Adriana Trigiani

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 show more 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. show less

Subtitle: One Hundred Years of Family Recipes from Bari to Big Stone Gap

Trigiani is well-known for her fiction, frequently drawing from her family history to draw her characters and launch her plots.

This book is a combination of memoir and cookbook, in which she relates many family stories from how her grandparents met, to Easters spent on her grandfather’s farm, to raucous family gatherings, to her parents’ words of wisdom, and that special time of year when she and her siblings and show more cousins would be sent out into the fields to pick the dandelion greens for a special dish. (Note: My own “adopted” Sicilian grandmother made delicious “dandelion patties” each spring, making sure the greens were harvested before her sons came to treat the yard with weed killer. I really miss that dish!)

I like how there are asides by her sisters sprinkled throughout, adding bits of advice or alternate ingredients for a particular dish.

This is a delicious treat. It's a fun read and has some great recipes, some of which are simple for even a beginning cook, and others of which are quite complicated and best done with an assembly line of helpers. One thing is clear, though, the main ingredient in any good family kitchen is love. show less

This is a gorgeously written book steeped in history. Based off of the author's own family history, every character jumps off the page. Everyone has faults and flaws making them extremely relatable.
As much as I enjoyed this book, there were times I had to put it down and just shout in frustration. The twists, turns, and unfairness of life jerk Ciro and Enza in ways that are both realistic and nerve wracking. I recall actually having to stop reading and ranting to my roommate about the show more happenings in this book and how upset and angry I was.
I am a reader that gets emotionally invested in the characters I read about, and as much as it pains me to be so frustrated, to feel my blood pressure rise, and feel my eyes start to tear; That is when I know I have a good book in my hands. I definitely felt that with The Shoemaker's Wife. show less

Valentine Roncalli works at her family's custom show company in New York's West Village (love that neighborhood!) and this novel follows her pursuit of a career in the family business and her efforts to take the helm of the business and grow it in new directions as her grandmother exits. Her ascent to head of the company is complicated by her brother, Alfred, and his lack of faith in her business skills and inability to understand her need to keep the "family" in family business. Beyond show more their divergent views on business, they also view families and relationships very differently and that makes for some interesting tension in their work life and in their family's gatherings.

Valentine really begins to grow into herself in this book and takes ownership of her role as creative head of the family business. I liked seeing this evolution in this character - in Very Valentine, she seemed reluctant to own that role and see her talents as a shoe designer whereas in this book she is almost empowered by her talent and takes the lead more naturally. With her growing career, come questions about work/life balance and whether she wants a family and how to have that family and dedicate the time necessary to build her business - a never-ending dilemma to which most readers can relate. Her challenged love life from book one continues and I found myself hoping she would get out of her own way and just let love happen to her!

There is so much more to this book than the snapshot I have offered above in the plot summary - Valentine uncovers a long lost family secret and travels to Buenos Aires to learn more about it, she faces infidelity in her family and the loss of a close friend. The book is fantastic and offers a deeper dive into the characters from book one. In fact, in her Blog Talk Radio interview about Very Valentine, the author talks about how she enjoys writing books in series of threes so that she can really "crack" a character and develop them more fully. I saw that in this book as she offers more insight into Valentine's brother Alfred, and what makes him tick - he moves from relatively one dimensional in book one to much more complex in book two. show less