#marksullivan

I’m really enjoying one of this month’s #bookclub reads on #audiobook Beneath the Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan, narrated by Will Damron.

Voici un roman que je ne pouvais pas abandonner pour ma vie, une trouvaille rare pour moi de nos jours. Cependant, ce livre m’a trouvé, étant un cadeau de mon cher Pascal réfléchi qui me connaît souvent mieux que moi. L’auteur Mark Sullivan raconte une histoire extraordinaire, Beneath a Scarlet Sky, basée sur de vrais évènements de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Un jeune Italien se transforme en homme lorsqu’il rejoint la Résistance italienne et devient plus tard un espion dans une position très précaire de chauffeur pour un commandant nazi. Au fil des terreurs de la guerre, nous lisons une histoire d’amour improbable mais inextinguible qui contribue à la maturation de jeune Pino Lella autant qu’il endure le parcours périlleux de l’espion-soldat.

L’esprit réconfortant de l’Italie l’emporte toujours, nous réchauffant avec des descriptions somptueuses de la famille, des chants, du vin, de la nourriture, de la compagne, des Alpes et de la fierté. La surveillance minutieuse des montagnes, le risque de prétendre ne pas être impliqué et le berger courageux des réfugiés, tout cela Pino prend sur ses épaules (parfois au sens littéral). Il y a des péages brutaux à payer à tout moment de violence et, dans le récit franc de l’auteur expliquant comment il est venu recevoir l’histoire de Pino lui-même (et leur belle amitié conséquente), vous êtes touché encore plus profondément sachant que cela s’est passé dans la vraie vie.

9/11/18

Written by Mark Sullivan (2017)

World War II is endlessly fascinating, and while I’m not one to be constantly immersing myself in its history, it’s a grand world-wide battle of good versus evil, something fiction has been hugely inspired by. Beneath A Scarlet Sky is the story of Pino Lella, a young Italian boy who inadvertently becomes the personal driver of one of Adolf Hitler’s number one men, General Liars. I agree with the author that Italy is one of the more forgotten fronts. With incredible stories of Normandy, Great Britain, Germany, the Pacific Theater, and the Holocaust, the only thing I ever knew about Italy during WWII is that Mussolini was an Axis dictator, but didn’t know anything about the people of Italy during this time. Beneath A Scarlet Sky is based Mark Sullivan's lengthy and in-depth interviews, not only with Lella in Italy, but General Liars’ surviving family, and other travel Sullivan did to ensure the book’s authenticity. Beneath A Scarlet Sky is now one of my favorite books I’ve ever read, and certainly the best bio-piece about WWII since Night (Elie Wiesel).

Milan, where Pino is from, and where much of the novel takes place

Pino was a popular and spry boy growing up in Milan, Italy. He is fascinated by cars and girls. He eventually meets a beautiful girl named Ana on the brink of WWII, dodging bombings of his city on a daily basis, living in absolute fear. Pino’s friends, family, and Ana would take train trips to the countryside simply to avoid the danger and horror of the war. Eventually, Pino is tasked by his church with helping refugees across the Northern border into Switzerland through a snowy mountain pass in the Alps. Here, at Casa Alpina, the church and resistance’s “secret base,” Pino gains skills as a mountain climber and skier, and eventually helps many people to safety. The story, suspense, and danger truly pick up when one day in Milan, he assists someone with their car on the side of the road. That person turned out to be the personal driver of General Liars, Hitler’s highest ranking Nazi in Italy. Liars fires his old driver, and conscripts Pino.

Sullivan with the actual Pino Lella

Most of the rest of the novel is Pino balancing an alliance with Liars, earning his trust, yet reporting what he hears and sees back to his family and friends. Pino experiences trauma after trauma, challenging his faith in God at all turns, with only brief respites of happiness, pleasure, and joy. I love the nuances between Liars and Pino the most. Pino feels shameful when the General praises him, usually for his driving skills and obedience. The shame completely comes from feeling genuinely good about the General’s approval and occasional complements. But, their relationship never breaches beyond professional, and Pino thoroughly understands that the General is an agent of war and genocide. The novel also snagged my attention when Pino would see glimpses of the “grey men” and “slaves” that the Nazis were using to build things so quickly. I keep forgetting that the whole concept of the Holocaust was not quantified and titled until long after the war, as information about what was happening was so vague at the time. 

Casa Alpina, the modern day hotel built where the cathedral acted as the resistance’s “base” near the border to Switzerland, and where Pino guided many people to safety.

My heart constantly wept for Pino and his emotional roller coaster of joy and utter sorrow. The way his family members, Ana, and priests kept instilling the idea of optimism and never giving up is sometimes the only thing that keeps Pino from absolutely collapsing and giving up. Most people wouldn’t have the will to make it through a fraction of what Pino goes through, and it gives me courage in my own life. The fact that this is such an epic story, and so unknown, means there are countless other unsung heroes of WWII that I’m sure very little, or no people know about. It continues to add to the deep intricacies of that time period, but also shows that sometimes things aren’t always as black and white as they seem. And most heart wrenching of all, just because you are a good person, doesn’t mean things will go your way in the end. The novel truly peaked at the very end when I was reminded that most of the characters, especially the principal and most major characters, were actual true people, and I got to find out what happened to all those people in the rest of their lives long after the war. Truth is stranger than fiction, and while the novel itself may take some liberties, it’s an amazing experience none the less that fans of WWII stories or people interested in this time period should enjoy an experience.