Canons and counterpoints

Canons and Counterpoints tells of the lesbian love between the two women who give the work its title. Carmen discovers that she is attracted to her own sex only after getting married and despite never having had experiences with other women; having obtained an annulment from the Sacred Rota, a period of doubt and research begins for her that she will only be able to resolve thanks to the meeting with Lara, a lesbian psychotherapist. For Carmen, the period of inner maturity begins; now aware of herself, she can decide autonomously about her own life and her own choices, even going against the granite cultural foundations of the Po Valley province where she was born and raised. During a funeral Carmen sees a woman, Gilda, who immediately strikes and fascinates her. She runs into her again at the bank and, discovering that she is the president, she turns to her to obtain a loan for her company. For Carmen, a season of passion begins, swinging between joy and pain. Now in love with Gilda, she openly declares her love to her but receives continuous and inexplicable refusals from the other. The chemistry between them is real and tangible. Gilda's sudden departure throws Carmen into absolute pain. Only after a long time, still weakened by the pain but not resigned, Carmen flies to Malta, Gilda's hometown, with the hope of finding her there, as happens. The two, finally together, begin a new life. A love story, but not only, Carmen and Gilda - Canons and Counterpoints will fascinate the public for the brazen delicacy that characterizes it, thanks to which even the most scabrous situations are mitigated and do not fall into the morbid, while never losing that earthly and palpable sensuality that is a fundamental part of it. The novel, moreover, unites two souls: a concrete one, tied to the land and its traditions, and a rebellious one, spontaneous and original, who simply puts aside those same traditions to follow her feelings and her way of being. I

Review: What is love? How many forms can it take in the life of each of us? What does it mean to love? These are the questions that constantly accompany us while reading "Canoni e contrappunti" by Marisa Giaroli. The author narrates with lucid sincerity the story of a woman who has the courage to recognize that the model of life and happiness proposed to her by the surrounding society is not for her and finds the strength to assert her own point of view even if paying a very high price. Carmen grew up in a small and industrious village in the Po Valley, where children grow up in the shadow of the oratory with its social and recreational activities. She falls in love and gets married, as everyone does, only to realize shortly after that in the relationship with her husband she finds no kind of satisfaction: there is no intimate sharing of emotions or passion and Carmen does not accept to pretend nothing is happening. She begins to ask herself questions, to look around and even though she has never dared to try to approach a woman, she begins to have doubts about being homosexual. She faces the problem with her husband and, having annulled the marriage, she throws herself into work to try to fill the anguished voids that have suddenly opened up inside her and the frightening loneliness to which the gossip machine condemns her, which inexorably sets in motion in the small rural town where everyone has always known each other and feels entitled to talk and gossip about the lives of others. But this is only the framework of the story that Marisa really wants to tell and which begins only when Carmen, a practical and concrete woman, shy and almost gruff, meets Gilda, an elegant and well-groomed career woman with a will of steel despite her sweet and delicate appearance. It is love at first sight: Carmen suddenly finds the courage to expose herself, to court, to challenge conventions, but she clashes with the inexplicable reticence of Gilda, who on the one hand certainly appreciates the courtship, on the other never accepts to let herself go completely, keeping Carmen constantly on edge with her contradictory signals. At this point the pace of the novel slows down drastically: the author's attention shifts entirely to Carmen's inner torment, intent on interpreting every look, every word, every gesture of her beloved to have confirmation, to try to tie her to herself, to convince her to fully live a love that she feels she can no longer do without. And it's a succession of dinners, brushed hands, heartbeats, hopes and disappointments that drag the protagonist into a dramatic swing that ends up making her lose her health and joy in life. We need to be willing to slow down and recover within ourselves the memory of those same uncertainties and frustrations that we have surely experienced at some point in our lives to be able to truly appreciate the author's ability to probe the mysterious mechanisms of the human soul and to continually raise, as I said at the beginning, the question: what does it mean to love? And not only that: when should self-love take over love for the other? At what point does love slide into dependence? To what extent does the mystery and the inability to fully understand the motivations of the loved one contribute to binding us to them in an even more indissoluble way? How can we accept and process rejection? The author offers answers that are certainly different from those I gave myself and for this very reason I find her point of view interesting and worthy of attention. A novel that has the slow pace of the most authentic and painful inner search, suitable for those who are willing to slow down, stop, withdraw into themselves to face their own fragilities. (Cristina Quochi)