Family Lexicon is a string of impressions, or rather, one long impression, of a family through the years. There’s a huge depth of character here, even as certain details are intentionally omitted or casually downplayed. Each member of the family is rendered in their quirks, their turns of phrase, through Italy’s turbulent twentieth century.  In spite of the larger political turmoil and a gradual divergence in their individual lives, the family’s private language endures. 

Ginzburg’s writing (and McPhee’s translation) has a warmth to it while still drawing attention to the ugliness of the larger situation and the less savory traits of her father. It’s a great book. 

Peg Boyers’ afterword gets to the heart of it, I think. Recommended!