Strangers I Know

Luana's Review: Book 2

Jun 17, 2022

All book reviews by @luanaholloway

Hello everyone!

My past self must have predicted that I would need to be nurtured this month when I chose an Italian family saga to review. I watched the matriarch of my family, my great Nonna quietly pass away at the formidable age of 98 and it was a nice comfort to turn to a book that was sensitive, family oriented and of course, Italian.

Strangers I know by Claudia Durasanti is part memoir part literary fiction in which she has woven together a family narrative that explores ranges of communication from spaces in between language. Claudia’s parents are both deaf and never taught her sign language, so family anecdotes and memory have taken on an almost mythical quality and by default, inconsistency.

What does family history look like when it can not be disputed nor agreed upon? Claudia’s mother says she met her husband when she stopped him from jumping off a bridge. Her father is adamant they met when he saved her from an attempted robbery (that they are each the hero in their own re-telling will give you some insight into their respective personalities).

Each of their stories are romantic and dramatic, their daughter wants them both to be true and so the result is a beautiful and raggidy little fairytale about Claudia trying to forge a path in the world while realising that she inhabits a completely different one from her parents.

As she grows up alongside her adored brother between New York City and Southern Italy, the narrative divided by broken communication and estrangment is both laugh out loud funny and absolutely heartbreaking.

The structure of this book may challenge some people, it jumps between past and present which I Initially found jarring, but I quickly surrendered to the fact that this was clearly a deliberate stroke to reinforce the idea that this family history is not linear but rather a beautiful tapestry. This book is modern, unique and tender. Just what I needed.

I can’t leave without mentioning some other notable characters that kept me warm this month. I got swept away by a dapper heavy-turned-soft Italian American surfer (if you follow me on Instagram you will know that this is a hybrid of all the men in my life!) on a romp through California by way of The Winter of Frankie Machine by Don Winslow which was an absolute delight. This month also re-acquainted me with the entangled lives of Bennie Salazar & his empire of records from A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan. Her lastest release The Candy House (more a sister than a sequel) has shapeshifted into the world of social media and I found the stories to be equally as compelling as it’s predecessor.

That’s it from me for now, next month I’m going to talk about the hugely anticipated Sea of Tranquility by Emily St John Mandel.