The Eye Stone - Roberto Tiraboschi

Europa Editions, 2015

Four Stars

In twelfth century Venice, a small community of glassmakers invokes a combination of magic and science in the name of their craft. A young cleric living a monastic life, Edgardo, becomes involved in this sinister world of glassmaking as he searches for “the eye stone” – a crystal that will cure his impending blindness. As we are drawn into Edgardo’s desperate journey, it is clear that his vision is not all that is at stake. Edgardo defines himself by his abilities as a copyist, and when he can no longer complete this important work, he finds himself in an existential crisis that leads to all kinds of bad decisions.

The author, Tiraboschi, is a screenwriter and playwright who has worked with others such as Nobel laureate Dario Fo. I think his experience with drama is what contributes to the episodic feel of the novel, with scenes that do eventually come together in the end, albeit in an unexpected way. This is Tiraboschi’s first novel to be published in English, and as such there is always the problem of translation, of whose voice we are really hearing: the author’s or the translator’s. In this case, I think it is to the credit of both that this work comes across so well. The only thing I didn’t understand was the glossary of italicized words in Italian. When the entire novel is translated from Italian, I don’t see the purpose of leaving certain words in the original language, especially when they aren’t particularly important ones. I would prefer the translations to be embedded in the text so the reader doesn’t have to leave the storyline to understand the meaning of a word.

Tiraboschi’s writing is darkly comic with a sort of dry wit that made me laugh out loud. For example, a shopkeeper’s wife turns to Edgardo for comfort when she dreams of a monster – “ ‘It was the devil,’ Edgardo said casually and with a touch of sadism” (p. 100). The shopkeeper himself describes the world around him with a pattern of adjectives and nouns: everything is “mysteriously mysterious” or “a wondrous wonder.” The only time the writing fell a little flat was in the actual descriptions of glassmaking: it was well-researched but sometimes tedious to read the technical descriptions, although I’m not sure how else he could convey the scientific aspects of glassmaking.

Physical deformities as a representation of sin are a recurring symbol in The Eye Stone. Edgardo’s twisted figure causes him to disappoint his own father, starting his fall from aristocrat to cleric to eventual beggar. His father’s disappointment is echoed by his betrayal of God, as he partakes in one sin after another. In fact, the entire city of Venice seems to be invoking the wrath of God as disfigured babies are born and corpses rise from the canals with stones in their eyes. These ill omens were blamed on the sins of the people: “Disorder was spreading and nature was rebelling against man. The Lord’s wrath was at its peak and a disaster would befall the whole of humanity” (p. 175). Edgardo feels personally responsible for at least part of this apocalypse.

Following Edgardo on his journey is ultimately rewarding, and the ending is unexpected and completely satisfying. In his own words, “It had been a ruinous, inexorable fall,” (p. 224) like a tragedy we can’t turn away from. The writing is sharp and clever, and will be great for fans of Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose.

I received this book for free from Europa Editions and Goodreads First Reads in exchange for an honest review.