There's something very appealing about the idea of being non-judgmental.
It means taking the time and trouble to really understand someone without feeling required to flatter or condemn.
We simply come face to face with the reality of being that person, and more intimately, we long that another person could both know us deeply and accept us as who we are.
Il Gattopardo, The Leopard, was published in 1958, shortly after its author's death.
It was the only major thing that Giuseppi Tomasi di Lampedusa ever wrote.
While he lived, he only heard of its rejection by the various publishing houses to which he'd sent the manuscript, though after his death, it quickly became a huge and very surprising success.
Essentially, the book is a detailed character study of one person, a middle-aged astronomer and mathematician called Fabrizio Corbera, who is also, like the author, a Sicilian aristocrat.
The novel is mainly set in the 1860s, but its helpful message to us has nothing to do with Italian history.
The outer surface of Fabrizio is polished, elegant, and charming.
He's easygoing, immensely polite, handsome, and generous.
