The Supreme Macaroni Company

The Supreme Macaroni Company is bad. Valentine is pathetic in this third novel. The much-anticipated wedding is rushed in an effort to get the stresses of their new marriage, but therein lies much of the problem. Most people know that marriage is tough, and there is an adjustment period for all newlyweds. Most people also realize that there are certain subjects that an engaged couple should discuss before finalizing their vows. Apparently, Valentine is not “most people” because she fails to not only have these important discussions before the wedding, she does not even think about having these discussions. What results is what one would expect out of a couple that failed to sync up on such matters as where to live, children, show more expected roles in the marriage, etc. – lots and lots of arguing.

This in and of itself is not a huge deal, but given how close Valentine is to the rest of her family, that she is the last one in her family to get married, that she has witnessed the ups and downs in each of her siblings’ marriages, her lack of preparation is inexplicable. Her behavior does not fit with the careful Valentine fans have gotten to know over the course of the previous two books. While no one would be surprised that Valentine’s marriage is a passionate one – quick to anger, quick to resolve – the arguments they have are just so unnecessary. It does not fit a man of Gianluca’s nature either, especially since he is still harboring bitter feelings about the ending of his first marriage.

The story compounds matters by following the same pattern – Valentine and Gianluca are happy, something about the business comes up, one or the other gets upset, Valentine overreacts and thinks the marriage is doomed, cooler heads prevail, they reaffirm their love for each other, and the cycle begins again. This happens for all but the last thirty pages of the novel. After so many repetitions, it becomes old and, quite frankly, boring.

The only way out of this never-ending cycle is to create an event that shocks everyone out of their ennui, and Ms. Trigiani does just that. However, it is at that precise moment where readers will lose complete respect for the novel. For the ending is purely there for shock value. As with Valentine’s weird issues about marriage that make no sense given her background, the ending does not fit with the story. One expects certain things in romance novels, and Ms. Trigiani fails to deliver. The abrupt plot shift is simply a disservice to the fans and to Valentine.

Adriana Trigiani can write a good story. Anyone who doubts that needs to immediately read The Shoemaker’s Wife. However, The Supreme Macaroni Company is not her best effort. It is not even close to her best effort. It is dull, repetitive, and whiny. Valentine acts in a manner that is not realistic given her close family ties and involvement. The plot circles in on itself many times before the use of a shocking twist resolves the lingering plot issues. The end feels cheap and does not fit with its intended romance genre. The Supreme Macaroni Company has its moments, but the majority of the novel is a trivial, supremely frustrating glimpse into one person’s idealized and completely unrealistic thoughts on marriage. show less

Reading one of this author’s books is like reading a Christmas letter from a family you have known for years. The characters are all so familiar it doesn’t seem like it is fiction at all. And this is true even if you haven’t read the previous books in this series, for after the first chapter you will feel like - in a good way - that you have known this family forever!

Valentine Roncalli is 35 and is about to be married for the first time to the older, dashing and handsome Italian, Gianluca Vechiarelli. Valentine isn’t worried as much about the 18-year-age difference as the possibility that her family might seem too much for Gianluca. But in fact, it already is Gianluca’s family too, since his father married Valentine’s show more grandmother.

When Gram got married to Dominic Vechiarelli, she handed over her shoe-making business to Valentine, who goes at it with American ambition and drive. This creates a bit of a culture clash with Gianluca, who explains:

"We don’t eat ambition three times a day to sustain ourselves. We work hard, but it doesn’t fill us up. Only love can do that.”

[See? This is one of the reasons why I always wanted to move to Italy. That, and the pasta.]

How they work out these differences forms one of the plot lines of this book, but the importance of family is the main story. As Gram tells Valentine:

"There are no lone wolves in the family structure - there shouldn’t be. It’s the community of your heart, your allies in a very difficult world. You don’t know what the future holds, but your family will be there to hold you when you need them.”

As we follow this family over the next two years (the book begins in 2010), we learn about what goes into a marriage, and just how important family can be. You will laugh and cry and feel like you’ve spent a long Thanksgiving with the Roncallis and Vechiarellis. You will also emerge several pounds heavier, since you will be inspired to start cooking because of the many food scenes in this book! But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Valentine’s sister Tess says: “...if I can’t be the eater who stays skinny, I’d want to be invisible, so I could eat whatever I want and no one would look at me.” Valentine’s friend Gabriel replies, “That’s called marriage.”

And yes, this book is full of funny lines like the one cited above. You will not only feel like you are at a Thanksgiving dinner, but at one that takes place during a Comedy Channel reality show.

At one point, Gabriel observes to Valentine, “You realize that you’ve hired every Roncalli in the family except for the goldfish in your mother’s koi pond.... Family: the gift that keeps on taking.”

And giving. Like this book. The author shares with you her wonderful sense of humor, her warmth, and her love for others. And you get to take. And enjoy.

Evaluation: Whether or not you have read any previous books about Valentine Roncalli and her colorful extended family and labor-intensive designer shoe business, you will love this book. This is a family you won’t want to live without, just as Valentine herself feels. show less

I normally like Trigiani's books as little escapes into another slice of life. I've enjoyed this series about Valentine a great deal, watching her grow, and make life decisions. I've also enjoyed the depiction of "the big Italian-American family" and how much it resembles other "big fill-in-the-blank-ethnicity families I know. Also, the design process for shoes that has threaded through the books has been fascinating. This book carried a lot of Trigiani's skill as a script writer, often enabling me to more clearly "see" the scene in my mind as I read. Unfortunately, I didn't always like what I was seeing, in regards to some of Valentine's decisions and approaches to sharing your life with your lover and your work. I'm not saying that I show more don't believe a woman should have a career, because that's definitely not true. I just found myself wanting to smack Valentine, and point to the words "Compromise" and "Share" in the dictionary. If I'd wanted that much marital discord in my light reading, I'd pick up Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe or War of the Roses .

I do read the author's notes and afterwards in books, and was interested to see how much of this one/series was based on a cousin of Trigiani.Based on that paragraph, I also have a hunch where the story is going from here. If the next book falls into my hands (as this one did), I'll pick it up. If not, I'm fine with where Valentine and I are in our relationship.

Rounding up to 3 stars, because even though I didn't like the story as much as some of the others, the writing carried the images very clearly to mind.

Tags: an-author-i-read, give-me-my-time-back, part-start-of-a-series, read, thought-i-was-gonna-like show less

Oh my, this book is really bad. I mean, the other two were hardly literary gems but they were, at least, fun. I enjoyed meeting Valentine's wacky family and watching her fight for her dreams against all comers. At least the first half of this book is exposition about what happened in the other two. Just huge info dump after huge info dump. It's also jarring when the excruciating detail suddenly stops and the narrative jumps ahead six weeks, six months, a year. The characters themselves seemed off balance in the narrative as I was. I don't care how short your engagement is, how do you get to your wedding day without discussing the name change? And these are people who supposedly did marriage counselling?

Really the biggest problem was show more the character of Valentine. She is just such a baby. She chews over every tiny misfortune with an inner monologue that nauseated me. She cries probably forty different times in this book, only a couple of which are justified. She also screams at people a lot - none of which are justified. And the ending? Sheesh. It was so telescoped. I knew from practically the first chapter. But the author would insist on her ham-fisted foreshadowing. Does it even count as foreshadowing when a character out and out tells everyone what's going to happen to him? And when Valentine actually has something worth complaining about she gets even MORE insufferable. This book is seriously bad. Leave off after the first two or give the whole series a miss. You won't be missing much. show less

Although you may not know it from the title, The Supreme Macaroni Company by Adriana Trigiani is the third book in the saga of Valentine Roncalli, following Brava, Valentine and Very Valentine. We pick up our story on Christmas Eve as Valentine and her fiance Gianluca are headed to Christmas Eve with the raucous Roncalli family.

My favorite scene in all three books has been the family holiday dinner scene; it doesn't matter if it is Thanksgiving or Christmas Eve, these scenes are pure joy. Trigiani makes the reader feel like she is a guest, and you'll want to pull up a chair for this party.

There is Aunt Feen, who says everything that is on her mind, and that is not a good thing. When Valentine's father Dutch gets nervous, he confuses show more words to everyone's embarrassment. Her brother Charlie just lost his job and is getting roaring drunk. And just as Valentine has second thoughts about subjecting Gianluca to this,
"On cue, as dramatized in the biblical epics, the Israelites came pouring from out of the living room as they did during the parting of the Red Sea. In this sweet, small house, they appeared like a cast of thousands, except that unlike the people of peace, my family was arguing. They shouted. They shoved. They threw their hands in the air. "
Valentine is trying to have it all, but as most of us know, that is impossible to do all at the same time. Angelini Shoe Company, her shoe design and manufacturing business, is going great guns, until her cousin who owns the manufacturing plant in Argentina that makes her shoes decides to close her plant.

And so Valentine has to find another manufacturer, not an easy task for her labor intensive shoe creations. Thus the title of the book comes into play. The Supreme Macaroni Company is an old closed plant in the midwest that could possibly be the answer for Angelini Shoes, and I particularly enjoyed this part of the novel.

Trigiani gives the reader a look at the challenges facing small business owners, the backbone of our American economy, and I liked that her family is so involved in saving the business begun by her grandfather.

And Valentine has to balance work with family life. Gianluca left his family back in Italy to move to New York with his fiancee. He sacrificed much to make his wife happy, and is seems as if Valentine is not appreciative of this.

The author laces this novel with her trademark humor, though the reader senses something tragic lay ahead. Soon Valentine has to dig deep within herself, and allow herself to rely on those surrounding her, to make it through.

Reading Trigiani's novels is like catching up with a good friend, and I always look forward to a new novel from her. Her characters are interesting and have a sense of reality about them; they could be your friends or family. (Who wouldn't want a best friend like Gabriel?)

These novels are a treat for all of your senses. You can see the beautiful shoes she designs in your mind's eye, and smell the delicious food being prepared for Christmas Eve. They are screaming out to be put up on the big (or little) screen.

I also must mention the cover of this book. Trigiani's last novel, The Shoemaker's Wife, featured a gorgeous book cover and The Supreme Macaroni Company follows in that vein with a beautifully rich cover. What is on the outside more than matches the inside of this lovely novel that will touch your heart. This is a book to give your sister, sister-in-law or girlfriend this holiday season. show less

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 show more 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. show less

I'm not of Italian descent, so I don't have an innate interest in examining the Italian or American-Italian state of mind. But Trigiani sucked me into the the culture and into the dynamics of her fictional family within the first few pages.

I'm usually not a fan of May-December romances either, but Trigiani tackled the issue head on, both in the story and her skillful drawing of the characters, making me a believer.

As I turned the story's final page, I wanted more. There's no better way to end a book, is there?