Book Review: "The Vietri Project" by Nicola DeRobertis-Theye
I got nostalgic after reading this book, and this is one of my favorite photos of Rome (taken from the Spanish steps).
Synopsis: Working at a bookstore in Berkeley in the years after college, Gabriele becomes intrigued by the orders of signor Vietri, a customer from Rome whose numerous purchases grow increasingly mystical and esoteric. Restless and uncertain of her future, Gabriele quits her job and, landing in Rome, decides to look up Vietri. Unable to locate him, she begins a quest to unearth the well-concealed facts of his life.
Following a trail of obituaries and military records, a memoir of life in a village forgotten by modernity, and the court records of a communist murder trial, Gabriele meets an eclectic assortment of the city’s inhabitants, from the widow of an Italian prisoner of war to members of a generation set adrift by the financial crisis. Each encounter draws her unexpectedly closer to her own painful past and complicated family history—an Italian mother diagnosed with schizophrenia and institutionalized during her childhood, and an extended family in Rome still recovering from the losses and betrayals in their past. Through these voices and histories, Gabriele will discover what it means to be a person in the world; a member of a family and a citizen of a country—and how reconciling these stories may be the key to understanding her own.
Rating: 4.25
Proof of my soft smile selfies all around Rome. Note to self: wear those sunglasses more.
Review: Man, did this book make me miss travel - I’m aware that I’m about to sound incredibly spoiled, but Rome is one of my favorite cities on the planet. I have been there three times, but one situation sticks out as extra special. A few years ago, I was fortunate enough to have work meetings at the Vatican, and I ended up having an idyllic Saturday just wandering around the city and getting lost — and “The Vietri Project” brought back the best of those feelings for me as I read it.
Gabriele is a little bit lost after graduating from college, and she never really wanted to plan past age 25 due to her potential genetic heritage: schizophrenia. We don’t learn until later in the book the full depth of her concern and how her mother’s illness has been weighing on her (note: don’t consider this a spoiler because it’s in the synopsis!), but it’s prevalent in all of her decisions, including the biggest one of all: her decision to track down a mysterious client in Rome.
Gabriele, during her tenure as a bookstore clerk, spent years researching and fulfilling orders of obscure texts by a man named Vietri who lived in Rome; of course, figuring out who he was and why he was doing this became a bit of a fixation for her. So, she decides to go to Rome and try to find him. The bulk of this story takes place in “present day” Rome, but we learn about Gabriele’s childhood and adolescence in small bits and pieces; you really do feel like you’re inside her head, and we live through the memories with her as her Roman adventure jogs certain life moments. Her mother was Italian, so we do get to meet some of her extended family, who she has been largely estranged from the past few years. We see her take (and leave) lovers, we see her explore, we see her go down rabbit holes, and we get to see her come to terms with some difficult truths she’s been dancing around.
Nicola DeRobertis-Theye is an incredibly gifted writer, and if this is just her debut novel, I can’t wait to see what’s next. Her writing had an almost ethereal quality to it; I felt like I was floating through the story, just as Gabriele was floating through Rome. It was the perfect way to compose this story, and the writing style complements the plot incredibly well. Beyond that, it was exquisitely plotted and just…lovely. Even the hard parts of the story were written with a softness to them, and it contributed to the almost dreamlike nature of the storyline.
I loved the idea of Gabriele finding Vietri and getting some answers, and I’m not going to spoil the end, but the story took a turn I didn’t expect when she landed on a good “clue.” I’ve mentioned before how I love a good internet rabbit hole of research, but I didn’t realize that for Gabriele, this would have negative connotations. One of the ways her mother’s schizophrenia visibly manifested itself was obsessing over different research paths, letting them consume her — something that we live through in Gabriele’s almost quixotic quest.
Fair warning: I misread the description when I first heard about this book, and I thought it was going to be less coming-of-age, more literary mystery adventure. That’s totally on me, but I caution you in case you got the same idea from the synopsis. This is a beautiful story, and yes, there are elements of mystery to figuring out who Vietri is, but that’s merely the plot device that gets us to Gabriele’s experience in Italy.
That experience in Italy, and the journey she goes through (that’s not a literary adventure) is a bittersweet look at growing up and finding yourself, especially recognizing that there aren’t always answers to the big questions you have.
TL;DR: A beautifully honest portrayal of a young woman’s coming of age and coming to terms with some complicated aspects of her family history — in Rome!
If You Liked This, Try These:
“Writers and Lovers” by Lily King (Bookshop | Kindle | Shannon’s Review)
“All Adults Here” by Emma Straub (Bookshop | Kindle | Shannon’s Review)
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