The Queen of the Big Time

When I want to read a big-hearted story of family and community, I reach for Adriana Trigiani. The Queen of the Big Time is set in the real town of Roseto, Pennsylvania, and based loosely on family stories. The main character, Nella, grows up on a farm outside of town. She eventually ends up in town working at the sewing factory where she is able to move up to leadership, an early career woman. Her teenage boyfriend disappears only to reappear years later just as she is ready to wed another. As with all of Trigiani's books, there is a mix of joy and sorrow, with tragedy leading to decisions that alter lives. No matter the sadness, however, the characters find love and support from family and friends. Roseto was founded by Italians who show more came from the same small village in Italy and has been studied for the health of its inhabitants. show less

This is a story of an Italian-American girl living in the country in 1910 who moves to the nearby small town as she becomes a teen and forgoes her education for a factory job to help support her family. I've read several Trigiani books and this one is just OK. Inspired by the life of the author's grandmother, we follow Nella Castelluca through her childhood, romances, marriage, career, children, and extended family. All the while she struggles with her faith, her position in the community and the family, and her deferred dreams. The novel provides a detailed portrayal of life in a Pennsylvanian small town during the early to mid-20th century for Italian Americans, yet it is also a poignant portrait of a woman during this time who is show more torn between career and family. show less

Fun, but lacking convincing emotional depth

This the story of a young Italian American girl called Nella. We first meet her in 1924 when she is fourteen. Nella and her family live on a farm, and she is the middle daughter of five.

The book is about her growing up and her adult life. It's primarily a character-based book, based in part on reminiscences from the author’s father and grandmother. I enjoyed Nella’s take on life, the reasons for the decisions she makes, and her growing awareness of who she really is, something that doesn’t hit her fully until she’s in her fifties.

I know almost nothing about the Italian American communities, but there’s an authentic touch that made them come alive in my mind. The author is skilled in painting pictures of people’s lives and show more occupations without any hint of being overtly educational.

There are some unexpected and tragic incidents in the novel, but they’re sensitively dealt with. Given the era and the circumstances, they’re probably realistic. The ending is gentle and open, and there’s then a bittersweet epilogue which rounds it off in a way that helped bring it to completion.

Recommended to anyone who likes historical fiction with no real plot other than the unfolding and developing of somebody’s life. show less

I liked the first 2/3 of the book a lot, but the end felt like I was reading a Reader's Digest condensed version. I wish she'd taken the same care in the last part as she did the first.

This book tells the story of Nella Castalluca, starting in the 1920s, with her childhood on the family farm in Delabole, where she lives with her parents and four sisters. Nella harbours dreams of going to school in the nearby town of Roseto, and eventually becoming a teacher. She does go to the school and at the same time, falls in love with beautiful local boy Renato Lanzara. However, events conspire against Nella, and she has to go back to work on her parents farm. She finds herself on the path to a life she never expected, but through it all she retains her feistiness and intelligence. Along the way, she learns valuable lessons about herself, and what she wants from life.

I'm a big fan of Adriana Trigiani's 'Big Stone Gap' series, show more and was really looking forward to reading this book. It didn't disappoint. Yet again, the author has created a wonderful cast of characters, who are entirely believeable and easy to care about. Nella herself is a wonderful main character, full of drive and wit, but with human flaws and idiosyncracies. I loved the descriptions of Roseto - a town created in Pennsylvania by Italian immigrants, and built to resemble the town of Roseto in Italy. The community spirit amongst the Italian populated area seems to jump off the pages, creating a warm and comforting read. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about all of the characters, especially Nella herself, her parents and sisters and Franco Zollerano.

I really liked the fact that although this is story which encapsulates love, family, community and friendship, it also describes the grief and tragedy that can happen in a lifetime, and some of the sadder moments of Nella's life which happened surprised me as I had simply not seen them coming.

The writing flows easily, and I felt like I wanted to sit down and greedily gobble this book up in one sitting! Highly recommended! show less

In the late 1800s, the residents of a small village in the Bari region of Italy, on the shores of the Adriatic Sea, made a mass migration to the promised land: America. They settled in Roseto, Pennsylvania, and re-created their former lives in their new home-town to the very last detail of who lived next door to whom. The hardworking Castellucas work the land outside Roseto. Nella, eighteen, aspires to a genteel life "in town," far from the rigours of farm life. But Nella's dreams of making her own fortune shift when she meets and falls in love with Renato Lanzara.

My Thoughts: May contain small spoilers.

I read ‘Lucia Lucia’ many moons ago and loved it. This book I didn’t love as much. However the story is a sweet tale about a show more young Italian girl’s life growing up in America.

The story begins when Nella is fourteen and goes right through till her death. The story chronicles her life with her dreams and plans and they don’t always go as planned.

The story was OK and there was enough to keep my interest and I did find it quite sweet. I would have preferred a different ending to what it was to perhaps give Nella a final happiness.

Overall a sweet book for me and I needed a welcome break from dead bodies. show less