This stunning collection of stories takes the reader into the heart of Calvino’s homeland of Galicia, Spain, revealing the essence of his own rural upbringing and sharing stories of life and love in all its various forms.
The first story ‘Sunday Lunch’ describes a barren, remote Galician village, once a bustling community but now silent and decaying and with only two men and a woman the surviving residents. The three old friends meet for lunch each Sunday. It is their way of checking in on each other and a time to share stories of the past. When they find the woman, Avelina, dead, the two men must deal with the process of giving her a respectful send off. Their heartbreak, difficulty and frustration at dealing with the body of their friend is palpable. There is also the unspoken question that with only the two of them remaining, which would die first and leave the other alone?
‘Young Love’ is a sensitive portrayal of a boy, Manuel, transitioning with all the painful shyness, confusion and insecurity that comes with crossing the great divide from boy to man. Manuel’s stumbling attempts to negotiate the minefield of misunderstandings in the world of courtship are told against the backdrop of the changing seasons, work in the fields, the bonds of male friendship and social opportunities to observe and engage with the ever-mysterious female.
Calvino’s writing is very evocative and deceptively simple. There is a humanity and sweetness to the stories in Young Love and Other Stories that avoids sentimentality. He stretches out a hand and takes his reader into a very different world but one exploring universal themes.
Reviewed by Jill Lindquist
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Felix Calvino is the author of the short story collection, A Hatful of Cherries (2007), the novella Alfonso (2014), So Much Smoke (2016), and Young Love & Other Stories (2021).
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