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A review by jackielaw
Lost in the Spanish Quarter: A Novel by Heddi Goodrich
4.0
Lost in the Spanish Quarter, by Heddi Goodrich, is a love story. The protagonists are two students at the University in Naples. Heddi is an American who first travelled to the city a decade previously on an exchange programme and decided to stay. Pietro is the son of farmers who have clawed their way out of poverty and famine to provide the security of land for their sons. The young couple meet at student gatherings where they have mutual friends. They quickly fall into a passionate affair.
“My experience had taught me that the real thrill was loving. Being loved was secondary.”
Interspersed with this love story are emails exchanged between the pair four years later. Thus the reader knows from early on that they separated, causing immense heartache. As the timelines come together, reasons are gradually revealed. It is an evocative and well told tale of young love and thwarted dreams.
The thrill and intensity of falling in love seeps through the pages until reality starts to demand answers to difficult questions. As students in a city far from their families, Heddi and Pietro may live their daily lives free from parental restrictions and supervision. They still, however, rely on support financially. This comes with certain demands – expectations of future direction. Student life may be memorable but is ultimately transitory.
From their cramped student lodgings is a view of Vesuvius with its ever present reminder of the risk of eruption. This mirrors brewing trouble when Pietro’s mother refuses to accept Heddi as anything other than an unfortunate passing phase. However much the pair declare their love for each other whilst planning possible futures, choices must eventually be made.
“Stop trying to change what can’t be changed”
The story is a reminder of how perceptions of friends and acquaintances are based on imperfect reflection rather than in-depth knowledge. Desire conjures up delusions that blinker those infected. When selfish neediness raises its head, the spectre of understanding can be painful. What was believed irrefutable is unmasked as a chimera.
“a tumour is not just any illness but the betrayal of one’s own body, which turns out to be capable of harbouring evil within, to live with it for a long time without ever knowing, to destroy itself”
The sense of place interwoven with the mix of heady excitement and despondency that is student life are well written. The playing through of the love affair grabbed my attention less well despite the candour of its depiction. I could see the direction the pair’s relationship would inevitably take when Pietro dismissed Heddi’s concerns about how his mother treated her – the red flag of his request that Heddi make more of an effort. I read the pages to know the details but with a degree of impatience.
The denouement worked well given the characters created. The author did not fall into the trap of changing given aspects of Heddi and Pietro to achieve a convenient ending.
Avoiding the mawkishness of many love stories, this is a well developed and authentic tale. Any reservations I may have are doubtless based on my dislike of equating possessive desire with deeper love.
“My experience had taught me that the real thrill was loving. Being loved was secondary.”
Interspersed with this love story are emails exchanged between the pair four years later. Thus the reader knows from early on that they separated, causing immense heartache. As the timelines come together, reasons are gradually revealed. It is an evocative and well told tale of young love and thwarted dreams.
The thrill and intensity of falling in love seeps through the pages until reality starts to demand answers to difficult questions. As students in a city far from their families, Heddi and Pietro may live their daily lives free from parental restrictions and supervision. They still, however, rely on support financially. This comes with certain demands – expectations of future direction. Student life may be memorable but is ultimately transitory.
From their cramped student lodgings is a view of Vesuvius with its ever present reminder of the risk of eruption. This mirrors brewing trouble when Pietro’s mother refuses to accept Heddi as anything other than an unfortunate passing phase. However much the pair declare their love for each other whilst planning possible futures, choices must eventually be made.
“Stop trying to change what can’t be changed”
The story is a reminder of how perceptions of friends and acquaintances are based on imperfect reflection rather than in-depth knowledge. Desire conjures up delusions that blinker those infected. When selfish neediness raises its head, the spectre of understanding can be painful. What was believed irrefutable is unmasked as a chimera.
“a tumour is not just any illness but the betrayal of one’s own body, which turns out to be capable of harbouring evil within, to live with it for a long time without ever knowing, to destroy itself”
The sense of place interwoven with the mix of heady excitement and despondency that is student life are well written. The playing through of the love affair grabbed my attention less well despite the candour of its depiction. I could see the direction the pair’s relationship would inevitably take when Pietro dismissed Heddi’s concerns about how his mother treated her – the red flag of his request that Heddi make more of an effort. I read the pages to know the details but with a degree of impatience.
The denouement worked well given the characters created. The author did not fall into the trap of changing given aspects of Heddi and Pietro to achieve a convenient ending.
Avoiding the mawkishness of many love stories, this is a well developed and authentic tale. Any reservations I may have are doubtless based on my dislike of equating possessive desire with deeper love.