Agostino by Alberto Moravia

This week I decided to read Agostino by Alberto Moravia. It was a short and easy read as advertised. Though this was definitely the easiest read so far, I have mixed feelings on this story. In short summary, this story follows 13 year old Agostino throughout his summer vacation at a beach in Italy. The young teen sees his widowed mother move on with a new man, all while exploring a brand new friend group that seems to revolve around violence and behaviours that stem from poverty. I would call this reading something along the lines of a coming-of-age story, as Agostino discovers sexuality and straddles the line between childhood and manhood. 

While I honestly did quite enjoy this story, i found parts of it mildly disturbing. For a while the young 13 year old talks about his mother as a beautiful, inspiring and nurturing role model. For the first few pages he speaks about her with such innocence, and even refers to her as "mamma" plenty of times throughout the novel. However, when Agostino finds himself hanging out with the boys from Vespucci beach, he is introduced to the idea of sexuality, an idea that had never previously crossed his mind. With this new knowledge, he starts to view his mother as a subject of sexual desire. This quite honestly confused me at first. As disturbing as it sounds, I couldn't tell if the author was trying to imply that the young boy genuinly found his mother sexually appealing, or was simply just using her as a general example to display the sexual awakening the Agostino had undergone. Regardless some of the wording and ways Agostino would describe his mothers body seemed inappropriate. 

Another thing that I thought was interesting about this story, was Saro's relationship with the group of young boys. From what I understood, he was a 50 year pedophile. Other than the hand holding incident that occurred on the boat, the author only alluded to other experiences the boys had had with him. I feel like that storyline was a bit incomplete and i would have liked to have known why he was hanging out with them in the first place, as well as what the other boys had experienced with Saro, and why they continued to hang around him knowing what he does.

My question to you: Did you find Agostino's thoughts about his mother inappropriate? or do you think this is a normal thought process for a 13 year old to have when discovering sexual identity. 

Comments

  1. Jon Beasley-Murray7 February 2022 at 23:34

    You're far from the only person to find something disturbing about this book, but I think I'd like to hear more about why you had this response. Or perhaps more specifically: do you think that what disturbed you is at all similar to what disturbs Agostino? Isn't the source of his confusion and uncertainty the point at which he realizes that he mother is also a sexual being, whose identity does not simply revolve around him?

    (Also, can you add the tag or category "Moravia"? Thanks!)

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