53 pages • 1 hour read
The Lying Life of Adults
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Chapter 7Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 7 Summary
Giovanna returns home and learns from her mother and Mariano that her school promoted her. Ida, unfortunately, has been held back. Giovanna schedules a meet-up with Ida and learns from Andrea that he and Aunt Vittoria are on speaking terms: Aunt Vittoria works as a live-in nurse for Costanza’s friend. Andrea credits Giovanna with bridging his relationship with his sister.
Ida has taken on a similar role as Giovanna once did, ignoring school and her appearance and losing herself in books. Ida admits that she slept with a married man but found the experience vile. Giovanna asks Ida if she will accompany her to Venice to see Tonino. Ida initially says no because she’s still angry at Tonino for hurting Angela, but she promises to think the offer over. She then reads Giovanna one of her stories. The story is about how she used to pretend to fall asleep just to watch Angela and Giovanna make out, and how she always felt left out. Giovanna kisses Ida on the lips.
Giovanna tries returning the bracelet to Aunt Vittoria, but her aunt insists that she keep it. Aunt Vittoria also tells Giovanna that she should embrace her body instead of hiding it beneath frumpy clothes. She warns her not to have sex, however. Later, Giovanna tells Corrado she will soon visit Tonino. She then shocks Corrado by asking for Rosario’s number. She first calls Tonino and makes plans to meet with him in Venice, then calls Rosario. Giovanna admits that she isn’t desperate to have sex, but it’s her decision. She goes to Rosario’s house, where they have lackluster, uncomfortable sex. She hides the bracelet near his bed. She and Ida leave for Venice the next day.
Chapter 7 Analysis
Giovanna once sought a male role model as a mentor. In Chapter 7, she happily becomes a female role model to Ida, who is now rebelling like Giovanna once did. The girls even share a passionate kiss on the lips, a brazen sign of friendship (done in broad daylight) that also adds a possible sexual overture distinct from the negative forces of masculinity the two women have endured thus far. Giovanna leans into her empowerment by choosing when and where and with whom to have her first sexual encounter involving penetration. Her body has been subject to everyone else’s gaze thus far, and she’s hidden it from fear and confusion. Now, however, Giovanna chooses Rosario as her first. When she leaves the bracelet by his bed, she’s leaving behind the stigma associated with sex and female autonomy. She discards her virginity and the bracelet so that others cannot define her by them, steal them, demand them, or guilt her with them. She and Ida end the novel on a journey toward adulthood, alive to their choices and to possibility.
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