CI already knew that Serena Bortone was a courageous woman, even before she reported the clumsy censorship to Antonio Scurati who ended up relaunching his beautiful show, What will be (and now I really want to see how they can close it at the end of the season, as some feared).
Serena has the best characteristics of the Roman soul: frankness, clarity, expansiveness, ability to get straight to the point. Hear how her first novel begins, Close to you so sweetpublished by Rizzoli: «One day I came home from school and attempted suicide. I was fifteen».
It matters little whether it is a confession or an invention, whether it is an autobiographical or fictional page. It is a transition, that of self-acceptance and life, that is difficult for many teenagers. Listen to what Serena writes: «I wasn’t loved, I wasn’t understood. I was transparent. A striking gesture would have restored my dignity. I kicked off my clothes. I went to the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet. I found the Tavor. An anxiolytic. Marilyn Monroe also committed suicide with sleeping pills. I opened the bottle and swallowed the tablets contained in the tube…”.
Aldo Cazzullo (photo by Carlo Furgeri Gilbert).
Bortone’s novel is much more, and much more. But thereto reflection on suicide, on rebellion against parents – in a book also dedicated to his mother Anna Maria -, takes us far away and at the same time back in time.
Suicide, like death, is a topic exorcised in public discussion and private conversations. For the ancient Romans, however, it was very important. Everything changes with Christianity: suicide from a sign of moral strength becomes a mortal sin. And teen suicide is a tragedy to be prevented and avoided at all costs.
“To you so sweet” by Serena Bortone (Rizzoli).
How much suffering does youth entail? How much insecurity has the pandemic caused? How many difficulties in living real life does addiction to social media and therefore to virtual life cause? These are problems that Serena’s generation, which is mine, did not have.
But I too, like the protagonist of the novel, met moustachioed and rude nuns and severe professors bordering on persecution. The alternative, at least for Serena, was only one: “Escape to a desert island with the Spandau Ballet bassist.”
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All articles by Aldo Cazzullo.
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