Ascolta la mia voce

Title : Ascolta la mia voce

Writer : Susanna Tamaro

Year : 2006

Language : Italian (translated into Indonesian)

This book can be said, or is actually, the sequel of my former reviewed book, Va’ dove ti porta il cuore. The novel presents the story after the main character in the former novel, a grandmother named Olga, writes a special diary for her granddaughter, Marta. In this sequel, Marta is definitely the main character revealing her feelings and thought and undergoing her life after coming back from America, just before and then after the death of her grandmother, Olga.

Marta has just arrived in her home and finds her grandmother very sick, weak, and unbelievably insane. More of forgetful, perhaps. She has to undergo her life under her own hatred towards her grandmother but pathetically at the same time puts a big pity on her. The only thing that she can remember once she sees her grandmother again is her big hatred and the reason why. However, she can’t still run from her grandmother. She stays there at their home in Italy and feels more and more sympathy towards Olga, even though she still stands on her hatred towards her. She stays until the death of Olga, and goes on living there by her own.

After Olga’s death, Marta thinks of her family much, especially her mother, Ilaria. That thought and curiosity drive her to know about the roots of her family. She wants to know more about her mother, because Olga never gives her enough information about Ilaria, and she also wants to know about her father, whom she never knows. She finds Ilaria’s memorabilia in her house and read many things about her mother from her letters and diary. From the reading, she comes to know her father, Massimo Ancoda, who is apparently never cares about her. She tries to meet him, and succeeds in it. They talk a lot and Marta eventually knows that her father is actually not a neglectful philosopher, but is only a selfish man who is afraid of living his own life and being burden by responsibility.

Since her father seems never to care enough about her, she decides to find another root of her family, of herself in particular. She goes to Israel to find her grandmother’s cousin, Gionata, and she can eventually meet him. There, they talk a lot and Marta finds some kind of revelation, enlightenment of what life is. Particularly, she comes to know what life is for other human being. When she is quite convenient to be there, there’s information that her father has passed away. And finally, she goes back to Italy to see her father for the last time. At the end of the story, she finds Olga’s diary (which is the story of Va’ dove ti porta il cuore), and reads it.

This book is full of philosophies and thoughts of life and human beings, about why we are here and for what purpose we are living in this world. The plot of the story is just a path to reveal those philosophies and thoughts, which are, for me, very deep and inspiring. The language is quite different from the language in the Va’ dove ti porta il cuore, which is much more easier to follow. The language in this novel is more complicated and yet sophisticated, the language which fits the core of the philosophies.

Rating: 3.5