Peter S.
Beagle
Completed 8/8/2019,
Reviewed 8/10/2019
5 stars
Beagle is
known mostly for “The Last Unicorn”.
Here is another book about unicorns, written just two years ago. This one takes place in present day
Italy. While it is not fantastical like “The
Last Unicorn”, e.g., the unicorns don’t speak, it introduces the magical into
the everyday humdrum of rural life. It
is also a love story between and middle-aged farmer and the twenty-three-year-old
sister of his postman. I loved this
book. It transported me to Italy about
as much as Call Me By Your Name. I could
identify with the farmer whose pragmatic disposition tries to suppress his
feelings for the young woman. I could
feel the suffocation he felt as he was barraged by news and paparazzi. I felt a lot in this short book, which why I
rated it so highly.
The story
unfolds on Claudio Bianchi’s farm, a small farm he inherited from a distant
cousin. He works the land alone, with no
hired hands, and having only been married once, and for a brief time. He’s content to smoke his pipe alone in the
evenings surrounded by his dog, three cats, and goat. One day, a white unicorn takes up residence
on his land. It takes a while, but
Claudio realizes the unicorn is pregnant is nesting in preparation for birth. He’s determined to keep it a secret, but
eventually, the unicorn is discovered by Giovanna, the sister of his postman
who’s been delivering the mail on Fridays.
He binds her to secrecy, but of course, she tells her brother. The brother also swears to secrecy, but soon,
rumors start to fly. Claudio is at first
visited and then inundated by journalists, paparazzi, activists, and looky-loos
all trying to find out the truth about this rumored unicorn. Eventually the mob takes interest. All the while, Claudio and Giovanna try to
keep the unicorn secret and help prepare it for birthing.
I’m finding
I’m really enjoying novellas. I can get
more emotionally involved than in short stories and I don’t get bored with the
middle section as I sometimes do in full length novels. And this one proves my point. Especially now that I’m going through a bout
of shingles, my patience and tolerance is quite low. But reading this book in its peaceful
pastoral setting and the subsequent invasion of the crazy outside world both relaxed
me and grabbed my attention. I was
caught up through the magical ending. At
the end I wished the book were longer so I could stay in Claudio’s world, but
then was glad it ended when it did.
One of the
amazing things about Beagle is that his prose is not flowery and bogged down by
tons of similes, yet it creates a beautiful environment. The characterization is great, though it is
not overdone either. You get to know Claudio
and Giovanna through the dialogue more than their descriptions.
So I give
this novella five out of five stars, something I only reserve for books that move
me deeply, and this one did. I guess you
could categorize this book as magical realism, because it imbues magical
elements into a mundane setting. And
that’s what I loved about the book, the possibility of love and magic in a
mundane world.
:)
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