The Lying Life of Adults

Though Giovanna listens intently to Roberto, she remembers almost nothing of his sermon because she’s in love with his looks. She meets him after his sermon and acts awkwardly. Giovanna wants to remain at the church and listen to Roberto forever. She rushes outside to get fresh air and clear her head. Her aunt praises her for making a good impression. Giovanna then gives the bracelet back. Corrado and Rosario arrive, but she refuses to hang out with them.

Giovanna rushes home and tells her mother the truth about where she’s been. She sits in her mother’s lap like she did when younger and apologizes. When her mother reveals that Andrea and Mariano are friends again and that she invited Mariano over, Giovanna accuses her parents of always lying. She later wonders what Roberto would think of her homelife and, when Mariano greets her but looks only at her breasts, she takes comfort in thinking that Roberto would look her in the eyes. She realizes that she’s obsessed with Roberto. She calls her aunt to inquire about him, but her aunt hangs up on her after revealing that Giovanna’s mother called her and demanded she leave Giovanna alone. Determined, and because she feels that others can’t understand Roberto the way that she can, Giovanna sets out to befriend Roberto.

To appear better to Roberto, the first thing Giovanna tries changing about herself is her belief system. She thinks that she can’t change her external ugliness, but she can change the inside. When she runs into Don Giacomo one day, she takes the meeting as a sign. She learns from Don Giacomo however that Roberto isn’t welcome back at the church because some parishioners and higher-ups aren’t happy with his presence. Before Don Giacomo leaves, he instructs Giovanna to obey her parents to feel better spiritually. She tries telling him that she’s bad but that she wants to be good, but he’s no longer in earshot.

Giovanna finds it easier respecting her mother. Her mother’s love for her father reminds her of Aunt Vittoria, but better. Enzo returned Aunt Vittoria’s love, but Giovanna’s father loves another woman. So, her mother’s steadfastness seems romantic and enduring. Her father, however, remains a horrible person. One day, against her better judgment, she tells him about wanting to study the Gospels but then regrets telling someone so beneath Roberto about her curiosity. She tries once more to engage Aunt Vittoria and invite herself to see Giuliana and Roberto, to no avail.

When Giovanna’s father gives her a copy of the Gospels, she realizes that he thinks things are returning to normal. When things are “normal,” he doesn’t have to think about how he treated Giovanna and Nella. Though Giovanna wants to be angry with him, she finds her demeanor changing even more toward her parents; she’s not as angry anymore with their actions. Interesting to her, however, is her dislike of the Gospels. She dislikes how God judges people he himself forces to suffer, likening God in the Gospels to her father and his abuse of his family. Giovanna wants to query the Gospels with Roberto.

To aid in her spiritual journey, Giovanna also stops masturbating because she believes Roberto wouldn’t like someone who masturbates. She also begins studying again. One day, Corrado visits her at school. He tries to engage her like before, thinking they’re dating, but Giovanna admits that she doesn’t like doing sexual things with him. Though annoyed, he promises to wait and also reveals that Rosario, who is dangerous, likes Giovanna. Giovanna pivots the conversation to Giuliana and Roberto. Corrado asks if she likes Roberto and warns her that Rosario will kill Roberto if he thinks she does. Later, Rosario himself shows up and confesses his love. When Giovanna rejects his advances, he asks if she likes Roberto Matese and says he can get an answer from Roberto through force.

Giovanna soon notices that most of the boys in her school ogle her when she passes. She overhears that a boy named Silvestro said her body is gorgeous but that he’d have to put a bag over her head. This gossip angers and embarrasses Giovanna. Though she tries ignoring it, one day she sees Silvestro and stabs him in the arm with a pencil. Though she initially dreads her father coming to school to deal with her behavior, her father successfully flirts with the principal, and his status as an intellect further wins the principal over. Though Giovanna tries to remain angry at her father’s actions, she respects how easily he exploited the principal’s goodwill, but she sours when remembering that her father abuses even those he loves with his ability to make people do what he wants. The topic then turns to Roberto, and Giovanna’s surprised and pleased that her father not only knows Roberto but considers him a rival of sorts. Giovanna initially refuses to visit the house that he and Costanza shares, but she relents.

Angela, Ida, and Giovanna reconnect. Angela admits that both Giuliana and Roberto like Giovanna. Angela also wants to break up with Tonino. She invites Giovanna on a walk one day to show her just how boring Tonino can be. Tonino mentions that Roberto and Giuliana will marry and move to Milan, but Aunt Vittoria is severely bitter as of late and is making a fuss. He takes Giovanna’s number and promises to contact her when Roberto returns. When he leaves, the girls make fun of how boring he is.

Giuliana arranges a meeting with Giovanna. Giovanna admires Giuliana’s beauty, likening her appearance to the outer and inner beauty of a saint. She learns that Giuliana began changing her appearance for herself and not for Roberto. Giuliana doesn’t know why Roberto loves her, but she’s elated to move to Milan. She admits that Aunt Vittoria is making everyone miserable; she wants Roberto to move back to Naples. Margherita’s children will all abandon Aunt Vittoria because of her abusive nature, but Roberto will never abandon Aunt Vittoria. What Giuliana loves most about him is that he always does whatever he wants. She also loves his determination. Giovanna delights in the fact that Giuliana thinks her superior in every way. They agree to meet with Roberto soon. Giovanna secretly agrees with her aunt’s assessment, preferring the couple live in Naples so that she can be friends with them both.

Angela grows jealous of Giovanna and Giuliana’s friendship. She also suggests that Giuliana fears that Roberto will cheat on her in Milan. Angela wants to wear provocative clothing to test Roberto, a suggestion that angers a secretly jealous Giovanna. Giovanna agrees that she will ask Giuliana if Angela can also hang out when they visit with Roberto. However, Giovanna doesn’t want Angela to attend. She also doesn’t want to visit with Roberto for fear of looking like a fool. She tries getting the meeting canceled by telling Giuliana that Angela will attend, but Giuliana simply invites Angela as well. On the Sunday they all meet, Giovanna is in a bad mood. When Giuliana arrives, she shocks Giovanna by wearing the bracelet.

Giovanna’s mood sours even more after seeing that Aunt Vittoria gave the bracelet to Giuliana. She also notices a difference in Roberto. Though still attractive, he acts like a shy schoolteacher. She also doesn’t like how Giuliana is basically using them as representatives of her “nice friends.” Angela carries the conversation and makes a good impression. Then Roberto turns his attention to Giovanna. He calls her Giannina, a nickname, and she sulks at him. She becomes combative, decrying just how much she dislikes the Gospels. Her combative behavior intrigues Roberto and Angela but horrifies Giuliana. The conversation quickly becomes a battle of wits between Roberto and Giovanna regarding the nature of God and suffering. Roberto even captivates Giovanna by saying, “If blasphemy allows me even just a small step forward, I blaspheme” (234). Giuliana ends the conversation, and Roberto kisses Giovanna’s cheeks. She tries pretending that she dislikes him, but Angela reminds her how Roberto spoke only to her enthusiastically.

Roberto’s presence haunts Giovanna. She wants to see him again. She calls her aunt to inquire about the bracelet, but Aunt Vittoria curses at Giovanna and tells her niece that the bracelet was never hers. Further confusion arises when Giovanna hears both Giuliana and Margherita over the phone. They try telling Aunt Vittoria to leave Giovanna alone, but Aunt Vittoria demands to know why Giovanna is messing up things with Roberto and Giuliana. Then the phone hangs up. Giovanna tries going back to sleep while wondering what happened during the phone call and what happened during her hangout with Roberto. Giuliana calls her back, apologizing. She swears that Giovanna did nothing wrong and says that Roberto wants to see Giovanna again for coffee. Giuliana ends the chapter by proclaiming that Aunt Vittoria will be the ruin of them all.