September 15, 2010
The Past is a Foreign Country by Gianrico Carofiglio is a chilling depiction of a good kid's descent into hell. Giorgio, law student, loyal boyfriend, and responsible son, is knocked off the pilings of his structured life by a chance encounter with Francesco, a charming sociopath. Parents, beware. The title of the novel refers to how when we are young, we experiment with life in ways that, once we grow up, seem so strange as to be the workings of another person, altogether. If we are lucky, the experimentations don't leave us too scarred. But there are always the unlucky ones who pay a high price for their risky behavior.
The Past is a Foreign Country is a novel of three distinctive strands, coming together to form a powerful narrative of hope and despair. One strand is pure noir, with its threatening card sharks and sad sack addicts; scenes of violent sex with vacant partners; the characters' varied but hopeless relationships with their parents; and with its relentless movement towards a dark destiny. Another strand of the novel is its unrolling of a criminal investigation. Here the novel is a procedural thriller, with interspersed chapters told from the point of view of a deeply depressed but just as driven policeman, determined to find the villain behind a series of violent sexual assaults plaguing his town.
The third strand of the book is its most powerful, a psychological probing of the basis of morality. Giorgio is a young man who has always followed a set course of education and advancement, without question or comment. Conforming his behavior to achieve his goals of academic achievement and eventual financial security, he has never questioned the value of those goals. But boredom underlies his everyday activities, and his complacency is only skin deep. Underneath, he is looking for more out of life. A boy that is a "good boy" can turn bad when the bad guys look like they are having more fun. Is it boredom that makes monsters of us? Or is it a sudden despair? A deep set psychopathology or a last chance grab for thrills? For Giorgio, it is the fact that he never questioned his life before and when Francesco offers another style of living, Giorgio jumps on board. He follows a course of increasingly dangerous and violent activity until reaching a final test of his moral compass. In this final passage, he will either turn towards evil, and lose himself forever, or back up and reach for what still remains of decency and kindness both in himself and in the world around him. The Past is a Foreign Country left me gasping in turns of despair and hope, and pawing the pages until its final, chilling resolution.
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