barbara fister reviewed I'm Staying Here by Marco Balzano
Review of "I'm Staying Here" on 'LibraryThing'
A first-person story told to a daughter who left makes the title somewhat ironic. A woman who is a native German speaker in the South Tyrol adds income to her traditional farming life by teaching. When Fascism arrives in Italy, it claims the South Tyrol by trying to wipe out German language and culture there. She teaches Italian, but in secret continues to teach German stubbornly. Then Nazi Germany makes a claim for the region, and residents are forced to choose whether to be fascists or Nazis, which seems a limited set of choices! Her husband just wants to stay put, living the life they've lived there for generations, but he is conscripted. He eventually returns home, but they can't stay: they have to flee into the mountains to (barely) survive during the war. When they get word the war has ended, they finally can return home, but that homecoming …
A first-person story told to a daughter who left makes the title somewhat ironic. A woman who is a native German speaker in the South Tyrol adds income to her traditional farming life by teaching. When Fascism arrives in Italy, it claims the South Tyrol by trying to wipe out German language and culture there. She teaches Italian, but in secret continues to teach German stubbornly. Then Nazi Germany makes a claim for the region, and residents are forced to choose whether to be fascists or Nazis, which seems a limited set of choices! Her husband just wants to stay put, living the life they've lived there for generations, but he is conscripted. He eventually returns home, but they can't stay: they have to flee into the mountains to (barely) survive during the war. When they get word the war has ended, they finally can return home, but that homecoming is short-lived. A dam, being considered since the early 20th century, is suddenly under construction in earnest, and eventually they are forced to leave their valley as their homes are blown up and the town is submerged under an artificial lake. Nobody can stay there; even the dead are exhumed from the cemetery and reburied. It's a short book inspired by the sight of a church steeple that still rises above the lake.