Viola ArdoneBesprekingen

It was a good book. Takes place in Italy.

Dopo la Seconda guerra mondiale Napoli era una città in ginocchio. L’atavica povertà della città rendeva la vita dei bambini difficile, le condizioni igieniche precarie, nessuna prospettiva per il futuro. Per queste ragioni il Partito comunista organizzò dei treni per consentire alle famiglie che lo desideravano di fare andare i bambini a vivere in Emilia-Romagna, alla ricerca di un futuro possibile. E Viola Ardone racconta la storia di uno di questi bambini, Amerigo, e della madre, Antonietta, che decide di fare partire il figlio su uno di questi treni. A Modena Amerigo trova una vita normale, mangiare non è più un’avventura, la scuola diventa un obbligo e se un bambino ha un talento un violino un dovere. Amerigo torna a Napoli, dalla madre, alla sua vita di stenti e povertà ma quando la madre decide di vendersi il violino il bambino fugge e torna a Modena. E proprio quel violino diventerà lo strumento per vivere una vita normale. Nell’ultimo capitolo Amerigo torna a Napoli per partecipare al funerale della madre e in quell’occasione conoscerà così Carmine, il nipote figlio di Agostino, il fratellino nato dopo la sua fuga e mai conosciuto. La storia è bella ma il valore aggiunto sono le qualità letterarie di Viola Ardone che ha uno stile molto particolare che ricorda il neorealismo ma che non manca di attualità. Molto bello.½

En la Sicilia de los años sesenta las mujeres siguen oprimidas por la familia, la tradición e incluso la ley. No importan los ardides que un hombre herido utilice: una mujer debe someterse a él. En esas circunstancias, y aun a riesgo de enfrentarse a todo el pueblo y pagar un alto precio por ello, la joven Oliva inicia una revolución silenciosa para conquistar su derecho a tomar libremente la más difícil de las decisiones: qué hacer con el resto de su vida.
La decisión se inspira en un caso real impactante y en las vivencias de todas aquellas mujeres que eran forzadas a casarse con sus agresores. Pero es una historia que trasciende poderosamente la época y el escenario que la acogen, que se pregunta qué empuja a una persona a emprender batallas más grandes que una misma y que demuestra que a veces un gesto anónimo es capaz de iniciar algo extraordinario.

I loved it!

Bello, la storia ambientata nella sicilia del dopo guerra realmente accaduta.

Der fast achtjährige Amerigo Speranza lebt 1946 mit seiner alleinerziehenden Mutter im Spanischen Viertel Neapels. Armut, Hunger und Schmutz bestimmen den Alltag. Die Schule hat Amerigo längst verlassen und sammelt Lumpen für ein kleines Salär. Es gibt eine Initiative, verarmte Kinder für ein Jahr in den Norden Italiens in wohlhabende Familien unterzubringen. So gelangt Amerigo nach Bologna. Er ist überwältigt von den reichhaltigen Speisen, von der Schule und von der Musik. Amerigo nennt bald eine Geige sein Eigen und kehrt glücklich und stolz zu seiner Mutter zurück. In Neapel hat sich allerdings nichts geändert und eines Tages ist die Geige verkauft. Der Bestseller aus Italien aus kindlicher, staunender Sicht erzählt, ist sehr emotional, Tränen bei den Leser*innen nicht ausgeschlossen. Ein Highlight dieses Frühjahrs mit kongenialer Covergestaltung (Braune Kinderaugen eines Jungen)

Digital audiobook narrated by Tim Campbell
3.5*** (rounded up)

NOT to be confused with The Orphan Train or other books on that subject, this is a story based on true events, set in post-WW2 Italy. Children from impoverished families in the south were sent north to wealthier communities / families who could care for them. Amerigo, the central figure in this novel, is one such child.

I was not previously aware of this effort in post-war Italy, but I can understand how some parents would make the wrenching decision to send their children away for a chance at a better future. It is interesting to see how these actions by adults were interpreted by the children who were placed – for their own good – in far flung area with complete strangers, some of whom did not treat the children well. But Amerigo is lucky in that the family he joins welcomes him and his foster father recognizes and nurtures Amerigo’s love of music. But this nurturing environment is temporary, and as the country recovers from the deprivations of war, Amerigo is reunited with mother.

A child’s love for his mother may be unwavering, but who can blame him for wanting more than his mother can give, especially once he’s had a taste of those riches? How can the mother reconcile her original selfless decision to send her child to safety with the result of a child who is returned so different from the one she sent away – a child who has been exposed to “more” and naturally wants more now?

While the novel raised some interesting questions (and I look forward to my F2F book club discussion), I was left somewhat dissatisfied. The novel is told in four parts. The first two parts take place in 1946 chronicling Amerigo’s journey north and his experiences there; Part three covers his return to his mother, still impoverished; and Part Four jumps forward to 1994 when 50-year-old Amerigo returns for a visit to Naples. I wish Ardone had spent some time on the intervening years to give us more insight into Amerigo’s development. As it was I didn’t fully understand the person Amerigo became.

Still, there were several scenes that really captured the emotion of the situations both young Amerigo and middle-aged Amerigo experienced.

The audiobook was narrated by Tim Campbell, who did a fine job. He’s believable as both a seven-year-old frightened and impressionable young boy and as a 50-year-old man reflecting on his relationship with his mother.

The story does remind me of other similar situations of which I’m aware. Of course, the aforementioned orphan trains in Depression-era USA, but also the millions of children who were evacuated during WW2 to other countries, in efforts to spare them the horrors of war. One woman I know through a mutual professional association was a child when, first, she and her mother had to leave their Jersey home to avoid the Nazi occupation of that island, and later when her mother sent Jayne from London to the US to avoid the worst of the Blitz. Nine-year-old Jayne landed in a suburb of Milwaukee with a well-off family, where she lived for her formative years. When she returned to England to rejoin her mother she was a 16-year-old teenager and not at all happy to be uprooted from her friends in the USA. Once she was of age, she wrote to her foster father in Wisconsin, who welcomed her back and agreed to help her get established here. Our book club read her memoir - This Token Of Freedom - in 2015. The same book club will be discussing Ardone’s book in January 2022.½

Set in Naples after WWII, life is hard for Amerigo Spranza and his mother. He and his friend, Tommasino run the streets looking for rags and sometimes attend school - math is Amerigo's best subject. Word comes that a "children's train" will send some children to northern Italy to places where they can achieve an education and better life - maybe returning and maybe not.

Amerigo's mother, Antonietta, is seemingly cold and distant, but life has been hard for her. She makes the decision to send Amerigo north on the train. Here he is taken in by a loving family, has a room of his own, and experiences a loving family life. He expresses a love for music and is given violin lessons.

Months later he is forced to return to Naples. His mother and he clash as he struggles to get back to an earlier life. After his violin seemingly disappears, his mother tells him "it is for the best." After an argument, he runs away to the train station and manages to board the train along with a woman and her children.

The last part of the book is years later when Amerigo now goes by the last name of his northern family and is a renowned violinist traveling the world for concerts. He is returning to Naples after hearing of his mother's death and finding out that she had another child, Augusto who is imprisoned along with his wife leaving a young son alone. The last part of the book makes the entire book worth reading and Amerigo deals with the guilt and remembrances of his mother and his earlier life and the fortune he has also received from his other family.

Not usually a fan of first-person narratives, this one is believable yet touching without sentimentality. Good story.

1946: in the aftermath of World War II, seven year old Amerigo lives with his mother, Antoinetta in the ravaged and defeated town of Naples, Southern Italy. Amerigo and his mother try to make ends meet as best they can, but collecting rags and mending means they are just scraping by. A Communist group offers refuge for the children of the South, placing children on a train to live temporarily with families in the North. Antoinetta makes the decision to put Amerigo on one of the trains. Amerigo is confused and upset; however, once he is with his temporary family in the North, Amerigo receives new shoes, clothes, plenty of food and the feeling of a warm and loving family. His northern family also develops his love for music. Amerigo returns home to find that nothing has changed while everything has changed.
The Children's Train is a powerful and heartfelt story of hope, finding home and family. Most of the story is told from seven-year-old Amerigo's point of view. Amerigo's voice is rambling, taking in everything as a child would see and understand it. Most interesting were the views of his mother and his home. Antoinetta came off as harsh, but surviving. Amerigo would always say that many things were not her strong point, realizing that his mother did not show affection in typical ways. The story examines Amerigo's views of politics and hospitality versus charity as he became used to life in Northern Italy. I was intrigued as Amerigo begins to see the impact of the decisions adults madee for him and that love can have many different forms. The last third of the book skips to the year 1994 when Amerigo returns to Naples and begins to see the further impact of his mother's decisions. This was the most moving part of the story for me as Amerigo realizes the different paths that his life could have taken.
This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

Bimbi del sud che grazie ai comunisti, nel dopoguerra, vengono mandati, in treno, al nord presso famiglie che spesso poi le adottano. Scrittura bella, leggera, infantile perché il punto di vista è quello di un bimbo. Spaccato storico/sociale di una circostanza che non conoscevo e che si porta dietro dolore, speranza, distacco, cambiamento, rimorsi sia per chi se ne va sia per chi resta e lascia andare. Un bimbo spezzato in due tra la scelta di stare con una madre sola e indigente a vivere di semi accattonaggio nei vicoli di Napoli o scappare per ritornare a Modena dove c'è una prospera famiglia felice che lo accoglie. Le contraddizioni di un'Italia spaccata in due con un Sud ottocentesco e povero e un Nord proiettato verso il benessere del dopoguerra. Scorrevole, coinvolgente, a tratti emozionante.

If you learn one thing from this novel, it will be “There are no easy answers.” During World War II Naples, Italy was occupied by the Germans and the Allies destroyed it with bombs. Because of the conditions once peace was established, the Italian Communist Party organized a children’s relief operation sending children north to Bologna where they lived with families until things improved in the south. Seven-year-old Amerigo Speranza was one of these children. He loved his family. His guardian was middle-aged spinster, and he spent the time she was at work with her sister’s family. He had stability, love and enough to eat, things his single mom could not provide. And best of all he learned how to play the violin. When he was returned to Naples, his mother sold his violin and sent him to apprentice with a cobbler. He was so unhappy he returned to his family in the north and eventually became a concert violinist. After his mother’s death, he returned to Naples and found he now had a nephew to care for since the nephew’s parents were incarcerated. Not only does he feel the need to help his nephew, but he must come to terms with why his mother treated him like she did. This is a much more powerful story than I had expected.

I was so looking forward to finally getting to read "The Children's Train," and it didn't disappoint. This is a lovely, well-written piece of historical fiction about a time following WWII when poor children in Southern Italy were given the option to live (temporarily) with more prosperous families in Northern Italy. Our main character Amerigo is one such child who goes and then comes back.

The subject matter is, on the surface, fairly miserable, but the book doesn't muddle around in tragedy. The prose is detailed and witty, and the progression of the story is well-paced. Whether children are speaking to each other, or to adults, the dialogue reads as totally natural, sometimes genuinely funny. Amerigo contextualizes the world in a way that he can understand it, and at times his observations and actions come off as both innocent and dark. For example, he describes his older brother's death from bronchial asthma as a "bad idea" rather than a tragedy. Really fitting for a child's perspective on death.

Anyway, after Amerigo arrives in Northern Italy, he soon finds that his life is better there than it ever was in Naples with his mother. The use of these two settings is purposeful, in fact the entire point of the book, as it presents Amerigo with the extreme opposite of how he's lived up until then. The conflict he feels when he returns to his mother, where nothing much has changed, becomes the main conflict of the story. From poverty and a distant mother to a caring foster family where he never goes hungry. From there, he makes a choice.

I'm not sure yet how I feel about the ending. It made me a bit emotional, but I feel like it could've done something more. Very glad I read it, nonetheless. Made for a quick read.

The war is over, but Italy is still recovering and is filled with underprivileged children.

Northern Italy seems to have come back much quicker and are more prosperous.

THE CHILDREN'S TRAIN is a story based on true events that happened post WWII.

We meet young children taken from their parents by choice to live with an adopted family in Northern Italy for the winter.

The train ride was frightening for the children because they were worried about how the new families would treat them, and they missed their mothers and fathers.

There were some funny parts, though, when one of the younger girls shouted: Look it is raining ricotta. It was snow, and she had never seen snow before.

You will feel sorry for the children and hope their fears of what will happen to them subside.

We follow the life of Amerigo with his adopted family. His adopted parents were actually much nicer than his own

We see his life before he lived with his adopted family and also 50 years later.

I really enjoyed Amerigo and the Italian names.

If you are of Italian descent, you will love this book.

This was another event in history that I wasn't aware of.

It is educational, uplifting, but also heartbreaking.

ENJOY!! 5/5

This book was given to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I found myself engrossed and moved by this book. It was told from the point of view of Amerigo who was a child of seven or eight for most of the book, and it was so well done. I was made to see things as Amerigo did and to feel his fear, pain, and confusion. There was some humor for the reader too, though it was sometimes lost on young Amerigo.

There were certainly sad an bittersweet moments as well. I can't imagine how hard it would have been for Amerigo's mother, Antonietta, to make the decision to send him away, even if it seemed to be for his own good. Initially, I don't know that there was a right or wrong decision for her to make, so it was sad to see the way she acted after making her choice. It seemed that guilt, pride, and jealousy affected many of her words and actions.

It was also sad to see the way Amerigo, years later, still felt pain and regret about choices he made as a child and even about choices that were made for him. Even so, this wasn't a depressing book.

It was interesting to read about this segment of history, and I really felt myself drawn into Amerigo's story. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys historical fiction or books that explore themes of family and identity.

Thank you BookishFirst for the early read.

Set during the aftermath of World War II, Viola Ardone's international bestseller follows the journey of seven-year-old Amerigo Speranza as he is sent to northern Italy along with thousands of other children in hopes of a better life in the less war-torn regions of the country. Temporarily taken away from their families, these children entered a new world in which they finally don't feel the pain of hunger or the threat of the cold. After getting a taste of comfort and security, Amerigo must wrestle with his love for his family and his longing to escape from poverty.

The Children's Train was originally written in Italian, though the English translation seems true to its original text. The story itself is broken up into short chapters that provide vignettes into the lives of these displaced children. Overall, I found the story to be very moving, especially since the experiences of Amerigo and his companions were based on true events in history. Many thanks to HarperVia for an advanced copy of the book.

This book was a quick read at only 288 pages, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I could not get over the melancholy feeling throughout the entire book.
You are introduced to an 8 year old boy named Amerigo and his mother Antonieeta Speranza, who are poor and trying to make it on their own in the year 1946. They do anything to make money... selling rags they find in the streets, mom sews, Amerigo and his friend Tommasino even get away with selling painted rats for awhile because women think they are hamsters being sold for their fur. Through it all, Amerigo never really gives up hope believing while creating a "points" system for all the shoes he sees, if "he makes it to ten times ten, something nice will happen". That's exactly what his mother and some of the other moms like her believe when a woman named named Maddalena Criscuolo comes along, offering to take their children off their hands and send them to families who will take better care of them, feeding them and giving them warm clothes up North in Italy. Most of these moms are so desperate they feel as if they have no choice. Amerigo is placed on this train with a few friends he knows, but they soon alll go their seperate ways to the families who will love and take care of them as if they are their own. Some of them stay where they are and others return home. It is here Amerigo discovers his true calling and his passion and he knows what he wants to do when he gets older.
When he returns home, his mother takes away all gifts and food given to him by his Italian family, and they return to being poor. I did not really find it fair for them to show their kids what their worlds could be like, only to be cruelly ripped away. The train journey seemed pointless. And where Amerigo ends up giving up one of his loves for another, things could have been better had his mother let him pursue his dreams rather than trying to make him learn the trade of repairing shoes.
The book fast forwards to when Amerigo is older and what has happened in his life. This whole book was tragic, even though it had it's own unique version of a happy ending, I still think it could have been better without so much sadness and negativity weaved through the whole story.

"The memory of you will not lose its bloom; all the years I spent far away from you have turned into a long love letter. Every note I played, I played for you." - p. 283

The Children's Train had a slow start. Part I seemed to hold with it the challenges of interpreting a novel from Italian to English, it felt choppy and hard to relate to with much of the Italian culture being "lost in translation" perhaps.

However, part II really kicked the book off for me as the story began to truly unravel. Children were sent from their families that couldn't support them and were sent north to families that volunteered to care for, feed and welcome them into their own families. While the Italian culture may show love differently, the love mothers and fathers had for their children regardless of the hard decisions they faced was evident. Struggling to make ends meet, love took different forms from those Children's Train kids after the atrocities and devastation of WWII.

From the view of a young boy, concluding with the recollections of a grown man returning home for one last time, this is a beautiful story of love in all forms and sacrifice.

*Disclaimer: a review copy was provided by the publisher, all opinions are my own.

Not your usual WWII Historical Fiction novel. Narrated by 7 year old Amerigo it is a heartouching tale of a young boy who is sent far from his mother and the life he has known, into the home of strangers and a lifestyle far different than his.
Set at the end of WWII, the Nazis and Mussolini have been defeated, but the affects of the War still ravage southern Italy and the village where Amerigo lives. Still facing poverty and hunger, Amerigo's mother makes a heart wrenching decision, to give her son a chance at a bit of a better life. That decision is to send him on a train that has been organized by the communist party to take impoverished children from southern Italy and unite them with wealthy families from northern Italy were the devastation of war seems to have not hit so bad.
Though frightened and unsure of what lies ahead, Amerigo bravely faces the train ride north with two of his friends from the village. Upon arrival the threesome is separated, each going to a family and to the new start for them.
This is a book about how much you give up to gain a better life. And of exactly what "a better" life actually means. The meaning for one person is not the same as to another and young Amerigo learns this and much much more, about love, the bonds that tie you not only to family but to the place you are from. It is about difficult choices and the price paid or the guilt carried from the decisions made.
This is not a sad story, told from Amerigo's 7year old perspective on it is light and enjoyable to read, but also thought provoking. All in all a delightful novel, suited to all historical fiction fans!

THE CHILDREN'S TRAIN encompasses Post-World War II Italy from the mind of a child fearfully separated from his mother in Naples and sent to live among Communist families in Northern Italy.

Many themes are introduced. The shame of poverty, as seven year old Amerigo searches the streets and alleys for rags that his mother can sell, is represented by the condition of people's shoes. Abandonment by an unknown father affects his self esteem and social development.

Amerigo's confidence begins to grow as he is accepted and loved by people up North where he finally has enough food, decent clothes, and real new shoes.
His talent as a violin player is discovered and nurtured.

All this is taken away when he returns home to his mother, forcing him to flee back up North. Eventually, he becomes a famous musician.

The fascinating story, with many disparate views of politics, reads smoothly until his mother dies. His feelings reveal both a strange need to keep lying needlessly and intense selfish "I - I -I" self concern as he prepares to leave his poor nephew with nothing.½

Poteva essere un 5 se non fosse stato per il colpo di scena finale: dovuto, per carità, ma che se non ci fosse stato e il libro avesse preso una piega diversa sarebbe stato meglio.
Un po' confusionario alla fine, un po' troppo lungo e "sbrodolato" nell'ultima parte. Poi l'uso del dialetto, molto italianizzato: tipo "Vorrei ma non posso", soggetto ad un editing forse troppo deciso.
Però la storia è bella, sconosciuta ai più (a quasi tutti direi).

C'è un filone narrativo in Italia che tratta di traumi infantili - sociali o personalissimi - e di vite di giovani adulti che ne pagano le conseguenze, fino allo scioglimento o al non scioglimento, con o senza speranza: inutile star qui a fare un catalogo. Una sorta di neorealismo intimistico. Quello che conta è che sono nella maggior parte dei casi storie abbastanza coinvolgenti. Ad opera di giovani autori accomunati da buona capacità di narrazione e scrittura. Poi, qualcuna decolla, diventa magari il caso letterario della stagione e di conseguenza il nome dell'autore vola di bocca in bocca, qualcuna … meno. E a volte è un peccato.
Certamente non vedo per ora grandi movimenti attorno a questo titolo, che invece meriterebbe maggiore attenzione. Eppure La ricetta del cuore in subbuglio è un bel romanzo, e quella di Viola Ardone una voce interessante e promettente.
E' la storia di Dafne che, bambina a Napoli, crede nelle proprietà magico-taumaturgiche delle tabelline: a ripeterle tutte, ma soprattutto quella più tosta, quella dell'8, possono far avverare i desideri, almeno la maggior parte, quelli proprio difficili forse no.
Ed è la storia di Dafne giovane architetto a Milano, che accoppia il successo professionale a una sostanziale incapacità di gestire vita privata e sentimenti. Una di quelle donne (quante ne conosciamo?) che sembrano destinate a ripetere ogni volta lo stesso errore. Con l'aggravante che Dafne è sempre pronta, con matita e taccuino, a cercare di risolvere ogni questione con lucide esposizioni geometriche.
Forse sono le pagine geometriche, poche, quelle che meno colpiscono questa lettrice che peccati ne fa tanti, ma non annovera la geometria tra i più frequenti. Ma a Dafne ti affezioni, anche al suo scalciare contro l'analista. Che somiglia parecchio a tanti che mi hanno raccontato quelli che ne conoscono. Complessivamente ne esce bene, ma non è il mio campo.
Milano non l’ho percepita molto, mentre presentissima, raccontata alla grande, è una Napoli tal quale di una ventina d’anni fa. A una che a Napoli ci vive già questo piace molto.
Soprattutto, incanta la voce di Dafne bambina che mescolando innocenza e acume racconta – per come vede e percepisce - la città e la famiglia e la scuola e le nonne e i vicini. Con un'ottima invenzione linguistica di italiano con l'accento napoletano, che conferisce a questa parte della storia in particolare verosimiglianza e calore.
Consiglio di leggerla, per dirmi se ho proprio torto, e anche per trovarsi in vantaggio al prossimo giro, se come sperabile un altro editore o la stessa Salani si occuperà di far circolare un po' di più il nome di Viola Ardone, e di Dafne, tanto per cominciare.