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Book Review By Harriet Klausner
Sacred Time by Ursula Hegi



Touchstone, Sep 2004, 13.00
ISBN: 0743255984

In 1953, seven years old Anthony Amedeo lives what he perceives is the good life in his Bronx neighborhood as an only child. His father has a thriving catering business and his stay at home mother dotes on Anthony. Anthony's idyllic childhood changes when his Uncle Malcolm is back behind bars, forcing Aunt Floria and their eight-year-old twin daughters to move into the Amedeo fifth floor apartment; the twins share Anthony's previously private room. Not long afterward, one of the twins falls out a window to her death.

The tragedy haunts Anthony over the next four plus decades as he not only witnessed the fall of his cousin and never quite got over that first touch of death, his mother and aunt believed he pushed his cousin out the window. Living with that undeclared sentencing by his beloved family, Anthony feels all alone in spite of marriage and success as a chef.

The cast is a Italian-American Bronx family who never look at Anthony the same way after his cousin's death. However, the biggest bearer of misfortune besides the victim is Anthony, who perceives what his loved ones believe of him. This is a character study of the long term consequences of a tragedy.

Harriet Klausner


Plot & Themes
Internal struggle/realization? Yes
Struggle over

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status:
Age: - 20's-30's
Ethnicity/Nationality

Main Adversary
Identity: - none
How sensitive is this character?
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Northeast

Writing Style
Amount of dialog - significantly more dialog than descript
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