"Our vision of the other depends on our willingness to mobilize all the forces within ourselves for the act of understanding." — R. D. Laing.
Laing's words capture the heart of this book. As a teacher, Francesca Martini introduces us to four of her students — young people marked as different. She describes them with deep feeling, revealing her affection for these simple souls who live outside convention, removed from a world that can feel oppressive and hollow. The frantic pace of everything around them — toward what, exactly? — leaves them feeling out of place and alone. Few people take the time to sit with them, to be touched by the purity of their stories. As Martini writes: "Disenchantment has consumed the world, twisting the way children see it, breeding tedium and despair, sometimes cruelty — words as violent as blows, thrown carelessly." The book is brief and accessible. By the time you finish, you will feel you know these four young people; Martini has a gift for capturing the grace in their smallest gestures.
Laura Nardini, 2008
