Mate Booguy’s Reviews > Arturo's Island: A Novel > Status Update

We all live with an ignorance of our fate. This fatal ignorance sometimes causes joy; sometimes despair, as when Arturo wonders why the portrait of a dead man received kisses he himself never received. And one’s relationship with the context in which one finds oneself often determines the prevailing effect. It's fascinating how Morante filters existential dread through Arturo’s reflections of his childhood wounds.

Ch. 1 done. I'm enjoying the atmosphere of the island and the nature-devoured mansion in which Arturo and his father, Wilhelm, live. The father-son dynamic is already intriguing, poignant, and setting a solid base for the coming-of-age elements—especially given Arturo’s Code of Absolute Truth. There’s a deep sense of isolation in all the main characters, which provides a discomfort riding along the beauty of Procida.