2005 ( )

Immediately, I *hated* the frame story. The opening character, Kit, is a struggling playwright living in Greenwich Village who ventures up to the apartment of the aged but elegant "Aunt Lu" and has tea while listening to her story, which is the basis of the book. My dislike of the frame only got worse when it finally reappeared (after no mention of it throughout Lucia's story) at the end of the book. The characters, including the old Lucia, are flat and there is very little to connect them to the rest of the story.

Lucia's story, told in first person, at first engaged me quite a bit. I know very little about fashion, New York City, the 1950s, and the life of Italian immigrant families, yet I found myself interested in all of these. I was enthusiastic when Lucia breaks off her engagement and her role as a traditional Italian girl--choosing instead to continue her career as a seamstress working for an up-and-coming designer in the customs department of a swanky department store. I thought, hey, cool, it's about a girl who is going to be ahead of her time, who fashions herself after her own pattern rather than the rigid expectations of tradition and culture.

Unfortunately, not so. Even though she sometimes flirts with the idea of striking out and becoming an independent woman throughout the rest of the book, every choice she makes--falling in love with a suave man who eventually cons her out of her heart and life savings, assuming the role of dutiful daughter when the family needs her, and submitting to the will of her traditional brothers--dashes my hopes for her character. In addition, each event and emotion is laid out in such a way as to be completely transparent--no subtlety to speak of.

The book had a couple of good lines, such as my favorite spoken by Lucia's mother: "In my mind, the most dangerous people in the world are insecure women. They can do more damage in a day than an army." Overall, though, the writing was...well, plain. It was writing that got the job done, but it didn't evoke any impressive images in my mind or any real emotion for Trigiani's characters. I know I'm not emotionally invested in the characters or the writing when I find myself skimming paragraphs toward the end. And the ending, ugh. The author goes back to the ugly frame story and slaps on the most sentimental ending ever, with the final act of the book going back and essentially undoing Lucia's original admirable decision at the beginning of her story.

It's not fair, perhaps, to judge a character of the 1950s because she doesn't eschew her family and society's expectations of her in a way that I expect her to, in a different era. Still, the author could have done a better job of helping me to understand her, to sympathize with her plight instead of making me skim over it. ( )

I have to say I didn't really like the beginning of this book (which takes place at present time) or the end but I loved the middle. She really makes you feel like you're there with her. Theres so much detail of the clothes that she makes or wears. You can picture it all. A nice love story and a story about heartbrake and deseption at the same time. Though the end was not what I expected, or anything that thrilled me ,I did enjoy this book and Im glad I read it. It makes you wish you were a part of 1950's NYC.

Lucia Sartori has it all, a loving family, a budding career as a designer in B. Altman’s custom department and a wonderful fiance , but in the early 1950’s most women couldn’t have it all. Especially if she was from a traditional Italian family, then she would be expected to give up her career and become a housewife, one usually subjugated to her mother-in-law. Daughters and daughters-in-law knew how to be dutiful. This is not how Lucia envisioned the future. She made a life altering decision to defy convention. Somewhat later her head is turned by an extremely handsome man she meets by chance in the store. He is the beginning and end of her best expectations, causing her and all the Sartoris much heartbreak.

This book is a wonderful period piece set in Greenwich Village with the central family, the Sartoris, a very large Italian family with four sons and one daughter, bound not only by blood but love and tradition. All the sons worked with their father, Antonio, in the Groceria , the family owned business. Lucia follows after her grandmother with her exceptional sewing abilities and eye for design. The story tells of the loyalty and duty to family that was taken for granted by Italian parents and children of the era. All of the family interactions are so spot on, described perfectly as to attitudes and social customs of the day. It is extremely easy to feel the emotional impact of all that happens to these characters. No one can write about Italian families as well as Trigiani. She grew up with such a family and all her writing seems to come straight from the heart. Everything from locations to objects of clothing, and everyone she describes is done to perfection, all the characters being well fleshed out. Her adjectives are constantly right on with just the perfect nuance. Whether it is joy or sorrow, Trigiani makes the reader feel all the emotions to their very core. As usual, there are numerous sub plots that are so interesting, the reader is constantly charmed by the scenarios. Another not- to- be-put- down- until- it- is- finished book. ( )

A great feel-good read. You will almost smell, touch etc Italy