The Lying Life of Adults

Giovanna’s parents split up two years after Andrea’s affair with Costanza comes to light. Andrea moves into a beautiful apartment by the sea with Costanza, Angela, and Ida. He still visits Nella and Giovanna, and when he does it seems that Giovanna’s parents might mend things. But then they fight, and Andrea leaves, sometimes for months on end. Though once enchanted with her aunt’s presence, Giovanna blames Aunt Vittoria for ruining her parents’ relationship and avoids her at all costs. When Aunt Vittoria begins phoning again to speak with Giovanna, Giovanna not only pretends to be away but also stops wearing her aunt’s bracelet. As these events unfold around Giovanna, she asks herself why, “in the world of adults, in the heads of very reasonable people, in their bodies loaded with knowledge […] adults can so easily become “[…] the most untrustworthy animals, worse than reptiles?” (131). Like in the previous chapter, Giovanna knows the answers to the hard questions she posits, but she ignores the answers because they hurt her too much.

Giovanna also credits obsessing over how things turn out with helping her disassociate. She also struggles with her previous dichotomies of good and bad, and refined and unrefined. In short, everything she knows about life might be wrong given her father’s deceit. To further protect herself, Giovanna begins regressing to a childhood state, favoring fairy tales and mythical stories about fated jewelry. Aunt Vittoria becomes an evil enchantress, one with a bewitched bracelet that dooms all those who touch it. This fanciful theory proves correct when Giovanna returns home one day and sees her mother staring longingly at the bracelet. Her mother reveals that she telephoned Aunt Vittoria and learned that the bracelet supposedly belonged to Aunt Vittoria’s mother. The story diverges from that point, with both Andrea and Aunt Vittoria claiming different things. Though she tries comforting her mother, Giovanna wonders how so-called intelligent people can suddenly become so fragile and silly.

These two years see many other changes. Giovanna stops studying and becomes a cynical, apathetic teenager. She begins talking back to her mother and, though Angela tries rekindling their friendship, Giovanna doesn’t really want to hang out. Moreover, Angela reveals that she is dating Tonino. Giovanna also gets held back a grade because she began skipping school. Both her mother and father are embarrassed, and though Giovanna wants people to know about her failure, her parents agree not to tell anyone about her poor performance.

One day, Corrado visits Giovanna. She initially doesn’t want to let him in, but she also wants to break the rules as much as possible. Though she previously disliked Corrado most of all Margherita’s children, she now finds him funny. His crude humor snaps her out of her funk, and she also delights in his sexual banter. After he uses the word “dimwit” to make fun of couples like Angela and Tonino, and Roberto and Giuliana, he unzips his pants and asks Giovanna to touch him. She obliges despite the age difference, and as they laugh, she prepares to perform the sexual favor he asks for until Corrado suddenly pivots, ejaculates inside his pants, and decides to leave. He gives Giovanna a letter from Aunt Vittoria—the reason for his visit—which asks for the bracelet to be sent back with Corrado.

Giovanna begins wearing her bracelet again, mostly to annoy her father because he’s trying to reinsert himself in her life. But her father seems like a stranger to Giovanna, and she can tell that he feels the same way about her. Giovanna also learns that her mother, who is wasting away so much that Giovanna almost feels concern, is now mostly nostalgic about her ex-husband. She begins making excuses for Andrea and even reminisces about a photo that shows Andrea, Enzo, Aunt Vittoria, and Giovanna’s grandmother together. Giovanna realizes that her grandmother is wearing the bracelet, something that annoys her mother (her mother has had the photo for years and never recognized that the grandmother’s bracelet was the same as Costanza’s bracelet). Though Giovanna says she’ll never forgive her father, her mother thinks that Andrea is technically honest and trustworthy because he loved Costanza for years and remained faithful to that love. Giovanna determines to keep the bracelet now and writes her aunt a letter to explain why.

Costanza asks Giovanna to attend Ida’s birthday party. Though Giovanna doesn’t want to and even forgot about the birthday, she relents. In the car, Costanza cries and tries to make small talk, imploring Giovanna not to be angry at anyone. Giovanna, who is tired of everyone crying, agrees that it’s no one’s fault. Costanza then asks her to hide her bracelet because Angela and Ida don’t know about it. Giovanna, who thinks the truth will help everyone, nevertheless obliges. Though initially awkward, the party turns out to be fun. Giovanna, Ida, and Angela enjoy their reunion, though Costanza’s overprotective manner makes Giovanna uncomfortable. She’s also not looking forward to seeing her father when he returns from work.

The girls go play alone, and Giovanna reveals that Costanza asked about Tonino on the ride over. Angela doesn’t want her mother or father to know about Tonino’s lowly origins. The three then agree that they will pee on pictures of their parents as a symbol of cutting blood ties. Giovanna also tells them that she’s a “whore” like Costanza because she touched a guy’s penis and likes doing sexual things with men. When Angela reveals that she knows Giovanna flunked, Giovanna’s mood sours and she speaks crudely about the sisters. When her father comes home, Giovanna tells Ida that she’s a crybaby. When her father insults her, she puts her bracelet on. Angela sees it and asks why she’s wearing the bracelet. Angered and shocked, Andrea demands that Giovanna give the bracelet to Ida and Angela, but Costanza says it’s Giovanna’s. When he asks again in a cold tone, Giovanna hurls the bracelet at a cabinet. Costanza then demands that the bracelet remain with Giovanna. With the party now ruined, Andrea takes Giovanna home.

On the ride home, Andrea tries apologizing. Though he’s intelligent and usually articulate, Giovanna notes how rambling his apology is. She’s afraid of her father’s anger, and he picks up on her fear but promises he will never hurt her. He then explains how he and Costanza had an affair on a business trip, and how Mariano has always been unfaithful. He’d wanted to give the bracelet to Costanza long ago, and he even hit Aunt Vittoria once when she demanded that the bracelet was hers. He tricked Aunt Vittoria into giving the bracelet to Giovanna for a newborn present. Giovanna wants to ask her father how good and bad can exist so seamlessly within people, and why she and her mother should suffer for his sake.

Corrado visits Giovanna outside school one day and she gladly ditches to hang out with him. She gives him the letter for Aunt Vittoria and explains that she’s unsightly both inside and out. She wants to be “degraded,” she admits, so when Corrado unzips his pants, Giovanna agrees to have oral sex with him. Though she somewhat changes her mind, she kisses his penis and, like before, he pivots and ejaculates in his pants. He then asks if she’ll hang out with him and Rosario.

Giovanna’s rebellious nature continues. She begins cursing in dialect at her mother, even saying she’ll never be as ridiculous as a woman who fawns for a horrible ex-husband. When Corrado schedules a hangout, he warns Giovanna that she’ll also have to return the bracelet during their meetup. When the day arrives, Giovanna angers Corrado by sitting next to Rosario. In doing so, she realizes that women can make men act differently just by using their bodies. She wonders if Costanza did this to her father. They then agree that Giovanna will give the bracelet back, leave, and hang out with them without mentioning that she got a ride from Corrado.

Though scared about seeing her aunt again after so long, Giovanna learns that the bracelet is only a ruse; Aunt Vittoria wants to see her again because she’s angry and sad. She thought Giovanna loved her and was on her side. Giovanna lies to her aunt, partly blaming her parents for keeping her away, and marvels that Aunt Vittoria believes it. Aunt Vittoria, feeling better, walks Giovanna to the bus stop, but she soon notices something is wrong. She sees Rosario’s car and, upset, chases after the fleeing car. Giovanna again lies; she admits that she told her mother she was going to Caserta but lies by saying her plan was to see Aunt Vittoria, and that she didn’t arrive with Corrado. Aunt Vittoria demands that Giovanna accompany her to church. A reluctant Giovanna sits in the pews and, when she sees Roberto, falls in love at first sight.