The Fortunate Pilgrim

Mario Puzo's novel, The Fortunate Pilgrim, is a story about an entire Italian family living in pre-depression and then through the depression in the late 1920's. The story revolves around the Angeluzzi-Corbo family which consists of six children and their parents. The father, however, is gone throughout most of the novel because of his insanity and he dies towards the end of the novel, leaving his family without a bread-giver. The mother, Lucia Santa Angeluzzi-Corbo, is the strong leader of her crumbling family. Throughout the novel her children each face trials of their own and struggle to find who they are in the new world with a mother so rooted in her Italian heritage.

I really enjoyed this book, the characters, though there were many, were all described very well and made very real in my mind. I could see all the disobedient children rolling their eyes and fighting with their mother.  The pictures were vivid and I loved it. I also liked how real Mario Puzo was while writing the book. Most of the time when I think of the 1920's I think of the roaring twenties with all it's glimmer and majesty, but hardly ever do I think of the depression and the harsh living conditions that the immigrants and poorer people had to deal with.  And, Puzo, in this book made the harshness clear to me. The Angeluzzi-Corbo's were real people, with real pain and experiences. Larry's character was against the stereotypes I have always associated with that era. Octavia's character, my favorite, was one of a girl trying to decide which world she wanted to be a part of; the old world of Italy so ingrained in her mother, or the new world of America where ladies were proper and able to become whoever they wanted to become. Gino most reminded my of my younger brother, headstrong and rambunctious; never wanting to work or be responsible. And not only that, but Gino grew more and more defiant as he got older because his mother let him get away with a lot when he was younger. The other children were of course important, but I never really got a good understanding of the events in the book from their perspectives so I don't really get to know their personalities as much. 

A very important theme in this book is the fact that family is very important. You do what it takes to protect your family. This is very evident through many of Lucia Santa's choices throughout the novel. The first hard decision that she really has to make is whether or not she should send her husband to get help. She obviously doesn't want her children to live without a father but she also doesn't want them to be harmed so she makes the tough decision to send him away and keep him in a home for the insane. Larry, though he may seem to just do what he pleases, still has a heart for his family. He promises to help his mother out with money when they must send Octavia away because she is ill and he sticks around in order to help his younger brothers. When Octavia gets sick, Lucia decides to send her to a better hospital than she sent her husband, no matter the cost. She loves Octavia and after seeing how her husband was treated at the cheaper hospital she decides to send her daughter to the better hospital. It didn't matter what it cost her, her daughter and her family was more important. As poor immigrants, the Angeluzzi-Corbo's didn't have much in life, but they had each other and that was enough.