Set in the city of Rome, The Silence of the Wave is a highly polished work of literature, a tale filled with subtlety, grace and tenderness.
With
his background as a anti-Mafia judge and author of a string of legal
thrillers, Gianrico Carofiglio is usually associated with such
contemporary Italian crime noir writers as Massimo Carlotto, Giancarlo
de Cataldo, Maurizio de Giovanni and Carlo Lucarelli. But it would be a
mistake to look for nonstop noir action here.
Rather, The Silence of the Wave
is a story of personal transformation. The main character is Roberto
Marias, a Carabinieri marshal on medical leave following many harrowing
years as detective and undercover narcotics agent amid criminals and
crime across the globe, from Mexico, Columbia and Venezuela to Spain and
his home country of Italy.
During an interview, Gianrico
Carofiglio noted he has always been fascinated by the phenomenon of
psychotherapy and looked forward to writing a novel where he could
incorporate a patient's sessions. Well, the author did just that in The Silence of the Wave.
In
terms of structure, short chapters spotlight Roberto's current life in
Rome, most notably speaking with his psychoanalyst on Mondays and
Thursdays. Also peppered throughout is a second storyline: Giacomo, age
eleven, has a series of dreams where he talks with a dog named Scott (a
stand-in for his departed father), a friendly dog that calls him
"chief." The tone of these doggie conversations is light and charming
until Giacomo senses one of his classmates, a pretty blonde girl he's
attracted to, is in serious trouble.
If a kid's odd dreams and
listening in as other people spill their guts to a headshrinker doesn't
exactly sound like your prime reading material, I'm happy to report
Gianrico Carofiglio's short novel is absorbing and gains momentum the
more pages we turn, particularly when Roberto meets and develops a
relationship with a former actress who just so happens to be a patient
also seeing his psychiatrist, a lady by the name of Emma.
When
we first meet Roberto, he's just beginning to pull himself out of months
of heavy medication and pills to fall asleep, a forty-seven-year-old
man afraid to look in the bathroom mirror only to see his once youthful
face and firm, athletic body gone to flab and paunch.
In sessions
of talk therapy with his affable, open-minded doc (if you needed to see
a psychiatrist, it would be hard to imagine a more likable and highly
professional chap), we come to know more of Roberto’s past: boyhood in
Southern California out surfing with his policeman dad, speaking fluent
Spanish since his dad’s family emigrated from Mexico, return with mom to
her family in Italy when his father left for good, joining the
Carabinieri and rising through the ranks as a successful narc, drama
after drama that leads to mental breakdown.
The above are but
generalized strokes; what makes this book unputdownable is the artful
way Gianrico Carofiglio weaves in elements of Roberto's inner life. To
share a glimpse, here's a batch of instances:
Roberto recounts
his being an enthusiastic narc and the deeper his involvement, the more
his days were spent with dealers, pimps and traffickers. Did he enjoy
his work? “Yes, probably, even though he would never have admitted it.
But, whether or not it was correct to talk about enjoyment, he
had liked that irregular life, where he was allowed to break almost all
the rules of his normal work and the normal life of a normal
carabiniere.” However, there were those disgusting times when he was
forced to watch brutality, things like the rape of young girls or the
shooting of dogs (if he blew his cover, he would have been killed on the
spot). Such memories weighed heavily on his conscience, very heavily,
indeed - and the more he reflected , the more he was pushed into
madness.
As his therapy progresses, the doctor speaks of our
capacity to let go of thoughts. At first Roberto felt such letting go
was impossible but then “whenever he walked, concentrating on taking one
step after another, he had the feeling those sticky lumps of suffering
became less stubborn and for a few moments actually melted away, and his
head became delightfully free. What the doctor had said would happen
actually happened, and his thoughts, those solid entities made up of
memories, recriminations, and decaying dreams, slipped away, even if
only for a short while - long enough, though, for him to realize that it
was possible.”
With more practice, Roberto begins seeing,
really seeing, the beauty of Rome for the first time, the fountains and
sculptures in the squares, the green lawns of the parks, the picturesque buildings
and storefronts in the very block where he’s been living alone in his
apartment.
The psychiatrist recognizes Roberto is beginning to
wake up to the depth of his own inner nature and during one session
shares some ancient wisdom: “The function of Zen riddles – they’re
called kōans - is to confront the pupil – in this case, you –
with the contradictory, paradoxical nature of reality. They help to draw
attention to the multiplicity of possible answers to the problems of
existence and aim to awaken consciousness.”
In addition to such
wisdom nuggets, what could really help a man like Roberto expand
psychically and spiritually? Of course, developing a relationship with a
woman, particularly a woman with a background in theater and the arts.
Enter Emma.
And, oh, yes – recall there are those Giacomo
chapters, the boy and the dog in his dreams. Toward the end of his
novel, Gianrico Carofiglio brings together both storylines with a
masterful stroke of literary artistry. By this reviewer’s assessment, The Silence of the Wave is one of the more moving and profound novels a reader will encounter.
Italian author Gianrico Carofiglio, Born 1961
“How do you let go of your thoughts when they’re planted in your head like nails, and the more you try and get them out the more they tear your soul?” - Gianrico Carofiglio, The Silence of the Wave
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