PASSIONATE RATIONS

I’m only half-way through Book 1 of Lemony Snicket’s “A Series of Unfortunate Events.”  I am reserving any final judgment until I’m done with the series, but I have to ask:  is anyone else shocked by the extent of the child abuse portrayed in the book?  I, too, love stories that aren’t all sugar and bunnies, and I’m generally not very conservative about such things, but I have to admit I have been taken aback by the extended nature of the violence in what I thought was a children’s book (and only the first half of one at that).

What, you ask, does this have to do with food (aside from the “lemon” in “Lemony”)?  Well, nothing really, except that, just before I put the book down, my brow furrowed in concern, the evil uncle of the three orphan protagonists at one point orders them to cook dinner for him and his theater troupe.  The children’s ultimate choice:  pasta with puttanesca sauce.

I admit, the word “puttanesca” sounds somewhat amusing, perhaps especially so to young minds that have yet to expand into the farther reaches of culinary delights.  But, after all the abusiveness had left me feeling breathless with growing outrage, something about the word—“puttanesca”—troubled me too.  It hints of the adult, the sexual.  Well, if you speak Italian, it probably doesn’t “hint” at all, but rather bandies you about the head.  The word comes from the term “alla puttanesca,” which means literally “in the style of a prostitute.”  I suspect that has something to do with the hot peppers and anchovies, but whatever.  This, and the very subtle hints at potential sexual abuse in the words of one of the members of the theater troupe to the older girl orphan, only added to my growing disquiet.

Which is not to say I don’t enjoy a good tomato sauce myself, but I think I’ll enjoy it, and the book, with a glass of wine next time.  Take the edge off as I further contemplate the merits of each.