SON OF ITALY
COMMENT: write what you liked and/or did not like so far in the book (it could be the writing style, the imagery, the story itself, whatever you want to talk about.)
REPLY: find a comment you disagree with and explain your perspective.
Something that I really enjoy about Son of Italy so far is his use of imagery and the writing style. I enjoy that there are not many quotes. The absence of quotes allows the story to be continuous, no breaks or pauses with who said what. I enjoy just reading straight through a story. You do not always need quotes to explain a conversation between two people. Pascal D'Angelo uses a lot of details in his writing. When he was speaking about the time he was running away from the boy who was crying mother in the first chapter, I could feel his emotion, his deep breathes, his adrenaline that was going through the roof. I am really enjoying his story so far and can not wait to continue reading.
ReplyDeleteHey Nina,
DeleteI really liked the imagery and writing style in the story as well, but I have to disagree in regards to the absence of quotes. This is just a personal preference, but I enjoy seeing dialogue between characters; it makes the characters seem more realistic and helps bring the story to life for me. I have enjoyed reading SON OF ITALY so far, but I do feel that the book would be even more powerful with a stronger emphasis on quotations/dialogue between characters.
Nina, I have to disagree with your comment on the lack of quotes used in the autobiography. I believe that quotes help to emphasize the exchange of words between people. Within a quote, there are of course words, but grammar, punctuation, and spelling which shed light to the significance of that moment in time, or to an event that can affect the out come of a situation later on in the story.
DeleteI disagree with Nina's statement that "you do not always need quotes to explain a conversation between two people." I personally believe it is essential to include quotes in this situation. I feel that quotes really help the reader understand and follow a conversation.
DeleteI am really enjoying the story and find myself thinking a lot about how the immigrant experience can be so similar regardless of what part of the world you are from. I found myself relating to many aspects of the narrator's story - especially his time spent in Italy prior to coming to the U.S. I felt his pain when he spoke of the poverty he lived in and I also felt his happiness when he recalled playing with his friends and the communal aspects of his homeland. Reading this book has made me recall many of my own memories as a child before and after I left my native home.
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ReplyDeleteOne aspect of the book that I have appreciated so far is the inclusion of poetry at the conclusion of certain chapters. D' Angelo has selected each poem with a purpose, and that purpose is to increase the overall effect of the chapter by summarizing the key themes/instances involved in each. The fact that D' Angelo himself has written these poems adds an additional sense of personality to the work and enables us to see even further into his character.
ReplyDeleteI also found that the poems helped strengthen the concept of narrative, in that each poem was penned AFTER the initial event had occurred; this is key here, because the narrative is concerned with WHO YOU ARE AT THIS VERY MOMENT (aka time of writing). Poetry was able to capture D' Angelo's progression of perception towards memories/experiences, which is what moved me to appreciate its presence.
Dear Brandon,
DeleteI am glad that you appreciated the poetry.
I found myself not as interested in the poetry as I was in the actual events as he recalled and described them. Although I recognize, and you rightly state that this was his way of tying the events of his past to how he envisioned them later in his life.
Brandon,
DeleteI personally do not enjoy the poetry sections in this book. I have a hard time interpreting and understanding how the poetry relates to his experiences. I do wish I was better at interpreting poems so that it could have a strengthening effect on the narrative for me as it does for you.
People have mixed feelings about poetry and I am one of them. I have always had a problem with understanding poetry and that is one of things that I dislike about this book. I prefer to read everything else that he has written but the poetry at the end of the chapters just confuse me.
DeleteHi, Brandon, I liked your answer but I am little disagree with you in terms using poetry in his chapter. Yes they all had some connection to chapter, but for me as an English learner poems were little difficult to really understand them.
DeleteBrandon, As Reham said, "people have mixed feelings about poetry." I think that in this case it gets the reader out of one mode (prose) and into another (poetry), which can make things difficult. I like a straight forward story, not an abundance of similes and metaphors that make my mind go to a place that it really doesn't feel like going.
DeleteI really appreciate this book for many different aspects. Before reading this book I have to admit I felt nervous. I thought that the book would be hard to understand and even boring. Autobiographies are not usually the most interesting genre for me to read, but this one was pleasantly surprising. The way D'Angelo describes people and events from his child hood is familiar to me. The way he calls mean and nasty people "wizard,witches and vampires" is similar to how I would react to mean people as a child. As a child if I did not like someone because I was scared of them I would tell my mom they were "monsters", monster to me is what a "witch" is to D'Angelo.
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DeleteI enjoy reading about the sense of community Pascal felt with his paesani while in America. It is something I can relate to on a personal level. My grandfather always told me how when he came to America, adjusting to the new language, culture, geography, and demographics were very difficult. He found comfort in his friends from a familiar place and they all lived close to one another once they were here.
ReplyDeleteAt first, I was hesitant to read this book. I was worried that it would not be interesting and I could not relate to it. I was wrong. This book is very interesting and the writing style is comprehensible. Pascal's writing style is well structured in a way that helps with imagery. When you read any paragraph of his, you feel like you are there. I also like how the book is chronological so you see how this character changed at different points in his life. I look forward to continuing it.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that I do not enjoy history, and I thought this book will be very “heavy” for me I term of difficult word and sentences that I would not be able to interpret to my language. Fortunately, when I started reading this book in a little time I read two chapter which was very making me happy. I realized that book was very easy to read. I like that in every chapter author wrote his sentences according to his age at that time. Stories were very interesting, as I read I was feeling every emotion that characters felt.
ReplyDeleteI started reading this story a week before school started because I thought I would not be able to get through it in a timely manner once the semester started. Also, as Professor stated, we would need to take our time while reading it. In the beginning, I read with caution from page to page,but I soon after realized that my caution was unnecessary. I enjoyed everything about the autobiography especially the recounts of his young years as a boy in Italy. D' Angelo's writing stlye is one that I really enjoy because it made it easier for me to follow along with is memories even though I have never experienced any of his stories in my life as a young child. I hope I continue to enjoy the book until the end.
ReplyDeleteI am agree with you, Joanne I had same feelings before starting reading.
DeletePascal D'Angelo mentions specific places such as Poughkeepsie, Coney Island, Bayard Street, The Battery, etc. throughout the book. I find that when he writes down specific places I have a better connection to the work and his time period comes to life. One of the places he describes, South Ferry, is a few blocks from where I live and I walk past it every day on my way to work. When he describes how there used to be an elevated train there it makes the story personal to me and allows me to have some connection to the author even though he lived a century ago.
ReplyDeleteSo far I have really enjoyed Son of Italy. I usually read books that have to do with business and finance so this has been a different experience for me. If it wasn't for this class, I would not have been reading a book of this genre, but to my surprise I am definitely enjoying it. I believe that Pascal does a great job in engaging the reader and appealing to the readers emotions.
ReplyDeleteSo far, I like the fact that although Angelo experienced disadvantages involving living in poverty, and having to work hard for his survival, he mentions the little things that made him, and the people in his valley happy. I respect people who become humbled by their experiences in life, who are pushed to be better because of them. Turning all of that into a positive, is fascinating to me.
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