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Lucia, Lucia
It is 1950 in glittering, vibrant New York City. Lucia Sartori is the beautiful twenty-five-year-old daughter of a prosperous Italian grocer in Greenwich Village. The postwar boom is ripe with opportunities for talented girls with ambition, and Lucia becomes an apprentice to an up-and-coming designer at chic B. Altman’s department store on Fifth Avenue. Engaged to her chil...more
Paperback, 304 pages
Published
June 29th 2004
by Ballantine Books
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Dorothy
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
people who know who are first generation Italians
Recommended to Dorothy by:
librarian at the Kearny library
Lucia, Lucia provides a picture of first generation Italian family life in New York's Little Italy from the 1950's to the present. Anyone who is Italian will recognize the stay at home mom, the family deli that is owned and operated by her father and her four brothers. Then there is Lucia, a hardworking, independent, woman who is ahead of her time.
Her independence is partly due to her father's support of her way of conducting her life. ( I loved him.) After all, Lucia is twenty-five. Fo...more
Her independence is partly due to her father's support of her way of conducting her life. ( I loved him.) After all, Lucia is twenty-five. Fo...more
This is the first novel that I have read by Trigiani, and I am totally hooked with her writing, and can't wait to get started on Rococo, which is now sitting on my nightstand.
Kit is a young career girl and aspiring playwright living in an aging apartment building in Greenwich Village in the early 2000s. One day, she's invited for tea by one of the older women living on the top floor of the building. Reluctantly, she takes time out of her busy schedule, but has no idea what a treat is ...more
Kit is a young career girl and aspiring playwright living in an aging apartment building in Greenwich Village in the early 2000s. One day, she's invited for tea by one of the older women living on the top floor of the building. Reluctantly, she takes time out of her busy schedule, but has no idea what a treat is ...more
As a fan of the Big Stone Gap books, I was eager to read more by Adriana Trigiani and quickly devoured this book. Set in New York's Greenwhich Village during the 1950s/ 1960s the book is narrated by Lucia Santori, the only daughter and youngest child of a large, boisterous Italian family.The book begins rather slowly although it quickly picks up speed and is easy to read.Once again, Trigiani has a knack for vivid imagery and selecting appealing adjectives that bring out the best of the story's c...more
Nataly
rated it
·
review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
all friends who like to read a good book...
Shelves:
susynovelterjemahcolection
I Love all the story wraped nicely by the story of someone that at first barely noticed except as an old lady who's always dress nice and wearing long jacket everywhere she go.
Lucia is the only daughter in an Italian/American family in the 1950s. She's an accomplished seamstress and works in a famous department store in New York City. She also happens to be engaged to her childhood sweeheart and is stunned to learn that her family expects her to quit her job and stay home to help her futu...more
Lucia is the only daughter in an Italian/American family in the 1950s. She's an accomplished seamstress and works in a famous department store in New York City. She also happens to be engaged to her childhood sweeheart and is stunned to learn that her family expects her to quit her job and stay home to help her futu...more
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This was such a fun book to read! The author is an Italian-American and writes about Italian-American characters in her stories set in NY. This particular novel was set in the 1950s (it begins as modern-day, flashes back to 1950 for 2/3 of story, then back to modern-day again). I have read several other books by this author and notice a number of similar themes throughout her stories: Italian-American family, trips back to homeland of Italy, fashion-oriented, strong female lead, late to marry...more
Lucia is the only daughter in an Italian/American family in the 1950s. She's an accomplished seamstress and works in a famous department store in New York City. She also happens to be engaged to her childhood sweeheart and is stunned to learn that her family expects her to quit her job and stay home to help her future mother-in-law and prepare to have children. Remember - this is the 1950s. Lucia calls off her engagement and begins to lead the most interesting life in the world of fashion. ...more
so i just finished listening to this book read by Mira Sorvino. i liked it but i find it hard to believe that Lucia's life decisions really made her happy. i don't know how a person could love their job more than having a life with people you love. i think she would have felt quite lonely in her life. this is the second trigiani book i've read and it seems that her stories focus on being an independent career woman and how that sometimes trumps being married and having children. i think my prior...more
Aleeda Crawley
added it
If Jane Austen were somehow transported to the 20th century Manhattan, I'm pretty sure she'd would have written a novel like Lucia, Lucia. Author Adriana Trigiani has channeled many of the recurring themes in Jane Austen's novels; an interesting family dynamic, filled with the inevitable crises, the plight and constraints of women in society, the search for love, and ensuing heartbreak. I loved the characters, especially the protagonist Lucia. Born into a large Italian family, Lucia respect...more
well,, i cant say that i love this story. Because even its happy ending, Lucia dont have much happiness in her life. But i can say that this book is amazing! The writer is brilliant! i love how she tell about the family story in 1950's, and about the cultures. Like they still have strong religion, still lived with their parents til they married and also how they must keep her virginity til they married. Its really good story. Even it sounds ancient to the western, but believe it or not it still ...more
I absolutely loved this story!
With a few minor changes, Lucia could have been
my mom.
A compelling theme to me in a story is an
exploration of what could have been.
Lucia, Lucia is a story that touches on that theme.
Lucia is the most beautiful girl in
Greenwich Village and the only d...more
With a few minor changes, Lucia could have been
my mom.
A compelling theme to me in a story is an
exploration of what could have been.
Lucia, Lucia is a story that touches on that theme.
Lucia is the most beautiful girl in
Greenwich Village and the only d...more
This book gives a glimpse into the life of a single, young Italian girl living in New York in the 1950's. The author does a good job in setting the scene for this book, and in detailing the frustration of the post war timeframe where people are trying to find their place in the world. World War II changed the dynamics between women and men, and also broadened peoples perspective in dealing with other peoples cultures and nationalities. Lucia Sartori is a young Italian woman who is working as ...more
Immediately, I *hated* the frame story. The opening character, Kit, is a struggling playwright living in Greenwich Village who ventures up to the apartment of the aged but elegant "Aunt Lu" and has tea while listening to her story, which is the basis of the book. My dislike of the frame only got worse when it finally reappeared (after no mention of it throughout Lucia's story) at the end of the book. The characters, including the old Lucia, are flat and there is very little to conne...more
Very sad story with well-drawn characters, so I truly shared in their sorrows. However, I found it somewhat disappointing after reading the Big Stone Gap books; those books had a realism, flow, and internal integrity that this book seemed to lack. I kept saying Huh...what the...now why would...enough already...wise up...The characters were engaging, yet the story just didn't hang together and compute with me. The explanation about the aunt's curse just didn't cut it, when so much of what was...more
This book started strong, and kept me going through the middle. It is a believable tale of a close Italian family and a passionate young Italian girl. The family goes through all kinds of life changing events together, and I love how they all react and then move on together.
Then, the book takes a left turn from normal, good and bad life events and starts just beating the hell out of the main character, taking away everything that she cares about, and then letting her live for others...more
Then, the book takes a left turn from normal, good and bad life events and starts just beating the hell out of the main character, taking away everything that she cares about, and then letting her live for others...more
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A young Italian girl gets a job designing clothing for a major department store. She is engaged and loving life, until...she meets a man who absolutely sweeps her off her feet. She dumps her fiance to marry this new stranger, but trouble puts her hopes of marriage and career on a different track. Ok story and characters. The writing is lots of dialogue and not very descriptive. Not very engaging, but a quick, fairly good read.
Katie
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
anyone interested in New York in the past or sewing.
I just finished this book and I really liked it. It's set in New York City in the 1950's, which I loved and I also loved that the main character, Lucia, is a seamstress at the Custom Department in a major department store in Manhattan. This book told a story of a girl from a different time and the author did a great job of making the reader able to visualize what life was like during the 50's.
This was a terrific book. I felt completely immersed into Lucia's world as a young woman in Little Italy in New York City. The world she describes is vastly different than New York City today: department stores with custom design departments, ladies wearing gloves and hats, etc. This book is a wonderful escape that I highly recommend!
I couldn't put this book down--I absolutely loved it. Lucia is a wonderful protagonist, and one with whom I completely related. The setting of the book is completely engaging, and I believed all the characters. Didn't love the bookend framing technique set in present day, but the rest of the book was so good, I was able to overlook it.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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Gambaran kehidupan warga keturunan Italia di Amerika. Lucia Lucia memikat saya..ehm, tak menyangka menarik hati. Kisah cinta Lucia, perempuan muda Italia di New York, bekerja sebagai penjahit untuk baju-baju pesanan yang eksklusif dan dikerjakan dengan tangan. Bukan hanya kisah cinta yang ada di buku ini.Didalamnya juga perdebatan soal perubahan peranan perempuan yang tidak hanya pada urusan domestik. Dalam hal ini peranan perempuan Itali ditengah masyarakat Amerika yang sudah melewati pergolak...more
I’m a big fan of the author’s Big Stone Gap series and I believe this was her first novel not set in Big Stone Gap.
The first chapter is set in present day, and so is the last; but the rest is a glimpse into Lucia’s life from 1950-1952 and what it’s like to be an Italian woman in Greenich Village from a large family.
Lucia is torn between her duty as a daughter and her desire to be a career woman (as a seamstress in B. Altmon’s custom department) and the expectations of a w...more
The first chapter is set in present day, and so is the last; but the rest is a glimpse into Lucia’s life from 1950-1952 and what it’s like to be an Italian woman in Greenich Village from a large family.
Lucia is torn between her duty as a daughter and her desire to be a career woman (as a seamstress in B. Altmon’s custom department) and the expectations of a w...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Okay, so you receive a box - handcarved of the finest wood with an intricate inlaid design, studded with gems and traced with gold filgree. The box is exquisite, and you are so excited to see what amazing gift it will contain. You lift the lid and find a silver bangle bracelet - nice enough, but certainly not equal to its container. That is how I felt about "Lucia, Lucia." The setting promises you a wonderful treat, but the plot is fairly ordinary. Even so, the book has a lot to r...more
WOW!! A compelling and bittersweet novel. This is the fourth book of Trigiani's that I've read and she has become one of my 'favourite' authors. I didn't want this story to end!!
From back cover:
"It is 1950 in glittering, vibrant New York City. Lucia Sartori is the beautiful twenty-five-year old daughter of a prosperous Italian grocer in Greenwich Village. The postwar boom is rife with opportunities for talented girls with ambition, and Lucia becomes an apprentice to ...more
From back cover:
"It is 1950 in glittering, vibrant New York City. Lucia Sartori is the beautiful twenty-five-year old daughter of a prosperous Italian grocer in Greenwich Village. The postwar boom is rife with opportunities for talented girls with ambition, and Lucia becomes an apprentice to ...more
I loved love loved this book! What a beautiful tale of Lucia a woman growing up in Greenwich Village in a big Italian Family in the 1950's. If there has ever been a book that made me want to be in another time period,, this one is it.
Adriana Trigiani had me laughing and crying through out this story. The main character Lucia is a smart and successful girl for her age. She believes in herself and is highly independent. I felt that I could relate to her character and to her views on life, lo...more
Adriana Trigiani had me laughing and crying through out this story. The main character Lucia is a smart and successful girl for her age. She believes in herself and is highly independent. I felt that I could relate to her character and to her views on life, lo...more
Lucia, Lucia is a novel told in first person by the only daughter of a very close, very loving Italian family in Greenwich Village in the fifties.
In fact, this novel reminded me a little of those sweet, sad, sentimental movies of the era. A good daughter of a good family wants to break out of the life that’s been set up for her; she makes some good decisions and some very bad decisions, and thus it goes.
I’ve been thinking about this for days, and my conclusion is this: ...more
In fact, this novel reminded me a little of those sweet, sad, sentimental movies of the era. A good daughter of a good family wants to break out of the life that’s been set up for her; she makes some good decisions and some very bad decisions, and thus it goes.
I’ve been thinking about this for days, and my conclusion is this: ...more
This is the first book I've read of Trigiana's and I'll be putting her others on my TBR shelf. She really caught the atmosphere of the clothes, 1950s Greenwich village, big Italian families, food, everything to do with the senses. No happy ending here, which made it much more realistic to read. (copied review) Set in the glittering, vibrant New York City of 1950, Lucia, Lucia is the enthralling story of a passionate, determined young woman whose decision to follow her heart changes her life f...more
This book reminded me of home! I know, if you know anything about you, you know I'm from the deep south and how could a book about Italian New Yorkers remind me of home you wonder? It's all about family. This Italian family in 1950s New York isn't that much different from my hillbilly family in North Alabama and the different setting was certainly interesting to me. Loved the detail of the custom made dresses that Lucia sewed in the Custom department of the department store. The closeness that s...more
Rating: A+
140-Character Summary: In 1950's NYC a large Italian-American family grapples with what it means to support each other through all of life's ups and downs.
140-Character Review: Told in flashback, this tale of family and friendship rings with an authenticity and pain that will make you cry. And yearn for the 1950's.
140-Character Recommendation/Market Placement/Entry Point: Fans of "Women's Fiction," like Belong to Me and Digging to America will en...more
140-Character Summary: In 1950's NYC a large Italian-American family grapples with what it means to support each other through all of life's ups and downs.
140-Character Review: Told in flashback, this tale of family and friendship rings with an authenticity and pain that will make you cry. And yearn for the 1950's.
140-Character Recommendation/Market Placement/Entry Point: Fans of "Women's Fiction," like Belong to Me and Digging to America will en...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton | 1 | 9 | Jun 29, 2010 07:20am |
ADRIANA TRIGIANI is beloved by millions of readers around the world for her hilarious and heartwarming novels. Adriana was raised in a small coal mining town in southwest Virginia in a big Italian family. She chose her hometown for the setting and title of her debut novel, the critically acclaimed and bestselling BIG STONE GAP, followed by the sequels BIG CHERRY HOLLER and MILK GLASS MOON. Since 1...more
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“The good things that happen to us were meant to happen, and the bad things that happen are lessons meant to teach us to be better.”
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