The City and the House

The City and The House is an epistolary novel by Natalia Ginzburg. The novel centers on a circle of friends, primarily in Rome, whose lives begin to unravel during the two and a half years or so that the novel covers. The story revolves around Giuseppe, a middle-aged journalist, who decides, seemingly on an impulse, to leave his life and job in Rome to move to the States to live with his older brother, Feruccio, a professor at Princeton.

A frequent gathering spot for the group is Le Margherite, a rambling country house outside Rome where Giuseppe’s friend and one time lover Lucrezia and her husband, Piero. Lucrezia, a central, and often chaotic figure, is a mother of five who has an open marriage with the long-suffering Piero. There’s also Alberico, Giuseppe’s gay son with whom he shares an uneasy and distant relationship, having never really been much of a father to him. Giuseppe’s cousin Roberta who lives in the apartment below his and is the most practical of the lot. There are Egisto and Albina, the poorest among the group, struggling to make ends meet. Nadia, a childish and irresponsible woman who lives in Alebrico’s flat. And there is Ignazaio Fegiz, new to the group, but opinionated and somewhat overbearing.

Over the course of the two or so years, there are births and deaths, houses are bought and sold, relationships formed and broken. Through the letters, Ginzburg records the characters’ complex and messy lives, marked by infidelities, financial strain, sudden deaths, strained family ties, and a struggle to form lasting, meaningful relationships. While Ginzburg’s other novels have politics (and fascism) entwined in the story, this novel makes no reference to politics and is entirely domestic - about the everyday challenges that these individuals face and the choices they make, not always ones that serve them well. The epistolary form and Ginzburg’s dry and clear prose, make this an absorbing read.