In his addition to Venice Noir entitled ‘The Comedy is Over,’ Francesco Ferracin delivers a punch to anyone who believes they are upholding ideals by being part of a particular political party. He shows how only one experience can change a person’s views, even if they have upheld them for their entire lives.

Despite being raised in a strictly conservative family, the narrator holds Leftist beliefs: a mix of races, religions, and political affiliations is key to Venice’s concept of freedom. When she becomes a victim in a horrifying crime that takes the life of her friend and nearly her own, she changes her convictions dramatically. She starts to see the anger in the eyes of her friends’ and the unspoken guilt they push upon her. Why was she the one to survive? Why did the pretty one have to die?

Unfortunately, the attack is forever in her mind and serves as a sort of ulterior motive to all of her relationships, whether romantic, familial, or professional. Aside from a very brief stint of survivor’s guilt, the narrator tosses her friends aside and goes for a guy who brings subconscious emotions out that she has never known.

Not only has she changed in her dealings with those close to her, but the way she thinks has also taken a sudden change. A pair of young men from Morocco had been the criminals in the attack. Now, more than ever, race is brought to the fore of everyone she sees. No longer does she see the variety of color of the faces of passersby as worthy of her support.

Ferracin gives readers a narrator that shows the condition of circular obliviousness that smothers Venice. Very few instances in the narration give readers a chance to pity the woman who has been through a crime where her friends would rather have seen her die than the other woman. The plot shows a world where the law system is not enough to sufficiently avenge its citizens and where everyone goes about their lives doing the same things, each leading to a violent end.

The narrator is the exception to the vicious cycle. Instead of giving in to the hand of her attackers, she survives and vows revenge in a place where superheroes never appear to a damsel in distress, no matter how pretty they are. There is no one to avenge those who have been wronged except for the victim.

Through an unsympathetic narrator who is driven by her need for revenge, Ferracin makes readers feel the same lack of sympathy for Venice’s limbo-like state. He shows that individuals need to observe and stop blindly accepting the beliefs of a particular political party. He makes readers question the plausibility of enduring beliefs when faced with a situation that hurls the consequences of those beliefs in the face of the holder.

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About the author

Kala Istvanek
Presently, I am attending Carthage College in Kenosha, U.S.A. I will be graduating with a degree in Asian Studies, with a minor in English and Studio Art. I have been a bookworm ever since I could read and I can never turn down a book. Art is also one of my loves and discovering new artists is always a thrill for me.

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