Book Review: The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

It took me a while to get into The Villa, but it was entertaining enough.

Emily and Chess are lifelong friends who decide to spend a summer at a villa in Italy. The trials of adult life have caused them to drift apart, so they are looking forward to reconnecting.

This is the same villa where in 1974 a group of five people spend the summer at the same villa and one of them ends up dead. Out of this group, one was already a rock star. One records a best-selling album, another writes a book (suspiciously about a murder in a villa), and the other is convicted of the murder. These aren't spoilers, as this information is given fairly early. Part of the narrative is also passages from the book that was written during the summer of 1974 (which involves more characters!)

Emily, an author, gets interested in the history of the villa and begins to research what happened. Chess is also a self-help author and begins to press Emily to let her help write a book about it. Emily doesn't want Chess's help, tensions build, and things go south from there.

So it takes a while to sort it all. There are a lot of characters and two time periods. Hawkins is a good writer, so it all makes sense, but I thought it all went on a bit too long. I had read about the "twists," and was looking forward to them. But it takes about 80% of the book before anything twisty begins to happen.

Don't get me wrong--there are more twists than you realize. I suspected something of the sort...for a while, but it kept going farther than I ever imagined.  

I would recommend The Villa. The characters are interesting, even if the buildup goes on a bit too long. (and I just realized this book is less than 300 pages. Seemed longer...) The twists are clever and worth the wait.

Published by St. Martin's, January 3, 2023
eARC obtained from Edelweiss+
288 pages

Rating: 3.5/5

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Book Review: The Good Left Undon by Adriana Trigiani

The Good Left Undone is a beautifully written, heartwarming story. Just what you would expect from Trigiani. I have difficulty writing reviews for literary books such as this, so here is the blurb:

Matelda, the Cabrelli family’s matriarch, has always been brusque and opinionated. Now, as she faces the end of her life, she is determined to share a long-held secret with her family about her own mother’s great love story: with her childhood friend, Silvio, and with dashing Scottish sea captain John Lawrie McVicars, the father Matelda never knew. . . .

 In the halcyon past, Domenica Cabrelli thrives in the coastal town of Viareggio until her beloved home becomes unsafe when Italy teeters on the brink of World War II. Her journey takes her from the rocky shores of Marseille to the mystical beauty of Scotland to the dangers of wartime Liverpool—where Italian Scots are imprisoned without cause—as Domenica experiences love, loss, and grief while she longs for home. A hundred years later, her daughter, Matelda, and her granddaughter, Anina, face the same big questions about life and their family’s legacy, while Matelda contemplates what is worth fighting for. But Matelda is running out of time, and the two timelines intersect and weave together in unexpected and heartbreaking ways that lead the family to shocking revelations and, ultimately, redemption.

I pretty much agree with that assessment, although I'm not sure the revelations were "shocking." It took me a while to get into the book. There is a rhythm between Anina's perspective in the present and Domenica's in the past. It's not just one generation, but three. Dominica is Anina's great-grandmother. Once I figured out the characters and their relationships, I really enjoyed the story.

The Good Left Undone is a love story, a survival story, a war story, and a great story of family. If you are a fan of Trigiani, I would recommend this one. It isn't my favorite of hers (that still remains The Shoemaker's Wife), but I really enjoyed it.

Published by Dutton, April 26, 2022
eARC obtained from Edelweiss+
448 pages

Rating: 4.5/5

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Book Review: The American by Nadia Dalbuono

The American is a detective novel that is intriguing.

Detective Scamarcio is called to a suicide, close to the Vatican, where an American man has hung himself off a bridge. Soon a Cardinal who works at the Vatican is also killed, and the suicide doesn't seem like a suicide anymore. There are things that Scamarcia is troubled by. Things that don't make sense. But the more he pries into the circumstances, the more he is threatened by American men who appear to be CIA? FBI? He isn't sure, but they definitely want him off the case. But he can't give up,  and that gets him in trouble.

Scamarcio has his own personal issues, involving a romance the gets even more complicated because of this case. It makes him human and personal issues are helpful to become attached to characters in a series of books. The American is the second in the series and not having read the first did not seem to impact my enjoyment of this one, although things like his relationships carry over from the first novel.

There are a lot of characters, and it would have helped if I had read this book more quickly (which never seems to happen anymore.) The American is a bit more complex than some who-done-its that I read, and I don't mean that as a negative. The ending had a surprise that I didn't see coming which added even more to my positive opinion.

If you enjoy police procedurals with a lot of intrigue and guessing, I think you will like The American. I may go back and read the first book, The Few.  There are currently a total of five books in the series.

Published by Scribe, 2019
eARC obtained from Edelweiss
368 pages

Rating: 4/5

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Book Review: Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani

I've read a few Trigiani books previously and really enjoyed her writing.  Big Stone Gap is no exception.  She pulls you into these lives so easily.

Ava is our main character. It is 1978, and she lives in Big Stone Gap, a tiny town nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains.  She's the pharmacist and also is part of the emergency services.  She is 35 years old and has no interest in getting married. She has lots of friends and keeps busy with many activities.

Her world gets turned upside down when she receives a letter from her mother, who died a month ago. She begins to see her life in a new way and decides to plan a trip to Italy, her mother's home country. In the meantime, she begins to get marriage proposals, and she doesn't handle it very well.

The characters are colorful and full. There are many reasons to root for them all. The reader laments Ava's emotional turmoil, and we just wait, and wait, for her to sort things out and settle down. The ending is satisfying and heartwarming.

I need to read more Trigiani. I'll probably start with Big Cherry Holler, the next book in this series.  I recommend Big Stone Gap, and really any of her books, to those who enjoy warm, fuzzy stories where you really get a sense of place and character. Trigiani is a master storyteller.

Published by Random House, 2000
Copy obtained from the library
306 pages

Rating: 4.5/5

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Book Review: The Shoemaker's Wife, by Adriana Trigiani @AdrianaTrigiani

Holy cow! What a beautiful book. The Shoemaker's Wife is an epic love story. Its frustrating at times -- because it isn't all happy; things don't just instantly work out -- but the wait is SO worth it.

The Shoemaker's Wife takes you on a journey from northern Italy (think: Alps) to New York, and at last to Minnesota. The setting is the early 1900s, and our main characters, Enza and Ciro start out the poorest of the poor. Ciro's mother leaves him and his brother at a convent when she can no longer care for them. Enza grows up in a family that is happy, but barely scrapes by. They meet once, on the mountain in Italy, and then both of them, through different circumstances, end up in New York.

I loved the characters -- Enza and Ciro of course, but also the secondary characters -- their friends and family. This is a story of hard work, ingenuity, and perseverance. These immigrants took nothing for granted. I can't imagine leaving my family for many years to go work in another country, just so they could build a new house. It is the kind of sacrifice that few people make in our world today. Also, the lack of communications really struck me. Photographs were unheard of. No pictures to send the grandparents? No pictures of the new house? And, of course, the telephone (at the beginning of the story) wasn't possible either. Compare that to today's way of life -- moving away from family is still difficult, but at least communication is a lot easier. These characters are so strong, and their strength only increases through their lives.

We experience many different aspects of life in New York, from a shirt factory to the opulence of the Metropolitan Opera. We experience WWI (and WWII, before it's all over.) We go to Rome for a while, as well. Happiness and disappointments, successes and failures abound. The friendships are meaningful and lasting. This is a LONG book. 500 pages, 15 discs. Everything is described in exquisite detail, but I loved every detail, and The Shoemaker's Wife would not be the same story without them.

Given the level of detail, I was kind of surprised that The Depression was never mentioned. I would have thought that period might have had a big effect on people who have their own business making shoes for local people. But, the book is already long, so I can overlook that.

I was listening to the audiobook while driving and almost had to pull of the road because I was sobbing so hard. Just warning you--people die. I am so sad that I've finished this ultimately uplifting story. I'm going to be thinking about these characters for a long time, and wondering how they are doing. They have really earned a place in my heart, at least for a while.

Trigiani based this story on her grandparents, and you can tell she researched it well and added a lot of exquisite details to make The Shoemaker's Wife even more compelling. It made me wish I new more about the story of my great grandparent's journey and ultimate success in this country.

I have to comment on the narration. The first half of the book is narrated by an Italian actress, Annabella Sciorra, and she was perfect. A soft-spoken beautiful voice, that fit perfectly with the setting. The second half of the book is narrated by Adriana Trigiani. I really missed the first reader. It was very jarring, to get used to a new reader, especially one that I didn't like as well. If Trigiani had narrated the whole thing, I think I would have been fine having nothing to compare it to. But, Sciorra was really, really good.

My other comment is on the cover. Who is that? I don't think Enza would have ever dressed like that. She dressed beautifully; after all, she was a seamstress, but I don't picture her in something like that.

Negative cover aside, I would recommend The Shoemaker's Wife to fans of long, historic love stories. If you are interested in the early 1900s, this book has a lot to offer. I would recommend the audio version too, even with the above comments, I still think it is excellent.

Published by Harper, April 3, 2012. Audio by HarperAudio
Audiobook obtained from the library
496 pages

Rating: 5/5

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