By Julie Sara Porter
Bookworm Reviews
Spoilers: One of the best ways to learn about the past is to research our own family history. This research teaches us where we came from, the struggles that our ancestors faced, what challenges befall them, and our inherited legacy. Steven Decker researched his own family history, the Tomasellos. The results are Cambridge Street, this intimate personal family saga about an Italian family emigrating to the United States during the Roaring Twenties.
The Tomasso Family are forced to leave Sicily because dwindling supplies cannot feed and provide for all of them. So eldest brother Paolo emigrates to the United States with his reluctant wife, Gianna, their children, Gianna's mother Stella, and Paolo’s brothers, the idealistic spiritual Leonardo and the sly criminal Renzo.
The family settles in the Little Sicily area of Chicago where they face poverty, family conflicts, threats from organized crime, and the sacrifices and ambitions to achieve the American Dream.
In writing the experiences of the Tomasso Family, particularly the three brothers, Decker reveals the various conflicts and concerns faced by immigrants when they are in a new place and their former roles are challenged. They are forced to find another way to live and adjust.
Paolo and Gianna have to face uncertainty. In Sicily, Paolo was one of several farmers. He worked alongside his father according to the planting and harvesting season. It was a routine existence that he knew when to plant seeds, when to grow and note the progress, when to harvest, when to store and when to eat. It was a cycle that his family knew well.
Also he and Gianna were surrounded by family, uncles, aunts, siblings, cousins, parents, long-time friends, and neighbors. It was a legacy recognized by several generations which contributed, networked and knew that if one person needed help, others were close by.
Now in Chicago, they are out of their comfort zone. Paolo now works in a slaughterhouse for human managers and supervisors who act with more authority than the seasonal weather cycle can. It is hard backbreaking work with very little rewards.
The fertile fields are replaced by city streets. The peaceful villas by tenement slums. Before Paolo knew that he and his family would be cared for. Now they have the fear of poverty, homelessness, and hunger hovering overhead.
As if that wasn't hard enough, the Tomasso Family are now among strangers instead of family. Gianna in particular feels the loss as she misses the network that she knew and feels uncomfortable around people that she does not. She gives birth to more children, becomes a committed church member, and finds common ground with others around her.
She and Paolo now have a found family made up of fellow immigrants and American citizens that are in the same situation that they are in: working hard in a new country and hoping for a better day.
Renzo was in a different situation. He is charming, ambitious, and slick. He would prefer to take the easy path to fortune. He assisted criminals by doing leg work, delivered messages and packages, and used his wit to escape from tight spots. He also romanced unattainable women including the wife of a dangerous operative.
At first, Renzo didn't even want to go to America. He wanted to ascend in his fast glamorous life, perhaps becoming a Don in his own right. However, a very spirited discussion with criminal rivals involving gunplay and death threats caused Renzo to change his mind and come with.
Just as in Sicily, Renzo is involved in organized crime but being older, more mature, and away from the insulating protection of his large family and their certain legacy, Renzo is aware that he is pursuing a path that is not just dangerous for him. He is also causing great danger to those around him.
Renzo’s increased loyalty towards his family and his close proximity to the more unsavory aspects of the criminal life force him to face real consequences. In one heartbreaking moment, he realizes how much this lawless pursuit has cost him.
Leonardo is the quiet scholar in the family and was destined to join the Church as a priest. He has the skills and temperament for this path and he was too even tempered and obedient to question it. It was an expected required path so he followed it.
While Leonardo acquiesces, his real feelings are ascertained by how quickly he discards it once he lives in America. He declines going to seminary and falls in love. He opts not to serve God behind the cloistered walls of the priesthood.
Instead, Leonardo becomes involved with the community becoming proactive and spiritual but also continuing human pleasures like marriage and fatherhood. He has the best of both worlds: a definite belief in God and a love to share it with.
A tragedy occurs that won't be revealed here but changes the Tomasso Family. They have to face danger, grief, fear, anger, vengeance, redemption, and guilt.
Those left behind have to weigh whether to seek revenge or move forward. They wonder what the American Dream can possibly mean if it costs too much to pursue and not everyone will be able to achieve it.
No comments:
Post a Comment