Take a story's temperature by studying its tone. Is it hopeful? Cynical? Snarky? Playful?
Poetic, But Not Nostalgic
Giuseppe di Lampedusa can't help but write passionately about the history of his own family. But that doesn't mean he wishes he could go back in time and bring them back. In fact, one of the things that has made this book such an enduring classic is the way Lampedusa speaks emotionally about the past without ever getting nostalgic. For example, he writes, "[The] lament of cicadas filled the sky. It was like a death rattle of parched Sicily at the end of August vainly awaiting rain" (2.8).
Now this passage is super poetic and bittersweet in its references to death. But at the same time, Lampedusa always hits us with the fact that death is an inevitable part of history, whether it's the death of individuals or of certain ways of life. Through memory and fiction, we can reconnect with bygone eras, and that sure is nice. But that doesn't mean that history would be worth changing… or even repeating.
Don't go and get sentimental about what you read in this book, because Lampedusa sure ain't sentimental. He's an astoundingly beautiful writer, but he's not nostalgic.