Luca is sophisticated, knowing and introspective. When his active mind questions the conventions and routine of everyday life he comes gradually to the conclusion that life is a monstrous conspiracy -- a plot to make one conform at the expense of one's soul. His answer is a complete negation of the pattern of living -- an austere and adolescent reaction that leads him, unwittingly to the brink of death itself, and from which only the purge of violent illness and an unexpected romance save him, mentally and physically, and show him the way to maturity.
