Library of Clean Reads: Shoe making

Friday, December 27, 2013

Brava Valentine by Adriana Trigiani (Audiobook Review)

Brava Valentine by Adriana Trigiani
Harper Audio
Released: February 9, 2010
Narrator: Cassandra Campbell
Length: 11 hrs 24 mins
Unabridged

After reading Very Valentine a few years ago (read my review), I knew I wanted to read Brava Valentine, the second book in the trilogy. However, I never got around to it. But then Trigiani herself sends me the third book and I knew I just HAD to read the second before I dug into The Supreme Macaroni Company. So I borrowed the audiobook at the library. I loved this second book!

Brava Valentine continues the story of Valentine and her Italian-American family. Teodora, the grandmother, is now newly married and has left the Angelini Shoe Company to Valentine and her brother. Valentine, who does not get along with her brother isn’t happy about this but several life lessons are learned on both their parts as they work to expand the company. Gianluca is back in the picture and Valentine has to decide if she wants to pursue a relationship or not. And then, there is the surprising discovery of relatives from her grandfather’s side that grew apart years ago because of a family rift.

This book had it all: family drama, friendships, romance and self-discovery. Once again, Trigiani had me roaring with laughter at the beginning of this novel with her reintroduction to Valentine’s family. The beginning of her first book had the same effect on me. Trigiani explores family faults, quirks and relationships so well. Every family, of course, has crazy moments and situations, and I can certainly relate to Italian families and their drama. Valentine misses her grandmother who now lives in Italy, and she must deal with serious family issues. She is independent and smart but also kind and devoted to her family and friends.

I liked how Valentine grew as a character in this book. She knows how to make good friends and keep them, but she has trouble with the love department. Gianluca is older than Valentine, a mature man who is in love with Valentine but who allows her to discover what she wants. He was so swoon worthy! Now that brings me to Cassandra Campbell, the narrator of this book. She was awesome! She was able to do all the different voices of both men and women, the distinct New York accent and of course, the Italian accent that was so sexy on Gianluca. I also loved the Italian phrases throughout the story, and Campbell pronounced them well.

I’m so glad I decided to listen to this book because it really brought the characters alive for me. Now I’m ready to delve into the third book to see how it all continues and comes to an end. Trigiani truly knows how to create interesting, flawed, and honest characters we come to care about. I didn’t feel this so much in the first book, even though I liked it, so I was very pleased this story gripped me more. I can’t wait to see how Valentine handles the upcoming challenges in her life with the next book!

Note: This book is rated P = Profanity for some mild religious expletives.

Reviewed by Laura

Disclosure: I borrowed this audiobook from the library and was not told how to rate or review this product.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani

Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani (Rated: C)
HarperCollins
ISBN: 978-0-06-125705-6
Published Feb 3, 2009
Hardcover, 384 pages

I was excited to begin reading Very Valentine because it is the first book in a trilogy, revolves around an Italian-American family, and involves the arts—that of custom shoe making. It was also the book chosen by our book club to read for the month of April. Very Valentine is about a thirty-three year-old woman who works as an apprentice to her artisan grandmother, owner of a family business, The Angelini Shoe Company, that makes custom wedding shoes since 1903. When the business is in financial trouble, Valentine wants to save it. An opportunity to introduce the Angelini shoe business to the retail world presents itself and Valentine discovers her true love for the art in the process.

Very Valentine engendered mixed feelings in our group of ten women: three loved the book, three liked it and four did not like it. I liked it, and I had a few good laughs reading it. I related to some of the references to the Italian culture, such as the wedding, food, and the language. And of course, I loved her inclusion of a trip to Tuscany and Capri, but it was clear that Valentine was a true New Yorker and preferred the Hudson River to Il Lago Argento. I also had a love/hate relationship with Trigiani’s writing style. Her use of comparisons reminded me of Raymond Chandler’s novels—innovative, imaginative and funny. Sometimes there were too many and they disrupted the flow as my mind was trying to visualize the mental picture her comparisons evoked.

The beginning was a little slow. Initially, I thought the novel read like a sit-com. I thought, Are these characters for real? But then one-third into the book it took off as Valentine started taking action to save the shoe company and goes to Italy. I felt the writing was better from this moment on.

One of the main reasons some in my book club loved it was because of the details about the custom shoe making and how the story revolved around this fascinating and lost art. Ironically, one of the reasons some did not like it was the too long description of everything from shoes, to clothes to walls. The two youngest members of the group also thought that some of the incidents regarding shoes were unrealistic. For example, it didn’t jive that a family known for its shoe making would make fun of the sister-in-law for wearing 5-inch heels when most young New Yorkers wear such high-heeled shoes!

I wondered about Valentine’s relationship with Roman throughout the novel. I think he did his best to make the relationship work, and I couldn’t understand Valentine’s resentment that they didn’t see each other enough when both were so occupied with their businesses (owning and running a restaurant is a tough one). When she goes to Tuscany and openly admires Gianluca, I knew she was courting trouble. (For those of you ladies who are unfamiliar with the Italian man, showing any measure of interest is like giving permission for him to brazenly pursue you. Uh-huh!) It made me see Valentine’s ambivalent feelings for Roman. Although I liked the characters I did not feel attached to any of them. Teodora, the grandmother was special, though, and very sprightly for an eighty year-old!

What I liked most about the book was the passion for the arts. And this observation from Valentine caught my attention: “I used to believe my art had to be about the things that brought me joy and gave me hope. But I learned that art can be found in all of life, even in pain.” How true.

Will I read the sequel? Yes, most likely. I want to know what happens to the shoe company and to Teodora, and to see if Valentine will find true love—apart from her shoe creations.

Note: The hardcover edition does not include the recipes in the back of the book that the softcover edition does.

Disclosure: I borrowed this book from the library. I was not told how to rate or review this product.