Call number
FIC G
Collection
Genres
Publication
Ecco (2019), Edition: 1st Edition, 464 pages
Description
Fiction. Literature. Historical Fiction. HTML: From Calabria to Connecticut: a sweeping family saga about sisterhood, secrets, Italian immigration, the American dream, and one woman's tenacious fight against her own fate For Stella Fortuna, death has always been a part of life. Stella's childhood is full of strange, life-threatening incidentsâ??moments where ordinary situations like cooking eggplant or feeding the pigs inexplicably take lethal turns. Even Stella's own mother is convinced that her daughter is cursed or haunted. In her rugged Italian village, Stella is considered an oddityâ??beautiful and smart, insolent and cold. Stella uses her peculiar toughness to protect her slower, plainer baby sister Tina from life's harshest realities. But she also provokes the ire of her father Antonio: a man who demands subservience from women and whose greatest gift to his family is his absence. When the Fortunas emigrate to America on the cusp of World War II, Stella and Tina must come of age side-by-side in a hostile new world with strict expectations for each of them. Soon Stella learns that her survival is worthless without the one thing her family will deny her at any cost: her independence. In present-day Connecticut, one family member tells this heartrending story, determined to understand the persisting rift between the now-elderly Stella and Tina. A richly told debut, The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna is a tale of family transgressions as ancient and twisted as the olive branch that could heal them. "Witty and deeply felt." â??Entertainment Weekly (New and Notable) "The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna achieves what no sweeping history lesson about American immigrants could: It brings to life a woman that time and history would have ignored." â??Washingt… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member SilversReviews
Stella was the second child of Assunta and Antonio Fortuna and the second Stella because the first Mariastella died from influenza when she was an infant.
Assunta had a difficult life and a cruel husband. He was not nice to her, would leave for months at a time and not send her money, but she
THE SEVEN OR EIGHT DEATHS OF STELLA FORTUNA tells the tale of the lives of the author's family and specifically Stella and Tina who were the best of friends as they grew up in Italy and as they aged in America until the final accident happened.
The accidents that caused Stella to almost die were quite unbelievable. Stella was definitely an amazing person to say the least. Her mother, Assunta, was also quite remarkable.
If you are Italian or simply know an Italian, you will want to read this book for many reasons. There are so many references to things that happened in my Italian family that made the read more special - especially the food aspect and the Italian expressions used.
THE SEVEN OR EIGHT DEATHS OF STELLA FORTUNA should be read if only to learn about the difficult lives of Europeans, the immigration process, their struggles in America, their work ethic, their schooling, their traditions, their customs, their family loyalty, and their religious beliefs.
This book has feelings and emotions oozing out of it and has you living the lives along with the characters. The characters will grow on you, you will cry and laugh along with them, and at times be horrified.
The writing in this book is beautiful and descriptive and is an outstanding debut.
Marvelous, magnificent, original, and impressive are some adjectives to describe this book.
You will not want to put it down. 5/5
This book was given to me as an ARC by the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
Assunta had a difficult life and a cruel husband. He was not nice to her, would leave for months at a time and not send her money, but she
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survived and did everything herself and took care of her children. Assunta didn't have a happy life except for her children.THE SEVEN OR EIGHT DEATHS OF STELLA FORTUNA tells the tale of the lives of the author's family and specifically Stella and Tina who were the best of friends as they grew up in Italy and as they aged in America until the final accident happened.
The accidents that caused Stella to almost die were quite unbelievable. Stella was definitely an amazing person to say the least. Her mother, Assunta, was also quite remarkable.
If you are Italian or simply know an Italian, you will want to read this book for many reasons. There are so many references to things that happened in my Italian family that made the read more special - especially the food aspect and the Italian expressions used.
THE SEVEN OR EIGHT DEATHS OF STELLA FORTUNA should be read if only to learn about the difficult lives of Europeans, the immigration process, their struggles in America, their work ethic, their schooling, their traditions, their customs, their family loyalty, and their religious beliefs.
This book has feelings and emotions oozing out of it and has you living the lives along with the characters. The characters will grow on you, you will cry and laugh along with them, and at times be horrified.
The writing in this book is beautiful and descriptive and is an outstanding debut.
Marvelous, magnificent, original, and impressive are some adjectives to describe this book.
You will not want to put it down. 5/5
This book was given to me as an ARC by the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
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LibraryThing member bostonbibliophile
Strong, character driven story about an immigrant woman and her family that I think will appeal to book clubs and those looking for a literary beach read. There's lots to talk about here, lots of issues and different perspectives. It's a story people from many backgrounds would relate to.
LibraryThing member ethel55
This was marvelously well done. A long sweeping family saga that moves from the small town of Ievoli, in Calabria, Italy to the Fortuna family's eventual emigration to America. The men in the book are horrible, with perhaps just one or two exepctions. The patriarchial society is alive and well in
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the old country, but Stella's mother Assunta is the strength of the family, working to feed and keep herself and the first Mariastella alive while father Antonio is fighting in WWI. After the war, the first Mariastella passes away of the Spanish flu and through the circumstance of being born next, the heroine of the title is named Mariastella, called Stella, to honor the first. There are a lot of old country traditions--bags of mint and recitations to protect one from the Evil Eye continue into the United States. Stella seems to need all the help she can get, the book is broken up into sections detailing the brushes with death she has throughout her very long life. Stella is one of a kind, not quite suited to the time she was born in, always the protector of her little sister Tina and family. The narrator suggests near the end that perhaps Stella's misfortunes are created by a toddler sized ghost or one wonders if Stella, in her lobotomized state, is right after all. Show Less
LibraryThing member jmoncton
This is an epic story that covers the life of Stella Fortuna, from her birth in Italy in the early 1900's until the end of her very very very long life. And what a life! Born in a small rural village in Italy, Stella faces the normal hardship of poverty, but also has several life threatening events
The descriptions of this book are vivid and well crafted, and I especially loved the early parts of life in Italy. But, for me, the book dragged. Not that any of the near death experiences should have been cut, but some of the every day details of Stella's life could definitely have been taken out. Overall, an interesting story.
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in her life where she almost dies. Some of the events are pretty unusual, like getting trampled by pigs, and some more mundane, like childbirth, but all of them almost make this epic tale a short story.The descriptions of this book are vivid and well crafted, and I especially loved the early parts of life in Italy. But, for me, the book dragged. Not that any of the near death experiences should have been cut, but some of the every day details of Stella's life could definitely have been taken out. Overall, an interesting story.
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LibraryThing member thewanderingjew
The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna, Juliet Grames, author; Lisa Flanagan, narrator
I did not finish this book. It is rare for me to give up on a book, however, when I began dreading the return to it, I decided it was time. After almost half, I gave up. Although the narrator did a fine job
Stella’s father, Antonio, was an abusive and selfish man. He believed that women were beneath him in stature and were there to serve his needs. He had traveled to America to make his fortune, leaving the family behind in Italy. He visited infrequently. After many years, he still felt loyalty to his wife, Assunta, and to his children. He wanted to bring them to America so that they could be reunited. After he managed to figure out the system and work out the appropriate paper work, they finally arrived. One of his children, Luigi, had never even met his father, having been born after his last visit home. Antonio was now far more worldly than the rest of his family and noticed the differences.
The first Stella Fortuna had died because of the family’s poverty, their inability to get the appropriate care for a sick child, and the selfishness of the elite rich who would not help them, although it was within their power. The second Stella was unsure of herself, angry or unhappy most of the time. Also, because of her ignorance about many things in life, she often made poor choices. Although she seemed to always survive against all odds, she seemed to be plagued with misfortune. Her life was fraught with moments of confusion and disaster.
After each disastrous occurrence, Stella always reprimanded herself, but still, she seemed to make the mistakes again, regardless. It was because of her ability to survive death so many times that she was relied upon to be the strength and guidance in the family. Her ability to survive dangerous situations which might have felled others, seemed to give Stella power and an odd kind of stature. Although she sometimes seemed to possess a great deal of arrogance, at times, she also seemed distrustful and lacked self confidence. She often doubted her own judgment and that generally resulted in failures of judgment.
To Stella (or perhaps the author), men were always waiting for their prey. They were eager to take advantage of women in any way they could and to cheat all those who were weaker than they. Although she was taken advantage of by the system and by evil people, and although it was really not her fault since she was not experienced in the outside world, having come from a tiny little Italian village, Ievoli in Calabria, and really had no worldly experience, I was not able to admire Stella for the efforts she made on behalf of herself and her family. I grew impatient with the bleakness of the novel and did not want to read about another tragic situation, avoided or not.
Still, all of the above should not have turned me off the book because a reader does not have to like the characters. The prose flowed well and seemed really well done in terms of the use of language, but perhaps it was the repetitious nature of the narrative that kept me thinking, oh no, not again each time I read of another possible disaster in the making. The book, in one way, was trying to present the difficulties immigrants face, especially when faced with bureaucracies that they don’t understand or are not familiar with, and it stressed the effect those traumatic experiences have on the family as it tries to melt into the fabric of the society. Beyond that, and Stella’s near death misses, I found it tedious. I didn’t see a light at the end of the tunnel coming in the future.
There was a redeeming feature in the novel, however, although it was repetitious and dark, the writing was clear and concise, and the translation seemed to accurately and clearly represent the author’s intent.
I did not finish this book. It is rare for me to give up on a book, however, when I began dreading the return to it, I decided it was time. After almost half, I gave up. Although the narrator did a fine job
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with each of the characters, the subject matter kept putting me to sleep. I had to listen to the same parts over and over again because they were tedious and redundant which made the almost 17 hours of audio seem unending. The book was about the life of the second Stella Fortuna, the first one having died in early childhood. The second always seemed to be able to cheat a death that would have taken others. It was about how this Stella often made crucial errors, how she was filled with remorse for her mistakes, how she vowed it would not happen again, but it did, how her life and the life of her family played out in an unfair world in which they felt powerless.Stella’s father, Antonio, was an abusive and selfish man. He believed that women were beneath him in stature and were there to serve his needs. He had traveled to America to make his fortune, leaving the family behind in Italy. He visited infrequently. After many years, he still felt loyalty to his wife, Assunta, and to his children. He wanted to bring them to America so that they could be reunited. After he managed to figure out the system and work out the appropriate paper work, they finally arrived. One of his children, Luigi, had never even met his father, having been born after his last visit home. Antonio was now far more worldly than the rest of his family and noticed the differences.
The first Stella Fortuna had died because of the family’s poverty, their inability to get the appropriate care for a sick child, and the selfishness of the elite rich who would not help them, although it was within their power. The second Stella was unsure of herself, angry or unhappy most of the time. Also, because of her ignorance about many things in life, she often made poor choices. Although she seemed to always survive against all odds, she seemed to be plagued with misfortune. Her life was fraught with moments of confusion and disaster.
After each disastrous occurrence, Stella always reprimanded herself, but still, she seemed to make the mistakes again, regardless. It was because of her ability to survive death so many times that she was relied upon to be the strength and guidance in the family. Her ability to survive dangerous situations which might have felled others, seemed to give Stella power and an odd kind of stature. Although she sometimes seemed to possess a great deal of arrogance, at times, she also seemed distrustful and lacked self confidence. She often doubted her own judgment and that generally resulted in failures of judgment.
To Stella (or perhaps the author), men were always waiting for their prey. They were eager to take advantage of women in any way they could and to cheat all those who were weaker than they. Although she was taken advantage of by the system and by evil people, and although it was really not her fault since she was not experienced in the outside world, having come from a tiny little Italian village, Ievoli in Calabria, and really had no worldly experience, I was not able to admire Stella for the efforts she made on behalf of herself and her family. I grew impatient with the bleakness of the novel and did not want to read about another tragic situation, avoided or not.
Still, all of the above should not have turned me off the book because a reader does not have to like the characters. The prose flowed well and seemed really well done in terms of the use of language, but perhaps it was the repetitious nature of the narrative that kept me thinking, oh no, not again each time I read of another possible disaster in the making. The book, in one way, was trying to present the difficulties immigrants face, especially when faced with bureaucracies that they don’t understand or are not familiar with, and it stressed the effect those traumatic experiences have on the family as it tries to melt into the fabric of the society. Beyond that, and Stella’s near death misses, I found it tedious. I didn’t see a light at the end of the tunnel coming in the future.
There was a redeeming feature in the novel, however, although it was repetitious and dark, the writing was clear and concise, and the translation seemed to accurately and clearly represent the author’s intent.
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LibraryThing member basilsbooks
I DNF-ed this book, Maybe Someday I will try to read this again but it was just a bit to dragging in the beginning
LibraryThing member jnmegan
Juliet Grames’ debut novel, The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna is a lush epic depicting the 100-year lifespan of a woman whose name portends an existence filled with extraordinary luck. In fact, Stella is very lucky- surviving the seven or eight close calls she has with death as
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described in the title. At the same time, she also experiences an exorbitant amount of suffering and loss along the way as well. Stella’s tale is narrated by one of her descendants, who elicits memories from her aunt who can bear witness to her life, even though this may mean that the story is distorted by time and perspective. At the onset the book moves at a luxurious pace, painstakingly describing Stella’s beginnings in a small village in Calabria prior to WWI. As it can feel in real life, time speeds up as the novel progresses into her later years. By the end, whole decades are consolidated into mere sentences. Stella’s story embraces the feminine point of view-there is little sympathy left for the male characters who are either brutes or nonentities. It is the women who unflinchingly bear the scars and emotional weight that propels the novel’s action. Yet, it is Stella’s refusal to adhere to the expectations and imposed limitations of womanhood that makes her both courageous and embattled. Stella is a fascinating character, and Grames does a wonderful job incorporating the experiences of the time period and the emigration of Italians to America. Comparisons can certainly be made to Marquez’ One Hundred Years of Solitude in terms of tone, depth, descriptiveness and the use of magical realism. Traditional Catholic practices and faith combine with superstition to create a source of conflict and allows the author to introduce the ambiguity of direct spiritual interference. The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna is a novel that introduces Juliet Grames as a promising new entrant into the realm of historical, literary fiction. Show Less
LibraryThing member bookwyrmm
Highly detailed saga that is just a bit too long.
LibraryThing member ThomasPluck
What a book. A unflinching love letter to Calabria through the eyes of a woman who never wanted to leave or be married and was forced to do both. It can be a tough read due to disturbing content that's all the more disturbing because of how uncommon it is. the storytelling conceit of the story
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being researched by her great granddaughter took getting used to, but the story never falters and the characters are both familiar and unique. A great read. Show Less
LibraryThing member stephanie_M
TW/CW: rape scenes, sexual assault, pedophilia, infant death, miscarriage, physical, mental and verbal abuse, disassociation, sexual organ descriptions, childbirths, extreme depression, passive suicidal ideation, tokophobia, pedaphobia, coitophobia and VIRGIVITIPHOBIA.
"This is the story of
This is a very good novel that I enjoyed almost every bit of. Lisa Flanagan is the narrator, and her accents and characterizations were superb. This audiobook is well worth the listen to, as long as you can handle the scenes mentioned in the trigger warning list.
When the story of Stella Fortuna got to the part where Stella was struggling with severe depression and passive suicidal ideation, I had to take many breaks from the audiobook. It was very difficult for me to get thru, but I’m glad I did. Things improved, eventually. Sort of.
"This is the story of
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Mariastella Fortuna the Second, called Stella, formerly of Ievoli, a mountain village of Calabria, Italy, and lately of Connecticut, in the United States of America. Her life stretched over more than a century, and during that life she endured much bad luck and hardship. This is the story how she never died."This is a very good novel that I enjoyed almost every bit of. Lisa Flanagan is the narrator, and her accents and characterizations were superb. This audiobook is well worth the listen to, as long as you can handle the scenes mentioned in the trigger warning list.
When the story of Stella Fortuna got to the part where Stella was struggling with severe depression and passive suicidal ideation, I had to take many breaks from the audiobook. It was very difficult for me to get thru, but I’m glad I did. Things improved, eventually. Sort of.
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LibraryThing member kimkimkim
I was drawn to the book by the description and its clever title. Was I expecting a family saga, not exactly. Was I expecting a story that wanders and wobbles - not exactly. This is one woman’s story of paternal fear and of male subjugation and a woman who realizes “that there was nothing she
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wanted at all”. It is dark, at times brutal and always depressing. While the writing was good, it was long, very long, too long. Show Less
LibraryThing member KarenOdden
This is a debut novel (that gracefully slips into memoir by the end), but it doesn't read like it--probably because Grames's day job is editing for Soho Press. With a profoundly assured narrative voice, she begins her tale in the early 1900s, in a small town that clings to the rocks of a hill in
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Italy. Stella (the author's grandmother) is the eldest daughter of the Fortuna family, which eventually emigrates to the US, where they settle in the northeast. The book is organized (ostensibly) around Stella's eight brushes with death, and at first I thought it was merely a device that served as a counterpoint to the heroine's suggestive name; by the end I realized its thematic importance. Stella is a fully-realized character, and we watch her change, and diminish, and warp her interpretive framework in response to the often painful events of her life. A clear-eyed, unsentimental, but compassionate view of a family rife with dysfunction, loyalty, suspicion, and love. I would recommend to fans of Ann Patchett, Elizabeth Strout, and Mary Beth Keane. Show Less
LibraryThing member Bookish59
Beautiful story of a poor Italian peasant family in Ievoli. Focuses on the strength of the women in the face of crushing poverty and hardship. These women over-work and criticize their daughters, while spoiling their sons who then become tyrants, bullies, charmers or buffoons.
Grames brilliantly
But I was disappointed that Stella didn't turn out the way I expected. Not sure if Stella had remained in Ievoli if that would have saved her.
Good, moving read.
Grames brilliantly
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manages to make the Fortunas' lives full of drama, pulling the reader in to the flow of electricity of strong emotions. But I was disappointed that Stella didn't turn out the way I expected. Not sure if Stella had remained in Ievoli if that would have saved her.
Good, moving read.
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LibraryThing member purple_pisces22
I’ve said it before but I just love books that follow a family over the course of many years. I find they can either be very well done or hardly done it all and not worth reading. The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna is a book that I was not quite sure about at first and almost didn’t
Stella, her sister Tina, and her family immigrate to America from Italy right after World War II. As told by another family member, the book goes back-and-forth between present day and when they were younger. Stella is an oddity and almost an embarrassment to her father, but she pushes through against the wishes of her family. She wants her independence and she will get it.
The family member who is telling the story is trying to figure out why there is such a rift between Stella and Tina, so the whole story seems to revolve around finding out what occurred to make these two sisters not speak for so many years.
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start. I am very glad I did pick it up.Stella, her sister Tina, and her family immigrate to America from Italy right after World War II. As told by another family member, the book goes back-and-forth between present day and when they were younger. Stella is an oddity and almost an embarrassment to her father, but she pushes through against the wishes of her family. She wants her independence and she will get it.
The family member who is telling the story is trying to figure out why there is such a rift between Stella and Tina, so the whole story seems to revolve around finding out what occurred to make these two sisters not speak for so many years.
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LibraryThing member BookConcierge
Digital audiobook performed by Lisa Flanagan
3.5***
In her debut novel, Grames explores the lives of two sisters and the rift between them. Spanning a century, we follow Stella Fortuna from her birth in a small Italian village at the beginning of the 20th century, through her family’s immigration
I love family sagas and this one is epic. Stella doesn’t really realize the freedom she enjoys in her small village. Yes, the family is poor, and everyone must work to eke out a living. But they enjoy a certain independence and autonomy because Stella’s father is gone to America. They manage to immigrate just before WW2 breaks out and that freedom from Mussolini is in contrast to the restrictions Stella now faces in Connecticut; arriving at Christmas, the weather is brutally cold, her father rules with an iron hand, they don’t have the language skills, don’t even have room to grow their own tomatoes.
But Stella is a survivor. She works hard and works smart, saving and dreaming of independence. If things don’t work out exactly as she would have liked … well she keeps on.
I really enjoyed this book and this story of one family’s immigrant experience, as well as the background story of what was happening in America during this time. If I have any complaint it’s the device of “seven or eight deaths” that just seems so contrived. Even the title irritates me, as it makes it seem somehow paranormal. But maybe that’s just me.
I listened to the audiobook, performed by Lisa Flanagan, who does a marvelous job. She has a huge cast of characters to deal with and she was up to the task .
3.5***
In her debut novel, Grames explores the lives of two sisters and the rift between them. Spanning a century, we follow Stella Fortuna from her birth in a small Italian village at the beginning of the 20th century, through her family’s immigration
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to America, to the birth of successive generations, until she is an old woman mostly confined to bed and still “at war” with her younger sister, Tina, who lives just across the street.I love family sagas and this one is epic. Stella doesn’t really realize the freedom she enjoys in her small village. Yes, the family is poor, and everyone must work to eke out a living. But they enjoy a certain independence and autonomy because Stella’s father is gone to America. They manage to immigrate just before WW2 breaks out and that freedom from Mussolini is in contrast to the restrictions Stella now faces in Connecticut; arriving at Christmas, the weather is brutally cold, her father rules with an iron hand, they don’t have the language skills, don’t even have room to grow their own tomatoes.
But Stella is a survivor. She works hard and works smart, saving and dreaming of independence. If things don’t work out exactly as she would have liked … well she keeps on.
I really enjoyed this book and this story of one family’s immigrant experience, as well as the background story of what was happening in America during this time. If I have any complaint it’s the device of “seven or eight deaths” that just seems so contrived. Even the title irritates me, as it makes it seem somehow paranormal. But maybe that’s just me.
I listened to the audiobook, performed by Lisa Flanagan, who does a marvelous job. She has a huge cast of characters to deal with and she was up to the task .
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Awards
HWA Crown Awards (Longlist — Debut — 2020)
New England Book Award (Finalist — 2019)
Pages
464
ISBN
0062862820 / 9780062862822