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annegoodreads's review
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The Vietri Project by Nicola DeRobertis-Theye is the story of Gabriele’s search for a new lease on life. At the age of 25 she’s worried about the onset of schizophrenia due to the disease debilitating her mother at the same age. She travels aimlessly trying to outrun the disease. After the demoralising travel she seeks to find herself. In order to claim her own identity she sets on a quest to uncover the identity of a citizen in Rome named Vietri. There’s another reason she unconsciously winds up in Rome,it is the homeland of her mother before schizophrenia stole her life. She avoids her mother’s family while there by concentrating on the quest to learn Vietri’s story. The quest helps her learn the history of many things. I loved the ode to Mary Shelley who was also on the move like Gabriele. She learns from Mary Shelley’s fear that slowing down would bring about death—“at what point movement for movement’s sake was no longer worth the sacrifice” p. 89. The storytelling writing style lends itself to the reader fully understanding what it’s like to possibly have a debilitating disease in your future. The understanding reminded me of the quote from To Kill A Mockingbird, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” I feel as though I crawled around insideGabriele’s beautifully flawed mind. A journey may not allow us to avoid the unfortunate parts of our future but it may give us the strength we need to continue the quest to live.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis
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