Monthly Archives: December 2019
“Joseph M. Orazi gives us a captivating and well-written novel in “L’America.” The author is no stranger to the saga of Italian immigrants. He was the screenwriter and associate producer for a riveting documentary on the internment of Italians in World War II titled “Prisoners Among Us.” He delved into the subject to explore new angles and sub plots not normally covered. In “L’America,” Orazi tells the story of three men who find themselves on the same ocean vessel in steerage “in the belly of the beast called SS Santa Ana.” There is Giuseppe Mosca, a peasant farmer from Calabria who leaves for America to become a tailor. There is Aldo Grimaldi, a skilled contractor in Naples where corruption and nepotism has all but excluded him from the market. He hopes to restart his business in the United States where he believes work is won on merit instead of connections. Paolo LaChimia is the youngest of the three; a teenager from the streets of Palermo whose early life in crime leads him overseas. Dialogue between characters convey the conditions of past migration; much more dire and ominous than what we see today. In one scene, a ship’s steward explains steerage to Paolo. “Get used to it. This is the best it’s going to smell. Wait until we’re a week out. Then you will long for day…This is steerage. The occu- pants are nothing more than cargo with legs.” Historical photographs often show Italians by them- selves as a group of immigrants who arrived at Ellis Island. In truth, people from many different countries were represented on the same ocean liner. When Aldo gets settled inside the large boat, he sees “the strange assembly of nationalities and the drone of voices evoked a kind of Babel. There were Russian Jews, Irish farmers, Greeks, people strangely attired in kilts, Arabs in long robes, and even Cossacks with terrifying scowls and long, curved swords that hung from their belts in ornate sheathes. Thirteen days suddenly seemed like an eternity.” Orazi is an observant writer whose passion for history comes through in every scene and sentence. The reader is immersed in the past at every turn and twist in this incredible novel. Most appealing are characters who possess the hopes and flaws to make them approachable and understandable. Even on the rare occasions when they are at their worst, we somehow still root for them. Orazi is commended for writing such a profound novel that takes readers back to a time much different than our own. “L’America” will inspire in all of us inherent respect and admiration for those who came to give us a better life. “
F&L PRIMO / THIRD EDITION 2019 / 59