Ties

Betrayal. If you think there’s nothing new to read in a novel about marriage and family, you should read Domenico Starnone’s novel titled, Ties. Translated by Jhumpa Lahiri, this novel draws readers into the long marriage of Vanda and Aldo, at two critical times. Twelve years after their 1962 marriage, following the birth of two children, Aldo has an affair with Lidia and leaves Vanda for eight years. Starnone opens the novel with Vanda’s reaction to this betrayal. A large middle section picks up decades later following their reconciliation, and the end of the novel features the couple’s middle-aged children and the impact of the long-ago separation on their lives. I can’t comment on the prose in the original Italian, but Lahiri’s English translation was finely written and I enjoyed every page of this novel. Rating: Five-star (I love it) Click here to purchase Ties from amazon.com.