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New York Times bestselling author Adriana Trigiani, beloved by millions of readers around the world for her humor, warmth, and captivating storytelling in the Big Stone Gap trilogy and Lucia, Lucia, takes on love, lust, tricky family dynamics, and home decorating in Rococo, the uproarious tale of a small Italian American town poised for a makeover it never expected. Bartolomeo di Crespi is the acclaimed interior decorator of Our Lady of Fatima, New Jersey. To date, Bartolomeo has hand-selected every chandelier, sconce, and ottoman in OLOF, so when the renovation of the local church is scheduled, he assumes there is only one man for the job. From the dazzling shores of New Jersey to the legendary fabric houses of New York City, from the prickly purveyors of fine art in London to luscious Santa Margherita on the Mediterranean coast of Italy, Bartolomeo is on a mission to bring talent, sophistication, and his aesthetic vision to his hometown. Trigiani's glittering mosaic of small-town characters sparkles: Bartolomeo's hilarious sister, Toot, is in desperate need of a postdivorce transformation-thirteen years after the fact; The Benefactor, Aurelia Mandelbaum, the richest woman in New Jersey, has a lust for French interiors and a long-held hope that Bartolomeo will marry her myopic daughter, Capri; Father Porporino, the pastor with a secret, does his best to keep a lid on a simmering scandal; and Eydie Von Gunne, the chic international designer, steps in and changes the course of Bartolomeo's creative life, while his confidante, cousin Christina Menecola, awaits rescue from an inconsolable grief. Plaster of Paris, polished marble, and unbridled testosterone arrive in buckets when Bartolomeo recruits Rufus McSherry, a strapping, handsome artist, and Pedro Allercon, a stained-glass artisan, to work with him on the church's interior. Together, the three of them will do more than blow the dust off the old Fatima frescoes-they will turn the town upside down, challenge the faithful, and restore hope where there once was none. Brilliantly funny and as fanciful as flocked wallpaper, filled with glamorous locales from New Jersey to Europe, from Sunday Mass to the American Society of Interior Designers soiree at the Plaza Hotel, Rococo is Trigiani's masterpiece, a classic comedy with a heart of gold leaf. A veritable crazy quilt of quirky Italian Americans ... Trigiani weaves all these subplots together with wonderful ease; every seam is perfectly straight, every pleat in place. Bartolomeo would expect no less. A-. -- Entertainment Weekly Clever ... Creating characters so lively they bounce off the page and possessing a wit so subtle that even the best jokes seem effortless, Trigiani is a master storyteller. Equal parts sass and silliness, Rococo is an artfully designed tale with enough brio to make Frank Gehry proud.-- People From the Hardcover edition.… (more)
User reviews
This book has some things (especially from page 220 on) to say about friends,
The novel is, quite simply, delicious. It drips with colour and texture, fabrics and furniture, and our charismatic narrator's knowledge and passion for his work infuses every page. The characters are larger than life, and the dialogue within the feisty family just sparkles. I looked forward to returning to the book each time I had to set it aside, and thoroughly enjoyed savouring each and every moment I was reading it. I can't wait to see what else Trigiani has to offer!
The characters were interesting, but the secondary characters were far more interesting than "B" who, as the main character, seems that he should be therefore the most interesting.
The story fell short of my expectations after reading Lucia, Lucia.
Bartolomeo di Crespi, aka “B,” is a devoutly Catholic, forthy-something, New Jersey decorator of Italian descent who experiences trials and travails as he renovates his parish church, Our Lady of Fatima in the 1970s. He is mordanat and has a critics eye, but the was he is written
Still the story is humorous, well written, with sharply drawn heartwarming characters. "Rococ" is a novel that radiates a strong sense of this large Italian-American family. It overflows with characters and thei lives: B's sister (Toot), his nephew, his in-laws, their relationships ups and downs, and the misdirected hopes of a marriage between him and Capri Mandelbaum, a life-long family friend, whose mother, Aurelia, tries to manipulate the “couple.”
This novel is full of human understanding, compassion, decorating detail, and recipes. Reading about these people is like reading about what your friends are doing. I had a strong feeling of inclusion in spite of not being Italian nor RC. B is not quite believable as a man, and is never described as gay, just happily single. But the reader fails to suspend disbelief – how could he be anything else?
Good diversion. I seem to be seeking this kind of reading material out in face of the first half of the year spent reading “weightier tomes.” Think I’ll try some more unknown writers just to see what it gets me. And maybe more of Adriana Trigiani's writing as well.
Bartolomeo di Crespi is THE decorator in town, proprietor of “The House of B,” and a devout Italian-American Catholic. His dream is to renovate the Our Lady of Fatima parish church, creating an atmosphere of splendor, glory and sense of awe that will bring all the
So what’s not to like? I am a fan of Trigiani’s but this one just doesn’t do it for me. I’m not sure if it’s because her main character, and narrator, is a man, or if it is the abysmal job done by Stephen Hoye reading it. Hoye’s delivery is just too slow and one-note. Unless he was using an English accent for a particular character, I had a hard time distinguishing who was speaking. Everyone just sounded too alike. He has a faint note of depression or ennui, too. I just didn’t connect with the Bartolomeo, so the entire book fell flat for me. I know there is an audio version narrated by Mario Cantone; I would think his delivery would be much better suited to Trigiani’s work.
Trigiani does a fine job here of creating the brawling, boisterous di Crespi family, complete with Bartolomeo's malaprop-ridden sister, a series of romantic entanglements, and a resolution that makes up in warm fuzzies for what it may lack in originality or believability.
Don't expect great literature here. Just enjoy.