Ebook105 pages1 hour
Morning Sea
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
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About this ebook
From the multi-award-winning author of Twice Born comes this dazzling, emotionally charged tale of two mothers’ fight to protect their children’s futures
When the water is safer than the land...
As Gaddafi clings to power in Libya, Farid and his mother Jamila chance their luck on the hazardous crossing to Sicily. But as they hunker down in a trafficker’s battered old boat, the vastness of the Mediterranean begins to dawn. Meanwhile, in Sicily, Vito wanders the desolate beaches recalling his mother’s stories of her idyllic childhood in Libya. She has never forgotten – nor forgiven – the forces that tore her from her childhood love, a young Arab boy whose fate was very different from her own.
Moving back and forth between the continents, this deeply moving portrait focuses on two families and one stretch of water, and in terse, lyrical language, captures perfectly the dark, uncertain quality of our times.
When the water is safer than the land...
As Gaddafi clings to power in Libya, Farid and his mother Jamila chance their luck on the hazardous crossing to Sicily. But as they hunker down in a trafficker’s battered old boat, the vastness of the Mediterranean begins to dawn. Meanwhile, in Sicily, Vito wanders the desolate beaches recalling his mother’s stories of her idyllic childhood in Libya. She has never forgotten – nor forgiven – the forces that tore her from her childhood love, a young Arab boy whose fate was very different from her own.
Moving back and forth between the continents, this deeply moving portrait focuses on two families and one stretch of water, and in terse, lyrical language, captures perfectly the dark, uncertain quality of our times.
Author
Margaret Mazzantini
Margaret Mazzantini was born in Dublin and now lives in Rome with her husband and four children. She trained as an actress but left the stage to concentrate on writing. Her previous novel, Don't Move,won the prestigious Strega Prize, sold over 2 million copies, and became a feature film directed by Sergio Castellitto and starring Penelope Cruz.
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Reviews for Morning Sea
Rating: 3.589285685714286 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
28 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Morning Sea by Margaret Mazzantini, translated by Ann Gagliardi This was one of those books that I should have read the back cover on before picking it up. Don't get me wrong, I hope I still would have read it, particularly for WIT Month, but I would have had a better idea what I was getting myself into. Here's the back cover information from Goodreads:
When Farid’s beautiful young mother Jamila tries to escape Libya by boat, it is the first time that Farid will see the sea. This is the same sea into which Vito stares from a beach on the opposite side — Farid and Jamila’s destination. But unfortunately, the Mediterranean does not fulfill its promise of a new life for the two young refugees. Instead, it becomes their prison.A tale of moving intensity, Morning Sea is about human migration. It is about the fate of those exiled from their houses, relatives, and roots; about the violence of nature and war; and about the strength of women compelled by injustice to defend their children’s futures. With terse and astute language, Mazzantini captures perfectly the dark, uncertain quality of our times. She asks: when must we commit ourselves to the right of all humans to live with dignity and respect?
It's a sad and realistic human strife story that still manages to have a beautiful end. It wasn't the end I wanted for the characters, just like it's not what I would wish on real people going through these events, but surprisingly beautiful once I had a chance to sit with it. Sitting with the end was crucial to enjoying it though because it hit me a little hard that things didn't go a certain way, but I don't want to spoil it.
The writing style is a big part of what I enjoyed about it. It feels like a daydream, and to a certain extent, it is. It took a few pages for me to get used to the way it drifted between memories and backstory and present circumstances, but it flowed eloquently and gave a full picture of the lives of the characters. It had a wistful quality that didn't impede upon the strife the characters are going through or had gone through.
I enjoyed reading it, and feel like these are the kinds of stories that American literature is severely lacking. We have a tendency to romanticize human strife and stories about migrating so that they are always about getting rich and rarely about basic survival. We tend to lose focus on the fact that there are people out there dying for food and the privilege of not to becoming terrorists. The things that happen to these people are the topics that we don't like to talk about and we try to pretend aren't real, that they somehow brought their plight upon themselves.
This is only one view, but a vital one that we miss in the US. This is one example among many that are the type of stories that we need to be reading more of. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who wants to understand the world a little better.
And again, the end caught me by surprise, not because it left reality and did the thing that I wanted it to, but because it stayed in reality and was still beautiful. Sad, but beautiful in an ethereal or tenuous sort of way that will haunt me anyway because I had to remember that this was the way of things and at least something beautiful could be made of it in this story, even though it doesn't come near the way I wish it could.
It's a tragic reminder that there are people out there who we could we help but don't. If you're looking for a way to help, there are some groups and organizations mentioned in my reading that I have links to on the Beyond the Books page. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Das ist ein recht schmales Büchlein, auf wenigen Seiten verwebt es zwei dramatische Geschichten.Begonnen und beendet wird das Buch mit Farid und seiner Mutter Jamila, die sich im Jahre 2011 auf der Flucht vor Gaddafis Truppen auf den Weg nach Italien machen. Sie landen auf einem Schlepperboot. Diese Szenen sind herzzerreißend und jeder von uns weiß ja, dass diese Szenen immer noch genau so passieren. Kein Wunder, dass an diesem Strand niemand mehr Fisch ist,Die andere Geschichte behandelt ebenfalls eine Libyen-Italien-Verbindung. Diesmal geht es um Angelina, die in Libyen aufgewachsen ist und ihren Sohn Vito. Mir war gar nicht bewusst, dass es in Libyen eine italienische Kolonie gab. 1962 lebten in Libyen immer noch etwa 35.000 Italiener, die nach Gaddafis Machtübernahme 1969 enteignet und ausgewiesen wurden. Zu diesen gehörte die Eltern von Angelina mit ihrer Tochter, die Zeit ihres Lebens Tripolis nachtrauerten.Dieser Handlungsstrang wird sehr ausführlich und interessant geschildert. Insgesamt zeigt das Buch den Heimatverlust auf beiden Seiten und stellt damit dar, dass eine Welt mit offenen Grenzen und ohne nationalstaatlichen Größenwahn menschlicher wäre.
Book preview
Morning Sea - Margaret Mazzantini
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