Spoiler Alert: I will divulge anything and everything with wild abandon. I recommend that you read the novel before reading this discussion.
This book is full of adultery and has too much flame in the veins for my taste (any is too much for me), but I was satisfied that everyone ended up miserable at the end. I kept expecting Carolina, the main character, to get pregnant, but there was not even a reference to this possibility. I found that unlikely and callous on the author's part.
The elevated language and incredible descriptions of place and time drew me in. I also loved the way Carolina, after she realizes she is going blind, describes how she viewed the world as a child. "Every trick her eyes had ever played came back to her: birds that proved to be only flowers blooming on a branch; flowers that suddenly awoke, spread their wings, and proved themselves birds." She describes objects as insubstantial, saying that she felt she could have seen through them, if only she could learn the trick.
I found Carolina too mute in helping Pietro to understand
her needs – he expressed interest in following her desires and asked questions
about her preferences, but she wouldn’t voice what was in her heart – why she
longed for the outdoors, or cared what color her gown was. Perhaps this was because Pietro was often teasing when he asked these questions, as if he did not possibly think she could be serious, but Carolina could have taken a few moments to say something that let Pietro know that she still had will, despite her loss of vision.
Pietro was possessive and careful of Carolina’s blindness in
some cases (telling the hostess of the party curtly that his wife was not a
toy) and oblivious of her in others (locking her inside without even an option
of an occasional walk with her maid).
This also seemed unrealistic.
The reader is left to determine:
1.
Why did Turri not replicate his machine and make
a fortune, even after decades? Why was
the machine so deplorable to Antonio that he burned it within minutes after
receiving it? Why did it take so long to
catch fire?
2.
Why did the author not reveal Turri’s first name
(Pelligrino) until the last page of the book? Many would say that first names often did not matter in that time, which is true, but then why reveal it at all?
3.
Did Carolina and Pietro grow to love each other,
or were they cruel to each other for the rest of their lives because of their
mistakes? Did they deserve to have love
in their lives in light of their actions?
If so, should the author have presented something redemptive through the
servant in the epilogue?
4.
What was in the unopened letter from Turri? Would it have made any difference to
Carolina? To Turri? To Antonio?
5.
Did Liza have an ulterior motive in showing
Carolina the way outside? Did she thus
know what Carolina was hiding from Pietro and feel more justified in having an
affair with him?
Reading group-type questions:
1.
At the beginning of the novel the author focused
heavily on the idiosyncrasies of Pietro and Carolina’s parents, and of Turri’s
genes. Does the lack of parents, of
oversight, or of the ‘right’ genes justify, explain, or lessen the criticism
for misbehavior in the characters?
2.
Why wasn’t Carolina more open with her parents
and Pietro about her blindness? Should
she have been?
3. Do Pietro and Carolina love each other? If not, why did Pietro
choose her? Would he have loved any other
girl more or better? Does the answer lie
in his past of unchastity? How is their love different than the other relationships in the novel: Carolina's parents, Turri and his wife, Turri and Carolina, Pietro and Eliza, and last but not least, Giovanni and Carolina?
4. Why does Carolina love the lake so much? What meaning does it hold for her? It was the place that started her love affair with Turri - how
do we draw lines for our own children that will cause sorrow, but at the same time save them from sorrow?
5.
When Carolina is taken to the city, will she end
up like her mother, holed up in a room wishing for the place in which she grew
up and having a husband offer painful but well-intentioned gifts?
6.
Will Carolina and Pietro be better parents than
the previous generation? Or will they have huge flaws that will turn
out flawed children, just as their parents had?
After discussing all of the above with my book group, several things I had not thought of came to light. Some readers considered Pietro to have a definite mean streak, and believed he intended to hurt Carolina by revealing his affair with her maid. They felt he was self-serving through every scene. Perhaps I simply wished it, but I felt Pietro was very kind in noticing her enjoyment of music at a party and then hiring a cellist to come play for her. He had no understanding of her love of music, but he nevertheless hired the cellist. Then again, perhaps it was not his idea at all.
One reader found the statement in the epilogue that says Carolina "lived in the city all her life, from the time she was married," and wondered if the whole novel was from her imagination and not reality at all. This is supported by her feelings (of detachment and of already having her needs met) when she finds out she is moving to the city.
One other tidbit that I shared with my book group was that the difference in the ages of the lovers were strangely consistent - Giovanni was 8, Carolina 18, Turri 28. Liza was 14 and Pietro 24. An interesting coincidence, and one that it seems could hardly be an accident. But it is so subtle that no one else in my group noticed, so possibly it is just coincidence. We could find no symbolism or meaning behind the ages of the characters that was augmented by their being 10 years apart in age.
This post, of course, does not include all items of interest that were discussed or could be discussed. Carolina's relationship with her father after her marriage was a topic of discussion, as were Liza'a lies, silence and sneaking, Carolina's attempt to talk with the cellist about her problems, Carolina's dreams, and many other facets of the story.
The ending was too abrupt for me. I found it wanting in descriptions at least of
emotions, if not more detail.
I enjoyed this review: http://lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com/2010/08/blind-contessas-new-machine-by-carey.html,
and one other I can’t find now that detailed how their sins led to loss - I think it's very important to accurately portray the consequences of sin in literature. Here is an interview with the author: http://us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/blind_contessa_new_machine.html. Here is the author's website: http://www.careywallace.com/
I cannot leave this post without considering the beauty of Turri's vision and speech - the way his face lit up when his "trap" actually caught an angel (p 13) and his description of the "statue of a girl" in the Ricci library (p 41) were two of my favorites. Carey Wallace also uses such incredible imagery that it at once conveys her meaning and also surprises the reader with it's creativity, such as her description of the doctor (p73) and her description of the way spring arrived (p 94). I will share the quote from page 13. Carolina has just been caught by Turri's angel trap: "[Turri] looked back at her with the sudden keen interest of a scientist whose specimen has been unwise enough to reveal some extraordinary trait: a bird repeating the name he had mumbled in his sleep, a mouse struggling to rise on two feet, a fish that lights up as the sun drops into the sea."
