Big Cherry Holler: A Novel (Big Stone Gap)

by Adriana Trigiani

Paperback, 2002

Status

Available

Publication

Ballantine Books (2002), Edition: Reprint, 304 pages

Description

Fiction. Literature. HTML: Big Cherry Holler, the extraordinary sequel to Big Stone Gap, takes us back to the mountain life that enchanted us in Adriana Trigiani's best selling debut novel. I's been eight years since the town pharmacist and long time spinster Ave Maria Mulligan married coal miner Jack MacChesney. With her new found belief in love and its possibilities, Ave Maria makes a life for herself and her growing family, hoping that her fearless leap into commitment will make happiness stay. What she didn't count on was that fate, life, and the ghosts of the past would come to haunt her and, eventually, test the love she has for her husband. The mountain walls that have protected her all of her life can not spare Ave Maria the life lessons she must learn..… (more)

Rating

½ (383 ratings; 3.6)

User reviews

LibraryThing member steller0707
An interesting plot that juxtaposes scenes in rural Virginia with those in Italy - an unlikely pairing that appears, however, to mimic the author's background. Through Ave Maria's introspection and interaction with a colorful cast of characters we follow her anguish. She calls herself a spinster
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because she didn't marry until she was 37. Jack Mac is from her rural hometown but very different from her. While they have a relatively comfortable life, they have some losses about which they haven't communicated. The book is about their struggle and is a somewhat predictable tear-jerker.
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LibraryThing member MsBeautiful
If you have a feminist bone in your body, certain plot points in this book will piss you off to no end. I entended not to read the third book because of this, but I ended up scanning it so the story would be finished.
LibraryThing member turtlesleap
"Big Cherry Holler" is the second in a series of three books Trigiani has written about the life and loves of Ave Maria McChesney, a woman of Italian descent living in a small Appalachian town in Virginia. "Big Stone Gap," first in the series, was marked by a warm and humorous series of sketches of
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the friends and family who were part of Ave Maria's life. Somehow, the second book in the series has lost much of the warmth and humor that made the first book engaging. The sketches are reduced to edgy, superficial stereotypes. Ave Maria herself is lost in self-pity throughout thesecond book. Jack Mac, her husband, who was a vital and dimensional character in the first book, barely exists in the second one. One reviewer has observed that the portion of the book which takes place in Italy is more vital than the balance of the story and I agree. It's not a bad book; merely one of those instances when a sequel fails to live up to the standard set by the author in the original work.
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LibraryThing member Blakelyn
I have to say I was quite disappointed in the storyline of this book. Not only was it depressing, but at the end, it left you wondering about Jack Mac's side of the story. What happened between Jack and Karen Bell? Perhaps that information isn't important to Ave Maria, but its important to the
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reader. The only thing I enjoyed about the book was the setting - Trigiani makes the reader long for Italy.
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LibraryThing member susanbevans
Another good one from Adriana Trigiani! Reading this book it like going to a family reunion - it was great to "see" everyone again.
LibraryThing member bookczuk
I enjoy Trigiani's books because she is a storyteller. She takes the everyday and weaves it into a tale. Her characters are real, every last one of them could be your next-door neighbor or behind you in the checkout line at the grocery store. Oh sure, their accent might be different or the color of
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their skin or sophistication with worldly matters might not be the same, but the basic charater is real enought to be sitting beside you at the movie theater. Ave Maria is not a perfect woman, nor does she live a life of glamor or adventure, but she is true to life. And her journey, in this second book of the Big Stone Gap series, is not about her trip to Italy, as it is about her trip into her own heart to find what is her true self.
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LibraryThing member bookheaven
Not as good as Big Stone Gap.
LibraryThing member theeccentriclady
Read this book for my book club. When I finished the book I was glad to be done. At the time all I felt was that it was tedious. Maybe it was just that I had other books I really wanted to get into and was growing impatient. After our discussion I realized I did enjoy several of the characters.
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Trigiani does have a fun writing style but I still feel she could have tried to not go on so many different times about how she was feeling about her marriage. It was bordering on whining to me. We got it the first few times. This is a very real look at marriage and how we need to work at it. She had some very insightful things to share so it was not a waste of my time. My book club liked it a lot.
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LibraryThing member BookConcierge
This sequel to [Big Stone Gap] continues the story of Ave Maria. It's not quite as good as the first book, but still an enjoyable and worthwhile read.
LibraryThing member nancynova
Book #2 in the Big Stone Gap series. This one continues with Ave Marie's and Jack's marriage. And is he/she or isn't he/she having an affair when their marriage stalls after the death of their son Joe. Ave Maria heads over to Italy with her daughter Etta in tow, to give some space to the husband &
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figure out if marriage is still what they want. Lots of the town folks on both sides of the Atlantic appear in this easy to read story.
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LibraryThing member LibraryCin
This is the second book in the series. Marginal *****SPOILER***** for the first book . Ave Maria and Jack have now been married for 8 years. They have a daughter, Ella, and lost a son 3 years ago. Jack is a coal miner, but he comes home one day to let Ave know that the mine will be shut down and he
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is out of a job. Put that together with the continued grief from the loss of their son, this puts an additional strain on their marriage.******END SPOILER******

It was ok. Not as good as the first one, in my opinion, particularly the first half. It picked up a bit in the second half, but I was annoyed with both Jack and Ave for much of the book. I am undecided on whether or not I’ll read the 3rd book... I probably will, anyway.
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LibraryThing member SJGirl
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
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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 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.
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Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

2001

Physical description

8 inches

ISBN

0345445848 / 9780345445841
Page: 1.522 seconds