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442nd out of 605 books
—
1,429 voters
All This Talk of Love
by
Christopher Castellani (Goodreads Author)
It’s been fifty years since Antonio Grasso married Maddalena and brought her to America. That was the last time she would ever see her parents, her sisters and brothers—everything she knew and loved in the village of Santa Cecilia, Italy. She locked those memories away, as if Santa Cecilia stopped existing the very day she left. Now, with children and grandchildren of her...more
Paperback, 352 pages
Published
February 5th 2013
by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
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Maddalena and Antonio Grasso, married for fifty years, are Italian immigrants living in America . Not once have they returned to their village of Santa Cecilia to visit. Maddalena never opened the mail she received from her family. She closed the door on that part of her life. All This Talk of Love by Christopher Castellani is an in depth depiction of the Grasso family.
The Grasso's had three children, two sons and a daughter. Their first son, Tony, committed suicide. The Grasso's are a close fam...more
The Grasso's had three children, two sons and a daughter. Their first son, Tony, committed suicide. The Grasso's are a close fam...more
An examination of the multiple permutations of love, loss and memory all viewed from the eyes of Italian immigrants, this touching and poignant book opens a door into love, and all of the ways it can shelter, protect, shield and not surprisingly, thwart.
Told from several perspectives, the characters all begin to form an oddly poetic perspective for the reader, as everyone’s views combine to give you a fuller picture. Like all families, the Grassos have their levels of dysfunction, secrets, trag...more
Told from several perspectives, the characters all begin to form an oddly poetic perspective for the reader, as everyone’s views combine to give you a fuller picture. Like all families, the Grassos have their levels of dysfunction, secrets, trag...more
Fear and Loving in La Famiglia
In Christopher Castellani’s third novel, All This Talk Of Love, the members of the Italian-American Grasso clan struggle to connect while privately mourning the family they never had.
Marcel Proust would have raised a cup of tea and applauded the novel’s finely nuanced obsession with the past. Even more impressively, not since Simone de Beauvoir’s “The Age of Discretion” have meditations on aging, decaying, and dying been so powerfully and so painfully rendered. Th...more
In Christopher Castellani’s third novel, All This Talk Of Love, the members of the Italian-American Grasso clan struggle to connect while privately mourning the family they never had.
Marcel Proust would have raised a cup of tea and applauded the novel’s finely nuanced obsession with the past. Even more impressively, not since Simone de Beauvoir’s “The Age of Discretion” have meditations on aging, decaying, and dying been so powerfully and so painfully rendered. Th...more
Although this book has received glowing reviews in the critical review magazines read by librarians, I found it somewhat of a letdown. It chronicles the story of a married couple who came to the States from Italy and their first-generation American children. Antonio Grasso married Maddalena after he returned to Italy and viewed the available daughters from her family. She left the love of her life behind in Italy to move to America with him. She cut off all contact with her family back in Italy...more
Full disclosure: I'm a friend of Christopher's, though despite our once attending a second-tier university we both have fabulous careers now; mine consists of critiquing literature professionally, so if I didn't like my friend's book, I wouldn't include it on my Goodreads list.
I loved A Kiss from Maddalena and liked The Saint of Lost Things, but All This Talk of Love is even better. It was a tough assignment, talking of love without getting sentimental, but this book manages to pull it off, show...more
I loved A Kiss from Maddalena and liked The Saint of Lost Things, but All This Talk of Love is even better. It was a tough assignment, talking of love without getting sentimental, but this book manages to pull it off, show...more
For me, this book was a bit of a "sleeper" in that I got involved and interested far into the book. It's sweet. It tells the story of Italian immigrants. To me, it's also a drama of a family, immigrant or not. The mother of the clan married a man she didn't love/lust. She followed him to America. He was a good man, provided her with everything. He started a thriving restaurant with his brother. They had children, one dies. So they have another one. It's a story of a family, of sadness, of loss,...more
This is an interesting book that delves into the psyche of a few of the main characters. I especially like the musings of Antonio Grasso and his feeling for his wife of 50 years. His constant acts of love for her, when all she thinks about is an old love from Italy, are amazing. Antonio fell in love with Maddalena the first time he saw her, and that love never falters. I did not like the younger son, Frankie. He is a weak and dependent individual. The only daughter, Prima, must face her own demo...more
I received 'All This Talk' of Love by Christopher Castellni from librarything as an Early Reviewers giveaway and loved it. In the notes from the author, he talks about a trip his family took to Ialy to visit his family, that sounds very much like Castellani's wonderful story. Maddalena married Antonio & moved to the U.S. and closed the door to that part of her life and saw no reason to open it. Their daughter thinks it's time to go back to the old country and renew relationships before it's...more
Christopher Castellani’s All This Talk of Love is a novel about an Italian family in America, barely one generation removed from their tiny village of origin and still struggling with the events that brought them across the ocean, the demands of culture both past and present. Told from the point of view of various family members in two generations, Castellani really does provide us with a meditation on love – different kinds, what it means, how it makes people act, what they might learn from it....more
Christopher Castellani's third novel is a beautifully evocative examination of a family greatly affected by a past tragedy and their ethnic culture. Antonio and Maddalena Grasso came to America from Santa Cecila, Italy fifty years ago. Together they had three children, but lost one tragically years ago. Now their remaining children and grandchildren have each formed a family construct based on their individual experiences, while Antonio and Maddalena each deal with their personal grief in solita...more
I received a copy of this book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program.
I really enjoyed this book. Be advised though, this is the third book in a trilogy by this author. I wish I had known that going in. However, the story is strong enough to stand on its own.
That being said, this was a very well-written, sweeping story of an elderly Italian immigrant couple and their two adult children.
There are many heartbreaks revealed along the way. The story bounces between the parents, Maddalena a...more
I really enjoyed this book. Be advised though, this is the third book in a trilogy by this author. I wish I had known that going in. However, the story is strong enough to stand on its own.
That being said, this was a very well-written, sweeping story of an elderly Italian immigrant couple and their two adult children.
There are many heartbreaks revealed along the way. The story bounces between the parents, Maddalena a...more
Chris Castellani is a very talented writer. This third novel is a beautiful culminating experience. I am so glad I read Kiss from Maddelena, and the second novel, The Saint of Lost Things because you needed to read these treasures to experience the richness of the characters, especially Maddelena and Antonio and the members of their families in the novel, All this Talk of Love. Maddelena says, "...Italians are different. More balanced. When we romance, we do it with our hearts, but we love our h...more
Fifty years ago Anttonio married Maddalena and brought her to America. They have opened a restaurant, raised three children, suffered heartache, joy, and longing, but have never returned to their little village in Italy. Now that their daughter plans a trip to Santa Cecilia for he whole family Maddalena is resistant. All This Talk of Love slowly builds to such an emotional and honest conclusion. One that I could relate to even though my family is not Italian. It holds truths about all families,...more
Here's another book that I read half of before I gave up. This is the story of an Italian family. The parents came over from the old country and settled in the USA. They made a decent life for themselves and their children ~ who are now grown. There are little snippets of back stories for each character and some of the stories overlap. None of the characters seemed very happy. However, this was too heavy to read for me. I got so tired of reading words and struggling through chapters that I almos...more
The book piqued my interest because of the local references, since I am from the author's hometown. But it was a little off in the beginning. Maddalena's personality didn't match how she was presented originally in the previous books. I was intrigued about Prima and how she would handle her sons, especially after what she saw at the party, but nothing ever came to fruition there. I enjoyed when they finally made it to Italy, but that was 300 plus pages in. I didn't dislike the book, but Castelan...more
I chose this book because of the Italian/Italian-American family dynamic. Being Italian-American myself I love to read books like this, and this one did not disappoint.
Castellani took an Italian family and used real life and sensitive subjects to stir up their family. And like any typical family: some loved too much, others not enough, some thought they weren't loved at all, and another was the what she thought the conductor that kept the family glued together. In the end, nothing was at it see...more
Castellani took an Italian family and used real life and sensitive subjects to stir up their family. And like any typical family: some loved too much, others not enough, some thought they weren't loved at all, and another was the what she thought the conductor that kept the family glued together. In the end, nothing was at it see...more
All This Talk of Love follows an average seeming Italian-American family, the Grasso’s. It goes through several years from the perspectives of the parents, Antonio and Maddalena, and their two grown children, Prima and Frankie.
Like any family, the Grasso’s have secrets, but they try to remain as close as possible, despite their differences. It was interesting to see the different ways the two generations viewed their responsibilities in life, with Antonio and Maddalena trying to keep all the tra...more
Like any family, the Grasso’s have secrets, but they try to remain as close as possible, despite their differences. It was interesting to see the different ways the two generations viewed their responsibilities in life, with Antonio and Maddalena trying to keep all the tra...more
My parents never owned a restaurant and my mother did not have Alzheimer's. They weren't even Italian, BUT I still cried all the way through this book because it reminded me so much of my parents.They were both immigrants who never returned to France. My dad wanted very much to see his brothers and sisters again, but my mother refused to go until it was too late for them to travel.
I just loved spending time with this family.
I just loved spending time with this family.
This isn't really the kind of book I like but it's hard not to admit it is beautiful. The writing is simple but stunning and the story is sad, nostalgic, bittersweet, heartbreaking, and realistic. It is a strong family drama and the characters are well crafted. Personally I struggled at times because I just didn't relate but it is a good book for anyone who doesn't read more YA than anything else!
This is a novel of a family seen through many eyes and three generations. The Grassos are made up of immigrants, first generation Americans, academics, housewives, and restauranteurs. They, like many families, are faced with tragedies and share an extraordinarily tight bond all while keeping their deepest feelings secret. It is impossible no to fall in love with, and root for, these characters. A beautiful, honest portrait and a delightful read.
I really wanted to love this book, but at times I got tired of the endless family dynamics and the binds of love they talked of.
I liked the daughter until "the big event" but after that not much was heard from her.
The book is well written and moves well until the last go around and gets a bit bogged down.
I liked the daughter until "the big event" but after that not much was heard from her.
The book is well written and moves well until the last go around and gets a bit bogged down.
One of the best books you could read today. The writing is beautiful, patient, and controlled. All This Talk of Love tells the heart-wrenching story of one family's tragedy, mistakes, and private, loving moments. Would recommend for anyone looking for a touching read. Not for someone looking for melodrama.
OK, this book is not perfect, but it is so charming. I loved every character and wanted to join the Grasso family. This was one of those books whose ending I mourned, because I just wanted to keep following the characters' lives. I actually wonder where all of them are now, in a good way.
I found this book tedious and frustrating- maybe if I had read the first two of the trilogy it might have made sense. But it was difficult to relate to any of the characters except Antonio.
I nearly gave up reading it several times!
I nearly gave up reading it several times!
Jan 16, 2013
Erika Dreifus
added it
Please see my pre-publication comments (based on a complimentary galley) on Fiction Writers Review.
Not as Guy Talese observed the great Italian-American novel. However, for those of us of Italian descent, a more than pleasant read. The description of "merican men" on p. 217 by one of the protagonists is priceless. I enjoyed this book and think most Italian-Americans would too.
Multi generational Italian-american family coping with Alzheimers adolescence and middle age crisis. Set in Wilmington Delaware . this book really held my interest and the characters were multi dimensional.
My favorite book in the Grasso family trilogy. This book was haunting and melancholy and funny and true. This book follows Maddalena in the last days of her life. We meet her three children and learn about them as well. Antonio becomes even more complex and fascinating as a character. There are a lot of secrets in this family, and regarding a few of them, the reader is the only person privy to every part of the story.
A wonderful wrap-up to Castellani's series. He's a talented writer and it feel...more
A wonderful wrap-up to Castellani's series. He's a talented writer and it feel...more
Finished this book tonight. Perhaps I should have read the others first. I found the characters harsh and unlikeable. Depressing and sad, especially Prima and Frankie. I did like the love story of Maddalena and Antonio.
A poignant tale of real life. This book does not romanticize life but tries through the characters to show the pain and reality of what we assume love is.
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Christopher Castellani was born and raised in Wilmington, Delaware. His parents immigrated to the United States from a small village in Italy in the years following World War II, and their experiences have been a significant inspiration. A Kiss From Maddalena, Christopher's first novel, was published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill in April 2003, and was subsequently published in Australia, the...more
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