Under the Bridge

Venera Fazio is a social worker in New Brunswick.

This is Paci’s fifth book to describe the Italian immigrant
experience. The story of Marco, begun in Paci’s fourth book, Black
Blood, continues, with Marco adjusting to his grief over the death of
someone close to him, as well as the trials and tribulations of
adolescence and family conflict.

Marco is an isolated, angry, and introverted teen. His loss alienates
him from his childhood friends. At home, he shuts out his parents. He is
losing his Italian-language skills and they, particularly his mother,
cannot speak English. Problems communicating are but one difficulty.
Marco is better educated than his parents and ashamed of their
working-class status. His father and mother are inaccessible, locked
within their Italian world, while he embraces Canadian values. Marco’s
separateness nourishes an introspective nature through which his teenage
obsessions with his developing sexuality, skin problems, and adult
identity become exaggerated and often humorous.

My one criticism of the book is its weak ending. The integration of
loss seems contrived and superficial. In all other aspects, however,
this is an authentic novel of growing up in an Italian immigrant family.
Marco is a three-dimensional, believable teen, crafted by the rich
details the author provides of the feelings, thoughts, behaviors, and
fantasies of an adolescent. This book will appeal to teenagers looking
for a fictional kindred spirit, other hybrid Canadians, and those
interested in novels about family relationships.