Marianne LeoneCritiques

This is a review of the ARC, and so I can hope that the book gets significantly more editing before it gets published.

On the whole, it seems like an interesting read, in a second-generation immigrant talking about and to her mother kind of way. Unfortunately, the narrative is so incredibly rambling and random, that it's quite hard to follow. There are definitely some very interesting stories in here somewhere, but I'm not sure why anyone who isn't directly related would take the time to try and untangle them.

Advanced Reader's Copy provided by Edelweiss.

Check out my review...http://shannonsbookbag.blogspot.com/2011/10/knowing-jesse-leone.html

Thanks to Book Club Cookbook for this book.

A fast moving book about a daughter's love and sometimes dislike for her very Italian mother and how she grew up with a mother who didn't speak good English and was embarrassed by her in many ways but loved her too in her own way. What made me laugh was even though she sent her daughter to Catholic school she was not very religious. A lot of homemade Italian food too and her mothers life after she and her father moved from Italy to MA

Marianne Leone has an outstanding talent for writing. She writes with humor and frankness that is endearing. In this book she talks about her relationship with her Italian immigrant mother and opens up to the reader about how unfair she was in judging her mother against the impossible Mrs. Cleaver expectations of the 1950s. This book has passages that you will read and re-read and then write down somewhere to remember. Highly recommended.

This was an interesting read for me because I don't think I've read a mother-daughter memoir that was so honest as Ma Speaks Up. Marianne Leone is an entertaining writer and I enjoyed her book, her relationship with her mother was kind of sad though. I'm really close to my Mom so parts of this book were hard for me to connect to, but I appreciated how the author laid everything out there even if it maybe put some people in a bad light. You as the reader knew she was just telling her story.

A fun relateable story about a rebellious daughter and her mother. I enjoyed it being able to relate to the daughter.

Need to finish reading this book, had a death of someone very close to me and haven't read much at all lately. Will update review when finished reading

I received this book through Library Thing's Early Reviewers program. I was disappointed in this memoir.

I will preface my review by saying that memoirs are quickly becoming my least favorite genre. As with this book, Ma Speaks Up, which I received as part of the Early Reviewers program, I just kept thinking, "Who cares?".
The book was well written and there were some interesting moments, but it reminded me too much of teaching middle school and listening to so many of the students who were dealing those adolescent agonies- the majority of which were centered around their dealings with their parents.
Not a bad book, just not for me!

"Ma Speaks Up" is the story of a first generation American daughter born to an Italian immigrant with a complicated background. I really enjoyed the way the author told the story. She was resentful at times of her mom's broken English, blunt mannerisms, etc. But you can tell how much she cared for her mom and as she grew up, appreciated her mom. Love that she included recipes at the end of the book.

I received an advanced copy of this book from LibraryThing in exchange for my honest review.

I found this book disappointing. I expected something entertaining and informative, that would give me a feel for what it was like to grow up a first generation Italian American. Instead, I got a lot of venting and whining and not much cultural insight. The last half of the book was more entertaining than the first, but I would not recommend it.

A poignant and insightful memoir of a daughter and her relationship with her Italian immigrant mother. Marianne Leone offers an amusing glimpse into her teenage angst and unbridled embarrassment over her widowed mother's behavior and presentations. Linda Leone's choices in life often lead to clashes and misunderstandings between the two. The author's redemption for her past behavior lies in the rewards of fully appreciating and acknowledging the love she had for this unique and fiercely independent woman.

I received this book through Library Thing's Early Reviewers program.

There is no doubt that Ms. Leone can write. However, the subject matter is the problem here.

First, I'll admit that part of my problem with the book is Ms. Leone's anti-Catholicism. Hey, I'm Catholic and I'm angry about a lot of things the Church has done and I know a lot of now non-practicing Catholic who are incredibly bitter. But you're not allowed to make stuff up out of whole cloth. I'm a few years older than she is and her version of the 6 commandments of the Church isn't the one I learned. So, I did some googling. The version she quotes is from 1886. It's possible, but extremely unlikely, that that version was still being taught when Ms. Leone went to school. However, even that version does not include "Not to marry persons who are not Catholics..." Hey, maybe the nuns in Newton added it on their own. However, any non-Catholics reading the book shouldn't believe it's part of the 6 commandments of the Church--because it isn't and wasn't when Ms. Leone was a Catholic school girl. Lots of Catholics married non-Catholics in the Catholic Church.

The biggest problem though is that this book really isn't about her mother. It's more about Ms. Leone. IMO, the title and the description are misleading. The book would be more aptly titled something like "The Experience of a First Generation American Daughter Who Is Embarrassed by Her Immigrant Mother and Comes to Appreciate Her in Middle Age."

For example, Ms. Leone devotes a fair amount of time to describing her Catholic school experience. IMO, this has almost nothing to do with her mother, who doesn't believe in Catholicism, although she does send her 3 children to Catholic school. Given the marriage dynamic portrayed in the book, it was probably her husband's decision. But, nowhere in the book does Ms. Leone ask her mother why she sent her children to Catholic schools if she herself is a non-Believer. Because she doesn't, all the stories about the awful Irish nuns, e.g., strip searching a girl believed to be wearing a padded bra, tell us nothing whatsoever about Ma.

I also don't get the "Ma Speaks Up" part of the title because Ma doesn't do much of that in the book. It portrays the Ma of the title as a woman who was content to be the satellite to her "Sun God" husband.

There are some other errors a proof reader should have caught. I read an ARC, so maybe one did. (Example: at one point Ma's half-sister is referred to as her stepsister. I thought another character had been introduced.)

I've never seen the Sopranos and I hadn't a clue who Ms. Leone was. So, I also found it extremely annoying when she kept referring to her famous actor husband Chris. I get that the book wasn't about her marriage. Still, in context it came across as "I'm so famous that of course all of you already know my husband's identity."

So, it was an okay read, but with lots of books competing for attention, it's not one I'd put on the top of the pile. I I also ended up disliking Ms. Leone herself. Maybe that was intentional--made to make us sympathize with Ma. It felt like if Ma could send a message from the next world it would be "Even in a book she says is about me Marianne talks more about herself."

I was hoping by the title that we would get to hear all about Ma's life through Ma's own words. Unfortunately, we heard it through Marianne's words 99.9% of the time, with Marianne's perspective. It would have been nice to hear from Ma herself, through interviews or other people close to her.

I also felt like the book was a little discombobulated...it seemed to flit back and forth through time without a reason. The author is talented, but I'm not sure the structure of the book was thought through. Certainly touches on the mother-daughter dynamic we see in many families.

This book spoke to me concerning my relationship with my mother, although my mother and I are very different from Ms. Leone and her mother, in culture and in temperament. I enjoyed reading this from cover to cover; I smiled, laughed, and cried. She did not hold back from telling the hard truths about her mother's background and experiences, and their relationship as it changed through the years.

"Ma Speaks Up" is a great memoir of the Italian-American experience by actress/writer Marianne Leone. It's the story of her Italian born immigrant mother, who was, quite simply, a "character".

This book is hilarious, embarrassing, and heartbreaking all at once, as Marianne shares the stories of her life and her family with the reader. As the grandson of Italian-American immigrants, I could identify with this book, and I read phrases and words uttered by my grandparents that I haven't thought about in years.

I also loved the recipes in the final chapter. What's a story about Italian-American families without good food ?

I received a copy of Marianne Leone's "Ma Speaks Up" through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program. I found it to be interesting, funny, sad and heart-felt. After a couple of the references to growing up Catholic, I actually asked a Catholic friend about the authenticity. I was told yes indeed! So not only was I entertained while reading this book, I was educated (a bit) in Catholicism. I enjoyed reading this book about growing up in an Italian immigrant family.

I enjoyed reading this interesting story but I'm not sure I really believed it as memoir. Many of the scenes felt over the top and somewhat unbelievable. I didn't find myself laughing or even chuckling when I'm sure amusement was the purpose of the writing.

Overall an interesting book! A bit philosophical among the vignettes of the author's Mother. I enjoyed the philosophical musing of her relationship with her mother. I did get tired of hearing how ashamed she was of her Mother's foreignness.

This memoir by actress Marianne Leone is a collection of anecdotes about her mother, an Italian immigrant.  Some of the chapters have been previously published in other formats.

 Leone is particularly good with creative metaphors to capture the typical angst of teenage and young adult daughters' relationships with their mothers.  The anecdotal style can be a bit hard to follow, with jumps back and forth in time from one chapter to the next.  But the book is heartfelt, and will make the reader laugh and cry.  It did me, as I recognized some of my own at-times turbulent relationship with my own mother (still alive but now suffering from the early stages of dementia).

An insert of black-and-white photographs helps bring the characters even more to life beyond the vivid prose.  And I just love the cover, which is apparently a colorized version of a "black-and-white picture of Ma, shy but sexy, posing on a beach for my father away at war in her two-piece bathing suit, her hair a riot of black curls, arching her back just enough to thrust her breasts upward, a carnal offering to the gods of lust" (page 81).

© Amanda Pape - 2017

[This hardbound book was sent to me by the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program in exchange for a review.  It will be donated to a library.]½

Part autobiography, part memoir of her mother, Marianne Leone relives her own youth, her attendance in Catholic school, her rebellious young adult years, and her love/hate relationship with her mother. Her mother fled an arranged marriage in Italy to come to the U.S.A. by herself at the age of eighteen, where she eventually married and had three children. We get an inside look at growing up in an Italian immigrant home with an unconventional mother. Nicely done.½

Each chapter of the book was a different story primarily focusing on Marianne and her mother's relationship throughout their lives and how it changed. I was glad there were pictures included because it enhanced the stories to be able to refer to them. I am also glad she included the recipe for the lentil soup because her mom's cooking is also central to the story.½

Darkly funny, sharply honest, and unflinchingly raw, Marianne Leone's book takes every teenage girls' embarrassment with her mother to a whole new level. Don't let the small size of this book fool you - it packs a punch.

I really liked this book. It may be because it's a mother-daughter story and it resonated with me. A stormy/loving relationship, full of discovery when each least expects it. The story moves quickly, back and forth in time. The author has a love of analogies that helps the reader understand her mindset as she describes her upbringing and her mother's life as she knows it. Stormy, loving, passionate. She shares her love of her mother's cooking even when she is protesting otherwise. She shares her favorite recipes.
Her mother was a rebel. She refuses to marry one person, escapes to America, finds her way through the difficulties, makes a stand against the church. She would have been a difficult person to get to know, but I think the rewards of doing so would be amazing.
I can definitely recommend this book.

Received this book in exchange for an early review. Ma Speaks up is a memoir written by Marianne Leonne of her relationship with her Mother. Since she has died, Marianne is trying to explain and interpret their rocky relationship. Her mother is an Italian-speaking and cultural oddity according to young Marianne who wishes her family to be like the American TV families of the day. Marianne elaborates on her family, who BTW I deem colorful and unique to my experiences. As the reader, I sympathize with the girl she was and find insights into my own complicated relationship with my mother. As Marianne matures, she develops a closer relationship, an admiration, and love in an analytical way.
I loved Marianne's writing-- her vocabulary and sentence structure are superb. Her chapters are short; the titles summarizing their content and sparking interest.
I think this book was really interesting and will appeal to the reader wanting to have first-hand knowledge of life with a fiery Italian mother and an analyses of their relationship through story.