THE SILENT PERIOD

A young Italian woman devotes herself to silence in an ever more extreme response to contemporary social life.

“I decided to cut off all communication around eleven o’clock one evening in September,” says Cristina Martino, the resolute protagonist of this provocative novel, after sharing her reflections on suicide. In the beginning, by “all communication” Cristina seems to mean only social media; she deletes all the apps from her phone, then deletes her profiles and even the photographs on her phone, and leaves any WhatsApp groups she’s no longer involved in. Three months later, she follows up on this impulsive decision with a thoroughly thought-out plan to stop speaking altogether. “I will be with you in any way that does not involve words, at least not mine,” she writes to her older sister, Elena, before executing her plan. The challenge of being with others without using words tests not only Cristina’s relationships with her family, best friend, new boyfriend, and employer but also herself and the ways she has learned to be in the world—answering questions, giving directions to strangers, and so on. Though at first she claims that she likely won’t endure more than a week without speaking, over the ensuing months Cristina’s commitment to silence becomes increasingly radical. The reader, like those closest to Cristina, might wish for her to change course, but she remains faithful to her purpose. Her story is both bracing and compelling, and it concludes in a paradox, as Cristina’s withdrawal secures her status as an influencer, inspiring others to renounce words and the compulsive sharing promoted by social media. Despite the outward detachment of its protagonist, the novel is full of humor, compassion, and longing; similarly, though its primary narrator may mistrust words, this novel is a pleasure to read.

Wry, and as uncompromising as its heroine.