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Where My Body Ends and the World Begins
On December 1, 1958, a devastating blaze at Our Lady of the Angels School in Chicago took the lives of ninety-two children, shattering a close-knit Italian neighborhood. In this eloquent novel, set nearly a decade later, twenty-year-old Anthony Lazzeri struggles with survivor’s guilt, which is manifested through conflicted feelings about his own body. Complicating his life is a retired detective’s dogged belief that Anthony was involved in the setting of the fire. Tony Romano’s delicate handling of Anthony’s journey is deeply moving, exploring the complex psychological toll such an event has on those involved, including families…and an entire community. This multi-faceted tale follows Anthony’s struggles to come to terms with how the events of that day continue to affect him and those around him. Aided by a sometime girlfriend, a former teacher, and later his parents—after long buried family secrets are brought into the open—he attempts to piece together a life for himself as an adult.
262 pages, Paperback
Published December 12, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 7, 2017
Wow, this book was so so sad. My parents lived in Chicago and were in their teens when this fire happened. They remember so many details about that day, what happened and the aftermath. This is the reason I selected this book from Net Galley (THANK YOU!!). It was kind of hard to read because Anthony, the main character was so broken, lost and sad after the fire that had occurred almost 10 years ago. His family was split up and he was seeing a psychologist of help with his depression and suicidal thoughts and his ongoing conversations with his sister and Nonna as well. The story is about Anthony's search for the truth as to how the fire started because he does not remember what happened immediately afterwards...he is on a quest of sorts with the help of his on-again/off-again girlfriend, his former teacher and eventually his parents...who have also suffered great loss and suffering post-fire. From what I know in reality, the author did a great job depicting the very tightly woven Italian community during that time and how the pain and reality of such a great loss affected everyone. Anthony is trying to put his life back together and live successfully as an adult as works towards figuring out his story and giving himself and others around him peach of mind. Heart-wrenchingly sad and honest historical fiction about the endurance involved in the of healing wounds and living in the present after surviving a horrendous tragedy.
March 29, 2018
In Tony Romano’s Where My Body Ends and the World Begins>, readers are immediately immersed in a Chicago neighborhood of the late 1950s and 1960s. The community is still devastated by the fire at Our Lady of the Angels School in 1958 that claimed the lives of 92 students and three nuns. Everyone was affected by the fire, but everyone was affected differently. The fire tragically changes the Lazzeri family, and Anthony Lazzeri, a childhood survivor of the fire, now twenty years old, navigates his Italian neighborhood and impending adulthood with a complex mix of cynicism, humor, confusion, and courage.
Tony Romano makes the inner life of his main character as vivid and dynamic as the dramatic action going on around him. In the opening scene, Anthony is reeling from being struck by a car. As the scene unfolds, readers meet many of the inhabitants of Anthony’s exterior world: Nonna, his quirky, omnipresent grandmother; Lipschultz, a retired cop; and Maryanne, Anthony’s on-again-off-again girlfriend who never quite fills the role he envisions. We also glimpse Anthony’s interior struggle where is tormented by a leg that he cannot sense as part of himself.
The Our Lady of the Angels fire is a devastating historical backdrop for this novel. The fire gave rise to ghosts, rumors, and suspicions that haunt the neighborhood and its characters a decade later. These Tony Romano characters are at once archetypal and unique. Mrs. Mazzolini, for example, “dressed in her usual mourning black, keeps the neighborhood stocked with bread and soup and summer tomatoes from her backyard.” Perez, Anthony’s catcher from their baseball days, is shipping off to the military. Then there is the retired Chicago cop who knows more than he should about his neighbors. That is Lipschultz, Anthony’s nemesis. Crusty old Chicago newspaperman Mike Royko even shows up in this novel.
These relatives and neighbors fill Anthony’s life, but he wants more, although he isn’t sure exactly what he wants. The plot involves Anthony trying to understand why certain things happened and why things are the way they are. (Please excuse this vagueness for the sake of avoiding spoilers.) Although some situations seem unexplainable, Anthony uncovers secrets and discovers information that help him unknot the intricately woven fibers of his family, neighborhood, and self. Tony Romano artfully places readers with Anthony on his psychological journey, as well as during his neighborhood sleuthing and confrontations.
The title is intriguing, isn’t it? Where My Body Ends and the World Begins seems philosophical, and the book indeed subtly dabbles in questions about life’s meaning, but the title is also a metaphor for how this novel explores many lines of demarcation: where the past ends and the present begins, where grief ends and where what-comes-next begins, where secrets end and truth begins, where fiction ends and reality begins.
Although reading this novel is its own reward, supporting independent publishing is a bonus. Where My Body Ends and the World Begins is published by Allium Press and is a finalist for the Foreword Reviews Indies Book of the Year in the Historical Fiction category.
Cross-posted in slightly different form on my What's Not Wrong blog
Tony Romano makes the inner life of his main character as vivid and dynamic as the dramatic action going on around him. In the opening scene, Anthony is reeling from being struck by a car. As the scene unfolds, readers meet many of the inhabitants of Anthony’s exterior world: Nonna, his quirky, omnipresent grandmother; Lipschultz, a retired cop; and Maryanne, Anthony’s on-again-off-again girlfriend who never quite fills the role he envisions. We also glimpse Anthony’s interior struggle where is tormented by a leg that he cannot sense as part of himself.
The Our Lady of the Angels fire is a devastating historical backdrop for this novel. The fire gave rise to ghosts, rumors, and suspicions that haunt the neighborhood and its characters a decade later. These Tony Romano characters are at once archetypal and unique. Mrs. Mazzolini, for example, “dressed in her usual mourning black, keeps the neighborhood stocked with bread and soup and summer tomatoes from her backyard.” Perez, Anthony’s catcher from their baseball days, is shipping off to the military. Then there is the retired Chicago cop who knows more than he should about his neighbors. That is Lipschultz, Anthony’s nemesis. Crusty old Chicago newspaperman Mike Royko even shows up in this novel.
These relatives and neighbors fill Anthony’s life, but he wants more, although he isn’t sure exactly what he wants. The plot involves Anthony trying to understand why certain things happened and why things are the way they are. (Please excuse this vagueness for the sake of avoiding spoilers.) Although some situations seem unexplainable, Anthony uncovers secrets and discovers information that help him unknot the intricately woven fibers of his family, neighborhood, and self. Tony Romano artfully places readers with Anthony on his psychological journey, as well as during his neighborhood sleuthing and confrontations.
The title is intriguing, isn’t it? Where My Body Ends and the World Begins seems philosophical, and the book indeed subtly dabbles in questions about life’s meaning, but the title is also a metaphor for how this novel explores many lines of demarcation: where the past ends and the present begins, where grief ends and where what-comes-next begins, where secrets end and truth begins, where fiction ends and reality begins.
Although reading this novel is its own reward, supporting independent publishing is a bonus. Where My Body Ends and the World Begins is published by Allium Press and is a finalist for the Foreword Reviews Indies Book of the Year in the Historical Fiction category.
Cross-posted in slightly different form on my What's Not Wrong blog
December 9, 2017
When it comes to grief, I have often been told "to each their own." There is no manual or proper way for one to grieve, but if there is something that grief thrives on, it's silence. This book captures the essence of this silence in Anthony's neighborhood. At first we encounter him doing what he knows best, pushing people away by being a jerk and rude to them, but as the story unravels, the author peels the layers of his grief and we learn of the fire at their school that took away his sister and many more children.
I found the writer's tone crisp. His descriptions, the characters dialogues and his portrayal of them and their mannerisms were enough to get me to understand that they had all been stuck, and no matter how far they went or what they did, the loss of their loved ones in that fire was something they could never undo.
We see the world, nine years after the fire through Anthony's eyes, because he is struggling to comes to terms with what happened and why he cannot recall most of it and as he does this, in a way he gets his family to talk about the fire and is a step closer to healing.
I also learned that there was a school fire in Chicago in 1958 and it broke my heart reading this because we've had many school fires in my country, Kenya, too but the one I've never forgotten is the Bombolulu fire. I'm glad to have received an ARC of this book from NetGalley.
I found the writer's tone crisp. His descriptions, the characters dialogues and his portrayal of them and their mannerisms were enough to get me to understand that they had all been stuck, and no matter how far they went or what they did, the loss of their loved ones in that fire was something they could never undo.
We see the world, nine years after the fire through Anthony's eyes, because he is struggling to comes to terms with what happened and why he cannot recall most of it and as he does this, in a way he gets his family to talk about the fire and is a step closer to healing.
I also learned that there was a school fire in Chicago in 1958 and it broke my heart reading this because we've had many school fires in my country, Kenya, too but the one I've never forgotten is the Bombolulu fire. I'm glad to have received an ARC of this book from NetGalley.
January 29, 2018
Where My Body Ends and the World Begins imagines what it might be like for one of the survivors of the tragic fire at Our Lady of the Angels School that killed ninety-two students and three nuns in 1958. Anthony Lazzaro was one of the survivors and carries that guilt with him along with the ghost of his sister Ellie. His neighbor Lipschultz, a retired cop, thinks his guilt is more immediate than that, insinuating that Anthony may have set the fire.
Anthony suffers from Body Integrity Identity Disorder, though no such diagnosis existed back then. His leg feels foreign to him and he deliberately breaks his leg at the beginning of the book. Lipschultz sees this as a manifestation of his guilt, his friends and family see it as survivor’s guilt. He does feel guilt, but so does his best friend Maryann who also survived the fire, escaping from the same classroom where Ellie died.
Adding to his guilt, his family broke apart after the fire. His father sank into a bottle and moved out. Then even his mother moved out. He stays with his Nonna and Ellie’s ghost and an increasingly menacing neighbor.
I loved Where My Body Ends and the World Begins. Romano has created a real sense of community where people take care of each other and know each other’s business. Anthony’s mental illness is central to the story and is satisfyingly complex, capturing the mystery of an unnamed disease. I also love that this book surprised me. Wow! I was completely overthrown by some of the revelations at the end, yet the biggest surprise did not come out of nowhere.
I can’t spoil it for you, but I must say I have never been so surprised by a twist that is completely fair. Usually, with a twist like this, it comes out of left field, but this one comes straight from the pitcher’s mound and yet, the story is so artfully told that most readers will be shocked.
I received an Advance Reading Copy of Where My Body Ends and the World Begins from the publisher through LibraryThing.
Where My Body Ends and the World Begins at Allium Press
Tony Romano author site
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
Anthony suffers from Body Integrity Identity Disorder, though no such diagnosis existed back then. His leg feels foreign to him and he deliberately breaks his leg at the beginning of the book. Lipschultz sees this as a manifestation of his guilt, his friends and family see it as survivor’s guilt. He does feel guilt, but so does his best friend Maryann who also survived the fire, escaping from the same classroom where Ellie died.
Adding to his guilt, his family broke apart after the fire. His father sank into a bottle and moved out. Then even his mother moved out. He stays with his Nonna and Ellie’s ghost and an increasingly menacing neighbor.
I loved Where My Body Ends and the World Begins. Romano has created a real sense of community where people take care of each other and know each other’s business. Anthony’s mental illness is central to the story and is satisfyingly complex, capturing the mystery of an unnamed disease. I also love that this book surprised me. Wow! I was completely overthrown by some of the revelations at the end, yet the biggest surprise did not come out of nowhere.
I can’t spoil it for you, but I must say I have never been so surprised by a twist that is completely fair. Usually, with a twist like this, it comes out of left field, but this one comes straight from the pitcher’s mound and yet, the story is so artfully told that most readers will be shocked.
I received an Advance Reading Copy of Where My Body Ends and the World Begins from the publisher through LibraryThing.
Where My Body Ends and the World Begins at Allium Press
Tony Romano author site
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
February 14, 2018
I really wanted to like this book. It had all the ingredients to resonate with me.
1) Based in Chicago – my husband is from Chicago and I enjoy reading about his roots in a city we both love.
2) Italian family – again, my husband is the spitting image of his Italian heritage as his grandmother emigrated from Sicily. Pasta is ONE of few foods I can actually get him to eat (he is seriously picky) and the aromas described within this house reminded me of my own home.
3) Fire – this story revolves around a fire to a school and how it impacts Anthony, a survivor whom lost a sister to the blaze, and the detective next door that is convinced Anthony set the fire. For anyone that enters our house, my husband is quick to steer guests to our fire place. As we renovated our home we uncovered the bricks surrounding our fire place are originally from the historic Chicago Fire, left over from the abundance of brick remains. These bricks are a constant reminder to the dangers of fire, but also tie us back to his childhood in Chicago.
Despite this significant connections to my own life, this book was not satisfying. It was haphazardly thrown together with odd undeveloped tie-ins. For instance, Anthony is introduced to us as he tries to throw himself in front of a car. Why did he try to do this? Because he does not feel like his left leg should be attached to his body. Fast forward to the final third of the book, we learn that his sister (whom died in the blaze) had a limp left leg, BUT Anthony’s feelings for his leg developed prior to the arrival of his sister’s gimp leg. This is such an odd, un-relatable fact about Anthony and his leg, but weirdly enough much of the book revolves around Anthony’s feelings toward said leg.
Furthermore, I expected more of the book to revolve around the school fire and death of many within, but the reader was not introduced to much of Anthony’s experiences as it related to the fire and its aftereffects until nearly the last few pages of the book. While normally I enjoy a last second reveal, the author failed to elude to any of the shocking final twists or rather I was so unengaged I failed to pick up on them. Regardless, the plot was only minimally developed and seemed to take a back seat to Anthony’s own internal feelings about his leg, childhood friend Maryanne and absent father.
*Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
1) Based in Chicago – my husband is from Chicago and I enjoy reading about his roots in a city we both love.
2) Italian family – again, my husband is the spitting image of his Italian heritage as his grandmother emigrated from Sicily. Pasta is ONE of few foods I can actually get him to eat (he is seriously picky) and the aromas described within this house reminded me of my own home.
3) Fire – this story revolves around a fire to a school and how it impacts Anthony, a survivor whom lost a sister to the blaze, and the detective next door that is convinced Anthony set the fire. For anyone that enters our house, my husband is quick to steer guests to our fire place. As we renovated our home we uncovered the bricks surrounding our fire place are originally from the historic Chicago Fire, left over from the abundance of brick remains. These bricks are a constant reminder to the dangers of fire, but also tie us back to his childhood in Chicago.
Despite this significant connections to my own life, this book was not satisfying. It was haphazardly thrown together with odd undeveloped tie-ins. For instance, Anthony is introduced to us as he tries to throw himself in front of a car. Why did he try to do this? Because he does not feel like his left leg should be attached to his body. Fast forward to the final third of the book, we learn that his sister (whom died in the blaze) had a limp left leg, BUT Anthony’s feelings for his leg developed prior to the arrival of his sister’s gimp leg. This is such an odd, un-relatable fact about Anthony and his leg, but weirdly enough much of the book revolves around Anthony’s feelings toward said leg.
Furthermore, I expected more of the book to revolve around the school fire and death of many within, but the reader was not introduced to much of Anthony’s experiences as it related to the fire and its aftereffects until nearly the last few pages of the book. While normally I enjoy a last second reveal, the author failed to elude to any of the shocking final twists or rather I was so unengaged I failed to pick up on them. Regardless, the plot was only minimally developed and seemed to take a back seat to Anthony’s own internal feelings about his leg, childhood friend Maryanne and absent father.
*Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
March 14, 2022
I picked this up initially because I have been interested in the fire at Our Lady of the Angels for many years, but the story is less about the fire than it is about the grief it caused, which could have been a very touching story if you can get behind the writing style. I couldn't - I didn't get into the story until almost 70% of the way through, because that's when we got to the most poignant descriptions of grief. I don't know if maybe the unreliable narrator was what was tripping me up, or the semi-occasional switches in perspective, or maybe just the way the story was told overall didn't connect with me. I think there was some good stuff in there...just not for me.
August 7, 2018
First few chapters weren't all that interesting, but when I realized the story line I was captured by the psychology and I quickly identified with the main character. Based upon a real historical event - a fire that claims the lives of many children and teachers in Chicago in 1958. The rest is all fiction, told masterfully by the main character and his long-time girlfriend.
October 8, 2018
I wanted to love this book, but just, no. On every page some new thread got thrown in— a haunting from a child lost in the fire, memories of the fire, the girlfriend randomly hospitalized for depression, the neighbor at the heart of it all keeling over, the missing father, the Italian grandmother— it was all just a mess. There were so many conflicts and none were ever realized.
February 15, 2020
This was recommended by a colleague whose taste in books generally aligns with mine. But this one was not for me -- I was intrigued by the plot line, which features a young man who survived the Our Lady of Angels fire (anyone who is Catholic who grew up in Chicago knows this story...) but it felt clunky and convoluted to me. I wanted to like it, but didn't and cannot recommend.
February 9, 2018
Tony Romano, one of my favorite writers, does it again.
February 17, 2018
Thanks to Library Thing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Where My Body Ends and the World Begins by Tony Romano is a fictionalized story about survivor guilt after the death of 92 children and three nuns after a fire at Our Lady of the Angels school in the 50s of Chicago. The author does a good job making you feel the anguish of the main character, Anthony Lazzaro, who's sister died in the fire and who is also an unreliable character. I wanted to like this book more than I ended up but it was a very interesting story nonetheless.
July 19, 2019
Intimidatingly good. Excellent exploration of grief, self-loathing and maturity in the aftermath of a tragedy.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews