Adriana TrigianiCritiques

Weird references to transistor radios in the 1930's/40's were off-putting, but a decent read.

" I don't regret anything that's happened to me...I wish that I had reacted differently to some of the events. I let things get me down...I believed I could somehow control the bad things...things turn around when they're meant to."
Lucia, a working girl from Greenwich Village, has big dreams for her career in Bonwitt Teller's Custom Department. She won't anyone hold her back. Especially her future mother-in-law!
Then, she meets John Talbot, so soave and debonair. She "loved he way John looked, the places he took (her) and the life he promised", but it was all on the surface...

A Heartwarming Story of Love and Music

Saviero and Chairs have big dreams when they meet on the Jersey Shore in1938. Although success and its vices get in the way, their love endures over decades.

Adriana Trigiani is a gifted writer whose books transport you to another time and place. The characters feel like people you know or have met. I was interested in Trigiani's description of the writing process and wonder if it came from her own life.
This book, in particular, that had so many deep insights into relationships. I really loved this book, from a favorite author.

Our Family's Stories

As Matelda grows older she realizes that she has never shared important stories with her family. These stories help family members in their daily struggles.
While this happens, Matelda also faces health issues.
An enjoyable book with realistic characters and a strong sense of place. I felt like part of the family!

Adriana Trigiani is one of my favorite authors. This is not one of her better works. Valentine is not the complex character found in some of her other books, such as Lucia, or Domenica. The book explores the difficulties of having a career and a relationship, but it doesn't seem to get into the complexities of the relationship between Valentine and Roman. Also, as the book is told from the pov of Valentine, a shoe designer, every detail of fashion is excruciatingly described. It took away from the narrative. I found myself thinking Valentine is pretty shallow. I was planning to read the other books in the series but now decided against doing so!
I'm sure it would be appealing to readers who enjoy a light read. Her description of Capri has a strong sense of place...the reader feels the bright Italian sun on her face, and the cool water of the Blue Grotto. As usual, the description of food made my mouth water. If you've never read any other books by this author, this may not be the one to start with because you don't get her best characters and plot lines.
But....still funny as hell and so well written.
I recommended it to my book club, and for some it's their first time reading this author. I am proud to recommend more of her works with them!

South Philly, 1949. Main character is Nicky Castone, who is orphaned and lives with aunt (Jo), uncle (Dom) and cousins. He drives Cab No. 4 for the Palazzini Cab Company (owned by his uncle Dom). Dom is in a feud with his brother, Mike. Nicky is engaged to Peachy but he is missing something so at the age of 30, he decides to follow his dream of acting and gets a job at Borelli's Theater. Within the cab company is a Western Union telegraph office where Hortense Mooney works. Nicky and Hortense find themselves impersonating a Italian officer and an attache to Eleanor Roosevelt.

As is typical of any Adriana Trigiani book, the characters are richly developed and you feel like you know them. I highly recommend this, and all of her books.

Book #2 in Valentine trilogy

1st book in valentine trilogy

The Big Stone Gap book series was a wonderful read. I really enjoyed getting to know the characters....Ave Maria, Jack Mac, Iva Lou, Fleeta, Pearl...and all the others. Great stories, made all the more real because the author is from Big Stone Gap, VA. I've heard that they are making the first novel into a movie. Should be interesting. I feel that most books turned into movies do not usually turn out well, with a few exceptions. I highly recommend this series.

Family Saga

Hollywood

Romance

After reading this third and last book about Valentine, I'm ready to say why I started with this series by a relatively new-to-me author. I wanted to start with a series it seems isn't her most-raved-about by fans before I move on to some of her more popular books.

I know that a lot can happen in an author's personal life in the years between writing the first book in a series and writing the last. I don't know if that's specifically why this last Valentine novel is rather different from the first two, but while some would call the first two books "chick lit" (light and/or humorous women's fiction), that isn't what this third novel is.

I'm not sure why most of the novel is written in past tense while the previous two are written in present tense. (I won't explain my guess about that, due to spoilers.) While none of the romance in the series is sexually explicit, this third book definitely has the lowest level of steam. It isn't really aiming for a sexy factor, apparently. And although there are still some wacky family moments, the wacky/jokey flavor overall is at its lowest level here too, I think.

On the whole, this story isn't a "fun" one.

Maybe its critical twist is what it would ultimately take to get Valentine to grow up in some ways that she never did in the other books.

As for this third novel having such a different title than the first two: I know it seems like a bizarre, maybe even a silly or shallow choice. I don't know if I'm thinking the same as the author or publisher on this one, but what the strange, standout of a third title means to me:

It isn't about macaroni. It isn't about a macaroni company. It isn't about the literal name of the company either.

It's about someone's major act of faith, hope, and love that goes into ensuring the particular company/factory in this story will have what it needs to come to fruition. It's about the choice to help a crucial part of Valentine's vision become a reality for her Italian American family business and legacy.

It's about the love.

Now, I could hardly deal with some parts of the story while they were happening. There's also certain stuff Valentine does, including in this book, that I would never be okay doing. Plus, it makes me feel pretty sad that this is how her series is ending. Her life story could use much more after this—if the author were to choose to revisit the character someday.

Still, the heart-wrecking aspect of this novel is what I personally appreciate most about it. And the love behind the story's title is what will stick with me.

There's still another series by this author that I'm saving while I continue this humorous women's fiction series about Valentine.

As with the first book, Valentine's international travel, her family history/legacy, and her career challenges with the family business drew me into the novel—with a little family mystery added this time. Granted, maybe one and a half of the characters forecast a possibly insurmountable conflict over that mystery, but then they resolve it so quickly and smoothly between them, it feels a bit anticlimactic. There's plenty of conflict elsewhere in the story, though. So.

I'm still quite a fan of Valentine's creativity and artistry when it comes to her shoemaking. And on a totally different note, a blatant, to-the-point cut another character takes at racism—to illustrate how downright stupid it can be—made me stop to give a "Finally! Thank you" kind of a round of applause.

Yup. Sometimes I literally applaud while I'm reading.

Now, regarding one unsurprising issue that I saw coming right away, Valentine is in utter shock when she later finds out about it. But maybe she's supposed to be the one in the dark on the issue, not the reader? I also think two of the fights in the novel drag out for too many pages, with venting and back-and-forth arguments that stall the momentum and dull the "punch" of the scenes after a while.

As for the romance, I have a few reasons why the development of it just didn't work for me, including two: the lack of a clear setup/foundation beyond physical attraction, and how when an important something particular goes wrong in the relationship, Valentine essentially, eventually takes all the blame for it. Gianluca doesn't take any responsibility (or apparently doesn't see) what he's also done wrong toward Valentine, but the story just lets that go.

As for the novel's content, there's some innuendo and a little foul language but no F-bombs. I started the series after seeing another reader's comment that the first book has "no sex," which isn't the case for either book. But on that score, there's also nothing I'd call graphic in either book, with the author's brief, "fade to gray" metaphors rather than detailed play-by-plays, and nothing much steamier than romantic scenes between Michaela and Sully on Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.

I'm interested in where Valentine's shoe business may go from here, and some of her family's issues aren't exactly resolved. I'll see if the third and last novel takes care of any of that.

The story of a large Italian family in South Philly in the late 40s. I felt like I knew the members of this family. I can see the neighborhood, the houses involved, the businesses, etc. I did get confused with the characters a bit and even made some notes about who was married to whom, etc.

One of the most obnoxious books I’ve ever read. Super disappointing since I’d considered the first book in this trilogy something of a cozy comfort at a time when I’d needed that, unfortunately, I mostly found this second book sickening.

There were minor annoyances here, like the absurdity that someone could conduct an emotional affair in front of a kid old enough to have her own crushes yet that kid remained oblivious to what her parent was up to, there was also the unlikelihood of affording/spending savings on a trip to Italy when your spouse has lost their job and is starting up a new business, and most unbelievable of all, a dinner near the end with a certain guest felt like some bizarro idea of humans rather than anything recognizably close to how people behave or react.

Then there’s the major annoyance, that this novel is populated with characters who believe that if a guy cheats, it’s the woman’s fault, she’s the one who needs to apologize and promise to do better, while he owes her nothing and gets a free pass.

Over and over this book and its characters tell women to leave your family’s financial security to your guy, never ever make decisions without him but let him make any decision he wants, make sure your man knows he’s wanted, make sure he feels “chosen” and catered to in every way, tiptoe around his fragile ego and flatter it every chance you get or you’re asking to be cheated on, you deserve it. Oh and be sure to get over your dead child on your man’s timetable because hubby can’t tolerate waiting for you to put your broken pieces back together nor will he make even the slightest effort to help you do so, he’s allowed to go silent and distant on you but it’s inexcusable for you to do the same.

If this novel were set in an era when women were boxed in by societal rules and/or a lack of rights, or if it were in a place like Gilead then I could understand every single character abiding by this misogynistic ethos, I’d be like okay, that’s true to the time period or the situation, or whatever, I’d understand why sexism is the accepted and pervasive theme throughout the book but this story takes place in the 1980’s and mostly in the U.S.A..

Yes, it’s a small town, yes, it’s the south, so maybe there would be a high percentage of conservative thinking, maybe there would be some characters who genuinely believe a woman should be a second class citizen in her relationship, but again, this is supposed to be the 1980’s not the 1800’s, so shouldn’t there at least have been some other characters with dissenting opinions? Surely even a small southern town, would, in the 80’s, have had at least one or two independent-minded women and enlightened men who don’t prescribe to the theory that women should be subservient. I persisted through this book, with the hope that maybe Ave would evolve into that character, the one who’d stand her ground against this novel’s voices from the dark ages, and she’d be like, hey, you know what, my husband is just as responsible for the problems in our marriage as I am, he needs to own up to his share of the blame, too, or there is no going forward for us, but what I got from Ave instead was one of the most disheartening displays of female disempowerment that I’ve ever read from a female author.

Clearly I’m not reading the third book.

Valentine and Gianluca get married, build a shoe factory in Ohio, and have a baby girl, Alfie. Gianluca devotes his marriage into helping Valentine build her business and to become a successful shoe designer. However, Gianluca suffers a burst aorta and cannot be saved. Valentine now must learn to be a mother first and a successful shoe designer and business woman second.

3rd in trilogy about shoemaker?s family. This is about Ciro Lazzari who was left with his brother as a young at a convent in Italy to be raised by the nuns. It is also about Enza , a girl Ciro meets as a teenager when he is hired to dig her sister?s grave. We follow each of them through their separate lives until they end up reuniting and marrying in NYC. They move to MN where Ciro opens his own shoemaking business. He dies around 40 from cancer that came to him through his time in WWI and being sprayed with Mustard gas. Good story.

Valentine must create a plan to save the Angilini Shoe Co. She works with her grandmother in making custom wedding shoes. A very good read.

First in Big Stone Gap series. About Ava Maria discovering herself and her love.

Story of Valentine and her search for who she is and growing up. Good read.

This is a sweet romance set in rustic Italy and the US during the early part of the 20th Century.

There is nothing to dislike here but the fact that everything is a little too perfect and I think it has a tendency to tell and not show what's going on. The center of the book is the love story of Enza and Ciro and to me, there was absolutely zero foundation for the love. Enza's decision to marry Ciro really makes absolutely no sense to me at all.

I listened to the audio version of this book. I'm not sure but I might have rated higher if I'd read it myself. I found many of the voices of the characters annoying. As for the story, I was only interested in Dominica and Silvio's stories and some of the history e.g. the Italian immigrants in Scotland, the sinking of the prison ship, the power of the awful priests, etc.

There's another series I'd like to try by this new-to-me author, but I'm saving that one. As for this humorous women's fiction novel, the cover of the 2014 UK edition featuring Valentine in an elegant purple dress most resonates with the sentiments behind my personal reasons for reading the book. Explaining all that would be a lot, so I won't try.

Still, as I read, I so connected with the artistry of Valentine's shoemaking craft and the deep intention behind it, her passion and blossoming vision for it, and all of the family legacy that factors into it for her. Those aspects of the novel sang to my soul.

On the other hand, I must confess that, to keep from getting bogged down, I skimmed more than a few paragraphs in the book. That's because more than a few times, the author goes all in with descriptions of the characters' meals and how they prepare them, descriptions of the women's makeup and the clothing everybody's wearing, descriptions of the rooms and the pieces of furniture around, etc. etc. The author could have effectively conveyed the sense of culture and Valentine's artisan's eye even without pausing the action again and again to go into those numerous details about all the things.

As for Valentine's romantic relationship, I found the development wanting. I felt no compelling chemistry between the couple, and I never became a fan of Valentine's boyfriend as a romantic character.

Also, because I checked some reader feedback beforehand and saw a pointer saying this novel has "no sex," I wasn't expecting the two-ish bedroom scenes included in the book. Granted, even with various characters' mentions of sex at times, one comedic "whoopsie—Bathsheba on the rooftop" scene, and a man who makes passes at Valentine early on, this isn't an R-rated read. (Even the mild swears in the book are minimal, with no F-bombs.) The bedroom scenes are fairly short, and my unprepared eyes didn't run into graphic details. It's just that I figured there'd only be closed-door or "fade to black" intimacy at the most, but it turns out that this is more of a "fade to gray" kind of book.

In any case, Valentine's career, her soul-searching in regard to her purpose, and her family-related concerns—I really got into those elements of the story. I plan on checking out the next phase of Valentine's journey in the novel that follows this one.

This sappy novel tells the story of two whiny Italian peasants who immigrate to America (sort of) from WWI through WWII.

Tedious, badly written books like this make me want to give up reading forever. The only impression it left me with was the thought that Italians must be the most annoying people on planet Earth.

My favorite character was the mustard gas.½