Character Analysis
A super-shy pianola technician, Pietro becomes the center of a love triangle and lifelong feud between Rebeca and Amaranta. After losing them both, he kills himself.
Are We in the Right Book?
Doesn't Pietro Crespi feel like he's from a totally different novel than the rest of the characters? On one hand, he is everything an old-school gentleman ought to be: quiet, well-dressed, modest, chaste, and polite. You could imagine him as a Jane Austen character – basically a kind of Bingley from Pride and Prejudice.
On the other hand, Crespi could also be seen as the ultimate romantic hero. When he falls in love, he falls deep. He does all sorts of outlandish things to get the attention of the women in his life. Then, when love fails him, he can't handle it and offs himself. This is pretty much the standard romantic model from Goethe's Sorrows of Young Werther. So in this novel, Pietro sticks out like a sore thumb, a throwback to the kind of civilization that seems to have bypassed the histrionics of this crazy town.