Bread and Wine (Signet Classic)

Rating:
Summary: The Secular Priest of Abruzzi
Review: Bread and Wine is one of the most beautiful novels written on the human condition. While Rome and the rest fo Italy are going through the political changes of facsism, the villages of Abruzzi experiences these changes in their own way. For centuries anything hardly ever changed in the lives of the peasants of the isolated Italian villages. Thus they are living in their little world of superstitions, poverty and already eccepted misery. Pietro Spina is a revolutionist who is fighting for the rights of these peasants, however it is more difficult than he would expect it to be. In his disguise of an old priest he has to find the right way to reach these people and make them struggle for their rights. And due to the inevitable disillusionment of the times and beliefs (religious and ideological) he goes down to a more personal individual level. Silone tells a beautifully sad story in the fight for the better.

Rating:
Summary: Bread for your body, wine for your soul...
Review: Set in Italy, at the outbreak of the invasion of Africa, at the height of fascism, Silone's main character, the communist leader Pietro Spina, disguised as a priest, is confronted with a sad reality: the large distance that separates ideological communism and the daily reality of the "cafoni," the Italian peasants who have to face the cruel struggle for survival, their indifference to political rhetoric, their acceptance of a future with no perspectives, and their reliance on blind faith. Spina is the intellectual mind who painfully learns that ideologies by themselves are not enough, the element of "faith" has to be present in life. The narrative has superb discourses, simple in its language, but with an incredible depth of meaning, there are plenty of allegories for the attentive reader, the story is a pleasure and a delight, as much as some good bread and wine!

Rating:
Summary: Subtle and masterful
Review: The first time I tried to read this book, I didn't get it. Perhaps I was too distracted or reading it too quicky or sporadically, but I kept waiting for something important to happen or somebody to say something worth underlining and quoting, and got impatient when nothing happened and nobody said anything. It has sat abandoned on my bookshelf for a couple of years.

This time around, I had a little more time to read and a little more space to think. It made all the difference. I enjoyed the subtlety of Silone's characterization. He delights in small, subtle humor, in symbolism that doesn't scream itself aloud -- like the drunk peasant who falls off his donkey and then beats the donkey. It slips by you if you're not attuned to it.

There are probably other valid interpretations, but to me, Pietro (or Don Paolo) really isn't the main character here. He is simply a placeholder for the reader, so that I can see and hear and experience rural Italy. Perhaps because I can so easily identify with him. (I, too, am an idealist, a revolutionary with romantic ideas about the poor and romantic hatred for Institution. I may not be an exile on the run, but I live in a more tolerant time and place. A demonstration in Italy in the 30's might have been viewed by the authorities as criminal activity; in 21st century America, it's considered entertainment. I don't know which is more frustrating.) I have experienced Pietro's (and Silone's) frustration with those he is trying to help -- that ironic feeling that you could do a lot of good for the poor, if the poor would just cooperate.

The peasants of Italy, and the universal poor by extension, are the heroes of this book -- those people that most revolutionaries strive and die to empower and free from oppression, yet few revolutionaries actually take the time to understand and love. The gold in this book is Silone's gentle, compassionate, humorous rendering of these people -- what they care about, don't care about, how they make decisions, what they fear, what they think about and hope for. It is an exposition of a collective mind; a dangerous undertaking, bound to slip into stereotype at times, and one that Silone undertakes with great reverence.

As I go among the poor in my own day and age, I remember Silone, and find that what he has to say rings true. Much too often, attempts to help, to organize, and to "empower" are ultimately patronizing and arrogant. It is much better simply to break bread with them, and learn to know and love them. After all, this is what Jesus did, the greatest and best riend of the poor, and the ultimate Saviour of all mankind. I would rather follow his model than Marx's.

Rating:
Summary: Subtle and masterful
Review: The first time I tried to read this book, I didn't get it. Perhaps I was too distracted or reading it too quicky or sporadically, but I kept waiting for something important to happen or somebody to say something worth underlining and quoting, and got impatient when nothing happened and nobody said anything. It has sat abandoned on my bookshelf for a couple of years.

This time around, I had a little more time to read and a little more space to think. It made all the difference. I enjoyed the subtlety of Silone's characterization. He delights in small, subtle humor, in symbolism that doesn't scream itself aloud -- like the drunk peasant who falls off his donkey and then beats the donkey. It slips by you if you're not attuned to it.

There are probably other valid interpretations, but to me, Pietro (or Don Paolo) really isn't the main character here. He is simply a placeholder for the reader, so that I can see and hear and experience rural Italy. Perhaps because I can so easily identify with him. (I, too, am an idealist, a revolutionary with romantic ideas about the poor and romantic hatred for Institution. I may not be an exile on the run, but I live in a more tolerant time and place. A demonstration in Italy in the 30's might have been viewed by the authorities as criminal activity; in 21st century America, it's considered entertainment. I don't know which is more frustrating.) I have experienced Pietro's (and Silone's) frustration with those he is trying to help -- that ironic feeling that you could do a lot of good for the poor, if the poor would just cooperate.

The peasants of Italy, and the universal poor by extension, are the heroes of this book -- those people that most revolutionaries strive and die to empower and free from oppression, yet few revolutionaries actually take the time to understand and love. The gold in this book is Silone's gentle, compassionate, humorous rendering of these people -- what they care about, don't care about, how they make decisions, what they fear, what they think about and hope for. It is an exposition of a collective mind; a dangerous undertaking, bound to slip into stereotype at times, and one that Silone undertakes with great reverence.

As I go among the poor in my own day and age, I remember Silone, and find that what he has to say rings true. Much too often, attempts to help, to organize, and to "empower" are ultimately patronizing and arrogant. It is much better simply to break bread with them, and learn to know and love them. After all, this is what Jesus did, the greatest and best riend of the poor, and the ultimate Saviour of all mankind. I would rather follow his model than Marx's.

Rating:
Summary: An exiled priest
Review: The late Ignazio Silone, the author of "Bread and Wine," stated that he "would willingly pass [his] life writing and rewriting the same book -- that one book which every writer carries within him, the image of his own soul..." "Bread and Wine" is just that -- a beautiful reflection of a man's soul. Using humor, easy language and insights into the Italian fascist regime, Silone tells the story of all humanity's search for truth. In the figure of Pietro Spina, a Socialist political activist, the reader is lead to ask questions about politics, relationships, and faith. The irony is that Spina has just returned from exile and must remain incognito -- as a priest, of course. Through his experiences, he asks many difficult questions about his Socialist party, his church, and himself. In the end, he is left to bring together who he is as the "priest" Don Paolo and who he was as the anti-political activist Pietra Spina. He must learn to "let the inner and the outer man meet" (Plato).

Rating:
Summary: An exiled priest
Review: The late Ignazio Silone, the author of "Bread and Wine," stated that he "would willingly pass [his] life writing and rewriting the same book -- that one book which every writer carries within him, the image of his own soul..." "Bread and Wine" is just that -- a beautiful reflection of a man's soul. Using humor, easy language and insights into the Italian fascist regime, Silone tells the story of all humanity's search for truth. In the figure of Pietro Spina, a Socialist political activist, the reader is lead to ask questions about politics, relationships, and faith. The irony is that Spina has just returned from exile and must remain incognito -- as a priest, of course. Through his experiences, he asks many difficult questions about his Socialist party, his church, and himself. In the end, he is left to bring together who he is as the "priest" Don Paolo and who he was as the anti-political activist Pietra Spina. He must learn to "let the inner and the outer man meet" (Plato).