We read Fontamara, Ignazio Silone's first novel, for our book club. What I liked about the book is the from-the-inside portrayal of Italian peasantry struggling to come to grips with the Fascist takeover of their country.
Silone himself came from such a background, and this was his first novel. His early relationship to socialism and fascism was "complicated." He was deeply involved in socialist politics, but was also secretly informing the fascists about socialist doings.
Anyway, it's not thrilling, but it's short, and somehow charmed me with peasants I probably wouldn't want be eager to spend time with in real life.
They were simple-minded,
But strangely shrewd.
Under the Fascists
Their world came unglued.
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