Every once in awhile you have to take a break from the Holocaust books, the slavery sagas and the dysfunctional families... and this, my friends, is the beach read you are looking for. The old Italian-immigrant-comes-to-America-makes-good-intergenerational-story that your preteen daughter could read and write home from camp about! There are no surprises but it makes you happy and you go to sleep at night with no sad sighs or regrets about what this world is coming to. Trigiani is a prolific writ More...

If there’s one book that should be on your summer reading list, it’s The Shoemaker’s Wife. It isn’t just a book; it’s an experience. It’s a slow, beautiful, compelling story with which you can’t help but feel involved and enamoured.

No matter what chapter you are on in this book, the setting is always lush and evocative. The Italian Alps captured me during the first half of the book and America, specifically New York, came to life during the latter half. The story follows two main characters—Enza More...

This book was written in such a fashion, it read like a movie. The description used to illustrate every movement allowed the movie to continue to play throughout my mind on every page. I fell in love with each of the characters, and their stories. It was so good, I read it in 4 days, staying up until 3 A.M. to find out what happened next!

What a wonderful book starting in Italy going to New Jersey then New York City most of it taking place before I was born.How tough times were and rent was $1.00 a month can't even by a loaf of bread for that now days.There were times my tears kept me from reading the words but loved every word and wanted more when it ended.

Meh. Overly descriptive, is that a bad thing? Sometimes. Sometimes it is so oppressive that you just breeze over the chapter. Sometimes it's kind of lovely. Despite a book where SO MUCH happens, not much happens, you know? I mean, one moment you are in the Italian Alps, the next NYC, then Minnesota. So what. So much happens in the book but is so bogged down in description that the change of scenery just kind of occurs as an incident. Take World War I for example. Though it deeply affects a chara More...

Adriana Trigiani came to speak at Nashville Public Library. I was unprepared for the comedy and the comedic presentation. Everyone was laughing as she spoke about living in Big Stone Gap VA, the scene of her first works.

The Shoemakers Wife is a "historical epic of love and family.." written around a great grandmother. Enza is from a little town in Italy and the quintessential success story when she and her father come to America to work when there conditions deteroriate in "the old country." Wou More...

An epic tale about leaving the old country to set up life in the new, with all the uncertainty, hard work, devotion and spirit of adventure that it entailed.

When Enza and Ciro meet in the mountains of Italy they are young teenagers growing up in a culture at once rich with history and humble in its simplicity. Different circumstances drive them to leave their homes and set out for the land of opportunity across the ocean. How they meet and part, and part and meet is the substance of the story, More...

Read this if you need a good cry and like typical women's romance fiction. It is a sweet evolving love story with predictable outcomes that are laden with sadness.
I listened to the audio version with the second half read by the author. That made no sense to me as the first narrator had a melodic voice with fluent Italian pronunciation that I found missing in the authors narration. I think Trigiani likes her finger in every pie. All that will make no diference if you read the book vs having it r More...

This was a recent choice by one of the book clubs I belong to and when I heard it was the choice, I was less than thrilled. "Oh, man," I thought. "Not ANOTHER star-crossed lovers book set during the war." I had half a mind to just not read it but decided to force myself to plod through the book and do my duty as a responsible book club member.

Well, I was NOT prepared to be sucked into the story like I was and to discover that I really liked this book. The characters were strong, complex, and li More...

I could not put The Shoemaker's Wife down. It's a great love story, set in early 20th century America and 19th century Italy. Finally, a book about early Italian immigrants that does not involve the mafia. 2012, off to a good start!

Enza and Ciro, whose story is based on the true romance of the author's grandparents, grow up just a few miles apart from each other in the mountains of Northern Italy. Both are poor, but talented. Ciro is a handsome hard worker, the village Romeo, but also good with More...

Maybe before I was a discerning goodreads reviewer I might have given this book 3 stars. Nah, not even then. Pollyanna that I am, I could not suspend disbelief to allow for all the "random happenings" (Enza and Chiro meeting in St. Vincent's, and Chiro just happening to return from WWI to find Enza on the day of her wedding!). The dialogue was stilted, the characters one dimensional and the writing -manipulative (don't try to pull on my heartstrings!). The author should NOT have narrated the sec More...

Have you ever tried to read a 500 page book on your iPhone? My thumb is so tired from swiping, that my crankiness, more than anything, probably contributes to the rating of this book.

Due to the above problem with my aching thumb, I must say that before we discussed this book at book club, this book was about a 2.5 star to me. But after listening to my friends at book club who all loved the book, I almost wanted to change my rating to a 4. They loved the book, the writing, and the generational s More...

This novel is competent enough to satisfy the bulk of readers seeking stories of this type, but I was disappointed. As I read, I grew increasingly agitated by the predictable tropes, generalized experiences, and risible coincidences, as well as the superficiality of the insights offered into the human condition. Trigiani opens with a pretty bit of description of a snowy landscape and a seemingly intriguing woman who is characterized through the worn elegance of her dress. Unfortunately, this wom More...

Excellent book!! I initially only picked it up because of the gorgeous cover - and the endorsement from Kathryn Stockett - the author of The Help - another favorite.

It's about two young boys who grow up in a small Italian village at the turn of the 20th century. They are raised by the nuns at an orphanage before the youngest witnesses a local scandal and is sent away to NYC. Essentially it's a beautiful love story, but if I say anything else it will spoil your experience.

I'm usually pretty pic More...

This is quite the saga! It sweeps nearly the entire lives of the two main characters. I love the innocent love story and the historical aspects of living life through the first and second world wars (though this is NOT a war story, by any means). I found aspects of immigration very interesting as well. It's an emotional journey; it seemed like the way real life so often goes. Though it was sad at times, the ending was really lovely. I would have given it 5 stars, but sometimes I found it too des More...

This is a lovely romantic book which I listened to as an audiobook. Don't be intimidated by the length of almost 21 hours because the story moves along quickly although I will note that the first 3 hours were a little slow. I've read that this book is a fictionalized account of the
author's Italian grandmother and grandfather.

The first meeting between 15 year Ciro, who was left with his brother Eduardo to be
raised by nuns in an Italian mountain village convent, and 15 year old Enza, a girl from More...

Review Posted on Reading Lark 4/4/12: http://readinglark.blogspot.com/2012/...

Having never read Adriana Trigiani's work before I had no idea what to expect from this novel. I love well done historical fiction and the book had been blurbed by Kathryn Stockett so I decided to give this one a try. I never expected to fall in love so deeply. The Shoemaker's Wife is a masterpiece - a gorgeous work of art filled with love, loss, and family. This novel consumed every waking moment for me until I savore More...

I just finished this book, and my heart is full with the love this author conveyed in her story about a young couple from the Italian Alps. I'm having trouble finding the right words to describe the wonderful journey I took with this little family....from a tiny town in the mountains of Italy to a small town in the USA.

We went through all the trials, tribulations and joys of a family striving to start a new life in a new country. The writing beautifully conveyed the emotions accompanying that st More...

I love this book! I just started reading it yesterday. I have loved Trigiani's Big Stone Gap Series. But this one may even beat that well-loved series. The characters are so vivid, and the plot threatens to break your heart. All I can say is this epic tale grabs you and refuses to let go.

I debated on whether or not to give it four or three stars. I liked the beginning a lot but it really slacked off in the middle. I think it was really close to being a fantastic book but it just fell short. I really love historical fiction so that is why I gave it a higher mark than it should receive.

This was a very interesting book. I kept thinking that Enza and Ciro the two main characters of the book would never find each other again.

Ciro went up the mountain in Italy to dig a grave for Enza's family when her younger sister died. They actually fell in love when they met. Both of them were 15 years old. They could not stop thinking about each other, but Ciro had to go to America on his own and learned Shoemaking in little Italy in New York City. Enza needs to go to America to help her fami More...

Adriana Trigiani is a seasoned author with more than a dozen novels under her belt and her latest offering, ‘The Shoemaker’s Wife’, begins in the majestic setting of the Italian Alps.

Ciro and Enza live in neighbouring villages and are forced to endure the hardships of life at the turn of the 20th century. When tragedy strikes, a chance encounter brings them together as teenagers, and an immediate bond is formed. Unfortunately, a chain of events has already been set in motion to separate them onl More...

My first thought when I started this book was TOO MANY WORDS. My last thought was finally, the last 50 pages written like I think she should have written the book: no more over-written landscape flourishes!

But, this would not do for such an EPIC NOVEL as we are told over and over again by the reviewers, the author, the jacket, the cover and just about the book itself.

No...it is a nice litte story.

To be fair, the opening paragraph gave me great hopes for the book. The description of the snow an More...

Adrianna followers are many; she has a great publisher. Her book is v e r y drawn out and repetitive. I wondered how her editor allowed this, but the target audience is commercial, and there are a requisite number of pages. A novella wouldn't sell. The story engages me as Adrianna is from the same ilk as I am...Italian, granddaughter of immigrants, etc. But the story she imagines is rich because of opera and Caruso. Her main character, Enza, has the heart and soul of a very nice person, comes fr More...

I took a break from my usual chicklit (which I usually complete reading in 1 setting 3 hours tops) and chose this novel instead to while away the hours at the hair salon today. I figure that since my ass would be glued to the chair for quite a while, it's a good opportunity to read this novel slowly and absorb it more fully. I'm glad I did; it's not the type of novel whereby you can get away with reading it at a fast pace even if you are a seasoned reader. It's a beautifully constructed piece of More...

Firstly and as always I would be remiss if I didn't note that I received this book free as a Goodreads giveaway. I entered the Giveaway, as I always do, knowing absolutely nothing of the book in question and intentionally avoiding any background. The fact that the book was free (as anyone who looks at my other reviews of free books will note) will have no impact on my review of it.

Unlike many of the free books I've reviewed this one wasn't free because it was new and just coming out and needed r More...

3.5 stars. Good+ (better than good but I can't say great).

This is an epic immigrant tale spanning the entire lives of two northern Italians, Ciro and Enza, who meet as kids in Italy and run into each other more than once down the road.

The story really is good, and it's clean, and I would recommend it. The basic story is worth 4 stars. The characters were likable and there are many stages in their lives so it's easy to look back and think extra fondly on favorite portions. I couldn't give it 4 st More...