The Family Guareschi - chronicles the past and present
by Guareschi, Giovanni
pub by Farrar straus and Giroux, NY 1970 (orig in Italian in 1968)     isbn (none) - LCCN 70-122823
246 pages - - biography.
Guareschi starts this autobiography with a tirade against the functionaries of the Italian government, who were incapable of getting a certificate of merit for her many years of teaching out to his mother before she died. He backtracks and gives us some history of his WWII experience then marches forward through his life as a family man and writer. Family life occupies much of the book. He is a straight, if old fashioned thinker who points out the follies and vanity of modern life and modern -conveniences-. Jo, their domestic assistant, adds a foil off which many conversations and idea are bounced. As is later revealed Jo is and unwed mother whose mother is raising her child. The latter part of the book is entitled - Stories about Jo - and through that part we are taken on a tour of Jo's life. This is probably the last book that Giovanni Guareschi wrote before he died. It is a fitting monument to his life.
~ 2009-09-08 ~

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