Fabrizio's Passion

Linda Perry is a senior policy analyst with the Ontario Ministry of
Citizenship, Culture and Recreation.

Fabrizio’s Passion is the English translation of a French novel that
spans some 50 years. Divided into 25 brief chapters—all set in
April—the novel chronicles and reflects on the life of a family. The
protagonist is the ever-passionate Fabrizzio, a character given to
rhetorical extremes (“Not to be able to rhyme with the one you love,
this is your prison, this is your ugliness ... This killing is such bad
taste, amore mio”). The author’s use of multiple first-person
narrators bewilders more than challenges. Adding to the confusion is the
inclusion of French, Hungarian, and Italian dialogue, often without
benefit of translation. In the end the reader is left with the
impression of a creative-writing assignment, overwrought and complete
with typos.