Visions of Johanna by Peter Sarno
What’s it About?
In this relatable, vulnerable and moving account of a love affair that doesn’t end under a suburban roof with two kids, a dog, and mortgage, take a look inside the souls of two young career-seeking people in the 1980s.
When something hurts, it’s easy to access medical books, Google or physicians for the answers. When it comes to love, the prescriptions are not so simple.
Peter Sarno does a masterful job of dissecting love to its barest roots and greatest pains in his complex novel, Visions of Johanna (PFP Publishing). In his relatable, vulnerable and moving account of a love affair that doesn’t end under a suburban roof with two kids, a dog, and mortgage, he takes us inside the souls of two young career-seeking people in the 1980s – Johanna, a troubled artist trying to find her way, and Matt, a slightly younger writer and our narrator seeking the same.
Beginnings of a Complicated Romance
Sarno’s writing so well captures the signals associated with budding relationships – the conversations, the innuendos of every word, a hand brushing a hand, the in-between for reflection – that readers will reminisce about their own affairs at that crazy stage when they feel something happening and don’t quite know what it means or what to do. Trying to put labels on what is or isn’t. Checking that definitions and boundaries are in sync. Carefree vs. careful. “Maybe it’s best not to map out every detail,” Johanna says at one point, only referring to a casual day’s plans – but perhaps implying greater meaning.
Johanna and Matt, no rookies to romance, meet at a Dylan concert. One thing leads to another. They bounce around New York and Boston, and readers watch the passion grow almost while watching the leaves change color. Is it real? Does she feel what he feels? Then that anxious first pass. Confusion. “It’s complicated,” she says.
Behaviors flutter. Some explanations are vague. But we know they each carry secrets. How will those affect the outcome?
At one point Matt says to himself, “I felt as though I were watching a foreign movie bereft of subtitles, captivated yet bewildered, could I still be blamed if I didn’t understand?”
Intricate with Bigger-Than-Life Themes
Visions of Johanna created flash images for me of The Way We Were and Love Story – only in the way that love can look so right at one point and then suddenly face storm clouds. But those comparisons of commercial-centric, manipulated vehicles are not fair to the literary, crafty and intricate work the author provides in his narrative and in his fine writing. Maybe Bergman’s Scenes from a Marriage is more apropos.
With all the focus on the relationship, Sarno still manages quite deftly to roll in some bigger-than-life themes of the times: feminism, rebellion, mob influence, among them – from scenes in the country to the lofts of lower Manhattan to the back streets of blue-collar Boston. While the action isn’t necessarily breakneck speed, there are plenty of moving parts.
Wrap it all around the guilt, fear and anxious hesitation of leaping into something new and uncharted, with the prospect of a big prize at the finish line, no matter how hard or allusive, and you’ve got the essence of this fine novel. It will make readers think, it will move them deeply, and challenge their senses and comprehension – because this is not a topic that is black and white.
Love. Romance. Life. No one ever said it wasn’t complicated.
About Peter Sarno:
Peter Sarno taught literature and memoir courses at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and has published essays, reviews, and short stories. While a graduate student at UMass, he won the Donald E. Cookson prize in nonfiction. His work has appeared in The Boston Globe, Music World magazine, Sweet Potato, Gannett newspapers, Gatehouse Media, and other outlets. Visions of Johanna is his first published novel. You can find out more about his book here.
Publish Date: 11/14/2022
Genre: Fiction
Author: Peter Sarno
Page Count: 330 pages
Publisher: PFP Publishing
ISBN: 9798986626604
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