistischen Ton (z.B. "even the most elementary equality was not my right", S. 250). Vielleicht habe ich das ganze mögliche Hauptthema Hausdienerin vs. "wichtige Arbeit" und Spannung der Ethnien verpasst und den Roman als spannendes Psychogramm einer Latino-Einwanderin und als Betrachtung der US-Familie gesehen.
Denn ein weiteres Thema ist sicher der Zustand der modernen Kleinfamilie – in den USA, aber auch bei Latinos. Mit Haushälterin Luisa blicken wir in allerlei Familien, samt und sonders zerbröckelt, vielleicht mit Ausnahme der Millers, die aber nach Delaware verziehen.
Aufbau der Handlung:
Erstes Viertel: Der erste Buchteil schildert eine seltsame Kleinfamilie in einem fiktionalisierten Kuba (Insel San Pedro mit Hauptstadt Tres Hermanos): Die arme Küchenhilfe Fefita und ihre kleine Tochter Luisa – deren Vater ist unstandesgemäß Orlando, der Sohn der reichen, aber geistig entrückten Laura-Arbeitgeberin
Zweites Viertel: Diese wunderliche Kleinfamilie wandert nach New York aus und lebt dort sehr ärmlich. Hier ist Hauptfigur und Erzählerin Luisa Kind und Jugendliche.
Drittes und viertes Viertel: Noch als Jugendliche zieht Luisa von den Eltern fort und wird Haushälterin. Hat Beziehung und Kind. Putzt in diversen Haushalten.
Freie Assoziationen:
Mutter und Mutter der Tochter-Hauptfigur erscheinen auch in Paula Fox' Roman Lauras Schweigen/The Widow's Children (dort fiktionalisiert Paula Fox einen anderen Abschnitt ihrer Lebensgeschichte) und in Fox' Kindheitsmemoiren In fremden Kleidern/Borrowed Finery.
Eine Haushälterin namens Luisa erscheint flüchtig auch in Paula Fox' Europa-Erinnerungen Der kälteste Winter/The Coldest Winter, dort lebt Luisa in Barcelona.
Den Wechsel als Jugendliche von der Karibik in ein ärmliches Leben in New York beschreibt in einigen Büchern auch Julia Alvarez (Fox ist besser)
Fox' erzählerische Sensibilität erinnerte mich vage an Jhumpa Lahiri und noch vager an Nancy Horan; Fox klingt jedoch nüchterner
Beim Blick auf die kaputte (US?- westliche?-) Familie dachte ich an David Gates und Richard Ford

[Jenny Yates · Rating 4 out of 5]

This intimate, authentic first-person novel pulled me in from the beginning. The narrator is Luisa Sanchez, a woman who has always lived in the margins between several worlds.

The first part of the book tells of her growing up on a little Caribbean island where the principle crop is sugar cane, and everything moves in sync with the cycle of harvesting and processing the cane. All the people are poor, but nature provides enough for everyone to eat. The only exception to the general poverty is the family who lives in the walled house, the owners of the cane fields. Luisa’s grandmother lives in that house, but does not acknowledge her, because Luisa’s mother was a servant there.

When Luisa is still young, her father moves the family to New York City, and they live in a barrio. Her father, born to privilege but disinherited by his family, tries to survive in the city, but it is Luisa’s mother who works steadily, as she always has. And when Luisa can drop out of school, she works too, choosing the same life as her mother, that of a servant.

Luisa’s more ambitious friend Ellen tries to persuade her to take another path, but Luisa finds that a servant’s life gives her a way of disengage from everything around her. After her mother dies, she moves out of her father’s house, and enjoys the freedom to live her own life. Her clients teach her the many different ways that people can handle abundance.

The author is very adept in writing about Luisa’s experience with love, marriage and motherhood. She sticks to Luisa’s point of view, but we still understand the way her new husband misunderstands her, and constantly tries to wean her from what he sees as her peasant ways. She is never really allowed to be who she is, and when the marriage ends and she goes back to her work as a servant, she is still invisible, a prop in the lives of others.

The novel ends when Luisa goes back on a visit to the Caribbean island where she was born. She has been fantasizing about this since she left, seeing it as a way to reclaim something that was hers. But nothing remains of her history there either – except something she doesn’t really want. But as she loosens this last tie, she realizes that she has come to the end of her days as a servant.

[Laureanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a beautifully written book that captivated me from the beginning to the end. But I can’t quite give it a 4-stars rating because somehow, I feel like I just didn’t get it. The main character, Luisa, had a way of thinking that was hard to follow. I am sure I’m the one at fault and I’m the one who missed something, or some things. I will definitely give it a try in a few years. Maybe I’ll see the story in a different light.

[Denise Benoit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this author

[Stephanie Cohen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting

[JennyB · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I remember correctly, Paula Fox originally published most of her novels in the 70s and 80s. They were favorably received at the time, but never reached a wide public, and were out of print by the 90s. Story has it that Jonathon Franzen came across a used copy in a bookstore somewhere, and he was so impressed, that he went on a campaign to have them re-issued. So, while I have no use whatsoever for Franzen’s own writing, he did a really good thing in refocusing some attention on Fox’s novels (I think I can also see how what Fox achieves with her writing is what Franzen aspires – and fails – to do, but that’s another essay entirely). She is an astute observer and a subtle talent, and all of the novels of hers I have read have been a pleasure, including the one I finished recently, A Servant’s Tale.

I like the unusual perspective from which this book is written, I like that it is a story – beginning, middle, end – which relies for its effect on the narrative and the talent of the writer rather than literary pyrotechnics, and (similar but different) I think Fox really is a fantastic writer.




The book is written from the point of view of Luisa de la Cueva, who chooses to work as a maid – she’s the titular “servant.” This unusual choice of subject is one of the points of interest about the book: think about it – misadventures with Dominique Strauss Kahn aside, how often is the story told from the perspective of the maid? I don’t mean to imply that Fox invented the Upstairs/Downstairs genre, and it works the same in a Servant’s Tale as it does elsewhere, with the perspective of the serving class counterpoised against the antics of their employers. But here the story really is about Luisa, rather than her merely serving as a window into the behavior of the rich people she works for. In this case, the employers are part of Luisa’s story, rather than her being the commenter on theirs. That is an interesting perspective, not often encountered. It’s also true that the book starts with Luisa’s childhood, and fully half of it takes place before she becomes a working adult. The scenes from her childhood are set partly on a Caribbean island called San Pedro in the book, which is close in history and description to either Haiti or the Dominican Republic, and partly in New York, to which her small family emigrates.

Another enjoyable element for me is that this is a linear, chronological story, told start to finish, rather than through fragments or vignettes cleverly juxtaposed, or flights of fantasy. There is a structured narrative here, which allows the reader’s interest to be absorbed by the story and the writing, rather than literary tricks and pyrotechnics. What such unadorned structure serves to highlight, in my opinion, is how good the writer must be to pull it off, and here Fox succeeds. She constructs a story that becomes more steadily absorbing with each page, in a manner reminiscent of "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn." I would describe the bulk of her writing as “solid,” but it is enlivened with occasional lightning bolts of startling perspicuity, made the more remarkable by contrast to the surrounding ordinariness.

Finally, there’s the story itself, which I just … like. I don’t know how else to describe it. It’s just the story of an ordinary life, truly a servant’s tale, with events that any of us could live through in the course of our days. There are no murders, no family secrets, no extraordinary betrayals or transporting loves. There’s only what happens to a person every day, although rather finely observed on account of the author’s talents. I know this book won’t be for everyone, and those who like action, events and intrigue would be bored to tears with this story. Even for me, it got off to a slow start, and it took maybe the first 30 to 50 pages before I felt really engaged. I am glad I stuck with this story instead of abandoning it when it didn’t grab me immediately, because it's a book I will remember enjoying greatly for a long time.

[Leslie Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

So Vogue claims "Luisa Sanchez is as indelible and eternal as many in Dickens, Balzac, or George Eliot." Yeah, I should only trust Vogue for shoes and purses! For much of the book I felt like I was rereading any number of other PoCo works that start in the Caribbean and end up in NYC. The tropes were all there of the secrets passed down along matrilinial lines, the emigrant desiring a homeland that no longer exists and probably never did, the rebellion of the American-born children, and on it goes. I didn't really engage with the character enough to fully appreciate the writing style as others do so I doubt I'll read any more Paula Fox. Yes, I suppose the book begs the question of what to do with a woman who chooses "less" than we might want her to, but I didn't feel the questions was explored as much as presented with detail upon detail rather deeper engagement. When she was shuffling between her NYC employers, I felt we were getting snapshots that might have been interesting character studies - if they were interesting characters. Overall, I just didn't care. I finished it out of duty - perhaps like Luisa herself - but wouldn't pick up another novel by the author.

[Jinny · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best novel I have read in many years. It has all the hallmarks of 'literature' that 'English majors' are taught; though I can't name these, I know them when I see them, and they're here. Yet the book is also very readable.

Not a happy story, but a well-wrought one. Unsentimental but deeply felt. At times painful but also joyful and gritty. I'll keep this book on my shelf and leaf through to re-read passages marked for their arresting quality. A book that, for those with a writing bent, inspires this feeling: 'Wow, I'd like to be able to do that.'

[Sue Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. Narrator born on tiny Caribbean island to sone of hacienda owner and a maid grows up in NY in a series of tenements becomes a maid and finally returns to her home to find it so changed that she doesn't recognize it. Why did she choose to become a servant? Represents a decision to look to the past? She didn't have to commit to anyting, just did her work and dreamed of going back to her village. Also, aligned herself with her mom rather than her dad. Refused to be part of the world--never wanted to know what was going on, and remained a spectator in others' lives.

[Alan Newman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great in more ways I can enumerate. Mysterious and sad; psychologically complex and nuanced, A Servants Tale is about neediness and nurturing; betrayal and loyalty; the tyranny of the past over the present. Sentences flow richly and contain many levels of meaning. The complex relationship between servants and their employers has never been plumbed with such success as it is here
This is real literature by a great American writer who deserves a far wider audience.

[Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book read very well and was interesting but I rated it down as it DEPRESSED ME GREATLY. Also, it was a bit "false" I think... It wasn't really about poverty and the struggle of the servant class as much as I had hoped.

[Nancy K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paula Fox's
descriptive writing is excellent.

example, 'She was pregnant, and her immense belly appeared to lead her about like an animal she was chained to,'

[Andrew]

Author influenced Naja Marie Aidt in Best European Fiction 2010

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Memoir....San Pedro and NY 1920s-60s....a ramble tale through the life of a servant by choice. Kind of flat.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written, thought provoking, somewhat predictable, and depressing character study. Glad I read it, but wouldn't read again.

[Dani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Obviously I wish I had grown up or lived in Manhattan so I keep reading old fictions about it.

[Dora]

Bought with the best intentions.... Not my thing.

[EC_Shivers' · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recensione del blog EC_Shivers' : https://ecshivers.com/2017/04/11/stor...

Luisa De la Cueva nasce tra le piantagioni di canna da zucchero dell’isola caraibica di San Pedro. Suo padre è il figlio della padrona della vivienda, in cui lavora la madre, una donna abituata a servire, sia in casa che fuori. Sebbene il padre viva con loro, è un uomo burbero e scostante, e Luisa cresce quindi praticamente con la nonna Nana, nella quale trova sostegno ed affetto, e a cui è profondamente legata. La bambina affronta ogni giorno con grande curiosità e cresce in fretta, assorbendo tutto come una spugna (la Fox si rivela estremamente brava nell’osservare il mondo con gli occhi di un bambino e non stupisce che si sia affermata anche come scrittrice di libri per ragazzi).

Arriva però troppo presto il momento di abbandonare tutto per seguire la famiglia in America, dove, secondo il padre, potranno rifarsi una nuova vita e lasciarsi alle spalle la sensazione di sentirsi scomodi ed indesiderati.

L’America non si rivela il paese della cuccagna, ma quello dell’emarginazione, e le ristrettezze economiche porteranno Luisa a cercarsi presto un lavoro. Nonostante il padre sogni per lei un futuro da donna istruita, Luisa sceglierà il mestiere della madre: farà la governante, covando il sogno di tornare un giorno alla terra natia. È una scelta matura e consapevole, che nonostante i molti momenti difficili, non la farà mai rinunciare alla propria dignità.

La Fox è una piacevole scoperta e questo è a mio parere il suo libro più bello. Ha uno stile scorrevole, intimista ed introspettivo, che non scade mai nel patetico e nel lamentoso. La scrittrice americana ci offre il ritratto indelebile di una donna piena di dignità, che accoglie e supera le difficoltà senza mai svendersi e tradire i propri ideali. Storia di una serva è un affresco fedele dell’America degli anni ‘50 del Novecento, dove essere immigrato significava sperare in un futuro migliore, senza mai dimenticare le proprie radici. Quella che ci regala la Fox è una lettura intensa e colma di riflessioni, da riportare anche ai nostri giorni, perché in fondo anche oggi viviamo un tempo in cui essere immigrati è per molti una realtà.

[Patti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Luisa’s mother is a maid on a sugar plantation on a Caribbean island, and I had at first assumed that she was the servant in the title. Luisa’s father, however, is the son of the plantation owner. The father uproots the family and relocates them to New York, where they get by as best they can. They are actually American citizens, thanks to Luisa’s grandfather, but Luisa ops to drop out of school at 15 to become a maid herself, much to the disappointment of her friends and this reader. I understand where she’s coming from, though. Her only real exposure to a better life is in the homes of her customers, and she can’t fathom reaching that kind of prosperity herself. Another fallacy in her thinking is her fantasy that her island home is just the way she left it, and she harbors a constant determination to go back, perhaps even permanently. In any case, the novel follows Luisa through an eclectic series of customers, who are all unique and sometimes compassionate but sometimes not. One particular betrayal by a client drives a wedge between Luisa and a loved one but spurs her to action to break the unfulfilling pattern of her life. Up until this point, I would venture that she has been living vicariously through her customers, and I think she’s overdue for realizing that she, too, can lead a rich life, with or without riches. Paula Fox’s recent death prompted me to read this book, and now I wonder how typical it is of her overall body of work.