Read the passage. The award-winning novel based on the life of Massimo Ponticello begins in medias res. The opening lines describe Massimo during an exciting adventure as a young man in Rome. Later chapters examine his childhood in Naples. The final chapters concern his heartbreaking later years in Sicily.

“In medias res” is a literary term meaning that a story begins in the middle of the action rather than at the beginning. The novel opens with Massimo’s adventure as a young man, then looks back at his childhood, so “in the middle of things” is the best choice.

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