In Calabria

In Calabria is a cynical novel. Not the whimsical, timeless mythical tale of a lonesome unicorn that rightly cemented Beagle as one of the all-time greats, instead a cynical tale of a modern-day encounter of a unicorn by a farmer its ramifications. It was a surprising read for me, with the expected beautiful prose, but a story that unsettled me with its realism (yes, I'm choosing to use that word, as inappropriate as it may seem).

Not bad. Three and a half, if the ratings were more granular.

This story makes me want to cry, makes my heart break by the sadness of it, by longing, by mourning the beauty and life of the world...
and at the same time.... it makes me happy

As I adored The Last Unicorn, I grabbed this book excitedly from my library as soon as I saw it, expecting another fantastical magical journey of wonder and tears. I didn't quite get what I was looking for, at least not until writing this review (which was originally slanted to the negative) since it's taken me until now to come to clarity regarding the themes. Incidentally, I'm a little proud of the fact I extracted said themes on my own without reading any analysis so far.

I get the feeling this book is largely influenced by Peter's frustration with both old age and the continued exploitation of his beloved Last Unicorn. While I won't go too far into details here, the allegory is heart-wrenchingly explicit. The use of strong profanity and the very graphic description of a mutilated dead cat were extremely jarring. Beagle's anger shows in bursts of graphic clarity, sundering the otherwise meandering, wistful prose that's quite aware it falls short of what it wants to be.

I'm torn on my opinion of this book. It didn't inspire the same sense of wonder and magic and fantasy that The Last Unicorn did. It's grounded and raw. It could have been suitable for children except for the moments noted above, as well as the relatively sudden (to me) consummation of a hitherto-platonic May-September relationship. Tonally it's out of whack and feels a bit unedited.

That said, I can't fault the author for it. This story is full of pain and yearning, and yet clear hope at the end. I wonder if finally at his late age, Beagle is free of the demons that haunt these pages. I'm looking forward to seeing what he writes next.

3.5 stars - Metaphorosis Reviews

Claudio Bianchi is a grumpy, lonely farmer and poet, whose only visitor is Romano Muscari, the mailman. Until suddenly a unicorn turns up on the farm, involving Bianchi, Muscari, and Muscari's gentle sister in situations they'd never imagined.

Peter S. Beagle seems to have a thing for unicorns. There's his most famous book, The Last Unicorn, and a handful of others. Now, In Calabria brings the unicorns back again.

There's nothing really new here; we've seen this same kind of story many times before. Beagle does a nice job with it - it's all well written, the characters work, and there's just the right balance of disbelief and acceptance. It's a slight book, at just over 100 pages, but that works in its favor; the main weakness of the book is that it's predictable. There's no surprise in how it works out, and that's clear right from the early chapters. The short length works well for it on this front.

If you're a Beagle fan, and can't get enough of his unicorns, by all means, pick this up. It's a pleasant, unsurprising tale, well-told. But if you're fairly well read, and not convinced just by Beagle's name, this is more light pastime than revelation.


Received free copy of book in exchange for honest review.