Two Women

I agree much more with the 5-star reviewer than with Persad. Hasn't he ever heard of fallible characters? The narrator is abolutely self-centered, selfish, narrow-minded, and many other things, but she is in many ways a keen observer of the horrific events she moves through. Personally I found it interesting to read about the Liberation through the eyes of this character rather than via some omniscient narrator or distant historian. I find Moravia's unadorned prose attractive and sophisticated. A good book and two very interesting and REAL female characters.

In this novel Moravia gives the reader a poignant portrayal of the anguish and destruction that is brought about by war. Cesaria and her daughter Rosetta escape from Rome just as the German army is about to enter the city. For months the two women withstand hunger, cold, and humiliation as they await the Allied forces. When liberation comes, it brings unforeseen suffering. On their return to Rome Cesaria and Rosetta are brutally raped by a group of Allied Moroccan soldiers. This act of violence so destroys Rosetta's personality that she becomes anesthetized of feeling and prostitutes herself for a pair of stockings. The novel is well written and Moravia makes the point that war is as traumatic for civilians as it is for those on the front lines.