Boys Alive resists a certain kind of reader—I’m one, I confess—by offering a series of episodes rather than a single plot. Some of these anecdotes are sweet (if you’re the sort who is charmed by the dumb things kids the world over get up to) ... I found the author’s occasional descriptions of the boys herein, if not exactly chaste, almost touching.
Though some of the profanity feels pro forma to a contemporary reader, Parks ably captures the lyricism ... Pasolini’s fans will find this eye-opening.
Colorful, episodic ... Pasolini spends little ink on female characters, the chief ones here being mocking prostitutes and angry mothers. Parks does a fine job with what seems to have been a challenging translation, while also providing a helpful introduction and footnotes. A gritty read from one of 20th-century Italy’s leading cultural lights.
