After the widely discussed Zigulì (see O&L no. 117)—where a father's rage and bewilderment at having a disabled son erupted raw across the page—Verga returns to Moreno in A Token of Freedom with a broader, more measured perspective. The journalist hasn't lost his edge: his sharp, cutting style commands every page, but this time with greater control. What truly distinguishes the book is Verga's portrait of himself not just as a father but as a son—a parallel journey of questions, revelations, and the "missions" that all fathers, without exception, are called to carry out.
Matteo Cinti, 2014