Nati due volte

by Giuseppe Pontiggia

"The first major book by one of Italy's most distinguished novelists to appear in America - an award-winning fictional memoir of a man's transfiguring experiences raising a son whose disabilities were caused at birth by the carelessness of a single doctor.". "After thirty years of visits to specialists, Professor Frigerio - the articulate, unsentimental, powerfully expressive narrator - remembers what one doctor told him only months after his son Paolo was born: "These children are born twice. Their second birth depends on you, on what you are able to give to them. But in the end you too will be reborn." And as he recounts this journey - his tone ranging from lyrical to angry, humorous to philosophical - we are witness to the emotional and intellectual vicissitudes he has faced: from his guilt at having had an affair during his wife's pregnancy to his son's endless medical struggles to his moments of denial and rage as he navigates a world full of obstacles, cruelty, and indifference.