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45th out of 146 books
—
105 voters
Big Cherry Holler (Big Stone Gap #2)
by
Adriana Trigiani (Goodreads Author)
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. It’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 he...more
Published
(first published May 15th 2001)
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A deeper book than its predecessor in some ways. Ave Maria and Jack have been married for eight years and have lost a child, and it's taken a toll on their marriage. What got me were several moments where Ave Maria comes to some painful realizations about herself and Jack. Trigiani can have you laughing out loud one moment and reaching for the tissues the next. Wonderful.
Big Cherry Holler, No. 2 in the Stone Gap Trilogy, by Adriana Trigiani, narrated by Adriana Trigiani, produced by Random House Audio, downloaded from audible.com.
The second book finds Ave Maria MacChesney married to Jack. They’ve been married about ten years. They have a daughter, Etta, about eight years of age, and they lost a son, Joe, four years ago. He died suddenly and quickly of leukemia, and Ave can’t get over the grief. She and Jack can’t talk about it, so the feelings are just there in...more
The second book finds Ave Maria MacChesney married to Jack. They’ve been married about ten years. They have a daughter, Etta, about eight years of age, and they lost a son, Joe, four years ago. He died suddenly and quickly of leukemia, and Ave can’t get over the grief. She and Jack can’t talk about it, so the feelings are just there in...more
Sequel to Big Stone Gap, the second in this series focuses more on the relationship between Jack and Ave Maria eight years into their marriage. There was a slight departure from the light-heartedness of the first novel, the fluffiness replaced with a seriousness that made this novel more affecting. The writing is much improved and the characters still quirky and charming. It was painful and slightly distressing at times, but there was something beautiful and tender in Ave’s grief, which is why I...more
In this captivating sequel to "Big Stone Gap," we rejoin Ave Maria Mulligan and her husband Jack MacChesney at a point in their marriage that could be the end for them. Three years ago, their son Joe died. And the loss, followed by the period of mourning, have taken their toll. Daughter Etta, who was a year older than Joe, seems to be the glue that cements them.
But the tests that prey on their bonds include many stressors, like the closing of the mining company where Jack worked for many years;...more
But the tests that prey on their bonds include many stressors, like the closing of the mining company where Jack worked for many years;...more
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In a nut shell this book is about a woman who has to reexamine her marriage and her life. This is the second in a triology about the life of Ave Maria in the town of Big Stone Gap, Virginia. I really like the way the author tells the story from Ave in the first person.
This book I found more serious than the first. I love the humor and the right on way Trigiani nails the residents of small town Appalachia. I liked this book more as I read. I was missing the humor and that came finally.
A quick re...more
This book I found more serious than the first. I love the humor and the right on way Trigiani nails the residents of small town Appalachia. I liked this book more as I read. I was missing the humor and that came finally.
A quick re...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
For all the enjoyment I got out of the first book in the series, I was looking forward to this second installment. Wow, talk about taking the series in a very different direction. I would describe the first book as "light, quirky, fun, silly, and relate-able in a goofy way." I would describe this book as "sad, depressing, and filled with heartache."
My main problem with this book is the base assumption of the author. Namely:
1) All unhappy men will cheat if given the chance
2) All marital problems...more
My main problem with this book is the base assumption of the author. Namely:
1) All unhappy men will cheat if given the chance
2) All marital problems...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I liked this book better about halfway through, when Ave and Etta go to Italy. I thought that at this point the descriptions really came alive. The descriptive passages about people and places are what I enjoyed most about this book - they're not dazzling, but enough to spark the theater of the mind. I also appreciated how much the main character thinks through the situation with her marriage. Sometimes I make decisions or do something and then wonder what the heck I was thinking, so it's good f...more
I read the first book in this series several years back and enjoyed the story of Ave Maria, a spinster pharmacist, in western Virginia. The setting and the characters seemed so true to life. This story is much more serious. Ave and Jack Mac have been married for 8 years and along the way have had 2 children, Etta and Joe. They lost Joe to leukemia very suddenly and this loss is still having repercussions in their marriage. Ave, with Etta in tow, goes to Italy to reconnect with her family and mak...more
Blech. I'm not sure why I read this book, except that it was sitting on my shelf after I picked it up at a book exchange (which are fabulous!). Overall, I found the story to be sappy, inconsistent, corny, and a bit frustrating. It was also somewhat unrealistic, which I wouldn't normally mind in a fiction book, but the setting is modern-day and some of it just didn't work for me. It really bothered me when I found some inconsistencies in the story and I also didn't care for the lack of communicat...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This book is sexist. They have troubles in their marriage, the woman blames everything on herself and tries everything she can to fix it, even when it appears her husband might be looking at other women. And yet, he still says everything she is doing isn't enough and she needs to do better. And her job advancement makes him mad, but he can start a company and it is fine and dandy. Worst of all, the author buys into all this crap instead of using the story to vindicate all the women who are carry...more
As I'm writing this review I still haven't decided how many stars to give this book. As I started reading it, I began to remember the characters from Big Stone Gap, and thought it would be similar. This book is much more serious than the first in the series, though. Deep subjects - marriage, infidelity, loss, soul searching. Maybe part of the problem with this book for me is that it dealt so much with marriage, and not being married myself I had trouble relating to it. Throughout a good part of...more
We are back in the Mountains with Ave and Jack. This story takes place 8 years from the end of the last story (Big Stone Gap).
We learn even more about Ave, Jack, their families and how their marriage works and what is holding them back from happiness. This story really develops Ave into an adult woman who still has not completely 'found herself'. We learn about the dynamic of a family that is wounded and still struggling to be living in the present.
Once again the readers get to go on a journey w...more
We learn even more about Ave, Jack, their families and how their marriage works and what is holding them back from happiness. This story really develops Ave into an adult woman who still has not completely 'found herself'. We learn about the dynamic of a family that is wounded and still struggling to be living in the present.
Once again the readers get to go on a journey w...more
Nov 01, 2010
Katie
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
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A follow-up to Big Stone Gap that follow's Ave Maria's marriage to Jack Mac. Here we learn of the Mac's marriage trouble brought-on by their son's death to leukemia. This put a tremendous invisible barrier in Ave and Jack's marraige...and this book follows their journey to staying together. I did feel that Ave and Jack placed more of the burden of the rocky time in their marriage on her shoulders...when it takes two to tango!
What I loved about this book ammended my first book's comment. I felt...more
What I loved about this book ammended my first book's comment. I felt...more
What a great follow up to Big Stone Gap. These are my favorite kind of books, where I am drawn right in to the characters lives--joys and struggles, mundane and exciting. I have new friends and neighbors and coworkers in this story. I have watched Pearl grow up. I wish Ava would confide in me. Theodore is one of my best friends too! I love Etta's entrance into tween years. There are characters I want to toss off a cliff; the author wrote the frustrating & "love to hate" characters so well. B...more
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 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 doe...more
I just loved this book. The characters are such realistically imperfect people. Relationships are just so hard under the best of circumstances and how many of us have been blessed by the best of circumstances? So rarely do authors write about the people who have grown up in unhappy families, learning to wall off their feelings behind an I-am-a-rock-pride that prevents them developing a capacity for loving intimacy. So many of us chug through life like little wind-up robots trying to meet our emo...more
This was a cute sequel to the first in a three part series. I enjoyed the author A. Trigiani. The story continues from the Big Stone Gap, in the second book, Big Cherry Holler, the main character ( Ava Maria) has a 10 year old daughter and is married to Jack. It is very funny quirky "small town" humor. Rumor mills in a small town and the challenges of raising an adolescent. It also deals with the loss of a child. As the main character lost her younger son to cancer. It deals with the grief and l...more
The second in Trigiani's triology. Just as good as the first!!
From Back Cover:
"Eight years have passed since Ave Maria Mulligan married Jack Mac, moved up into the hills, and dug in her roots even deeper. But Ave Maria soon discovers that the mountains cannot shelter her from the painful lessons of the heart. As her life reaches a crossroads, almost everybody in town has advice to offer-including the Bookmobile's self-appointed sexpert Iva Lou Wade, savvy pharmacy owner Pearl Grimes ('a very ma...more
From Back Cover:
"Eight years have passed since Ave Maria Mulligan married Jack Mac, moved up into the hills, and dug in her roots even deeper. But Ave Maria soon discovers that the mountains cannot shelter her from the painful lessons of the heart. As her life reaches a crossroads, almost everybody in town has advice to offer-including the Bookmobile's self-appointed sexpert Iva Lou Wade, savvy pharmacy owner Pearl Grimes ('a very ma...more
The 2nd in the Big Stone Gap series, Ave comes back and begins to find out who she really is-- it is a story of "letting go"-- a story of learning to put others first, of leaving the spinster behind, a story of forgiveness, of healing. As she and her daughter Etta travel to Italy over the summer, Ave must make a difficult decision, one that will change the course of her life. Trigiani's writing style in this book was much more gripping than in the first of the series-- I can't wait to read the n...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I read the first book, "Big Stone Gap" several years ago, but put this one off because the teaser hinted that the main character would be tempted to adultery when off visiting family in Italy. I'm not fond of adultery stories. However, despite some foolish behavior on the part of the main character, it's mostly about how Eva and her husband find their way back to each other several years after the death of a child. The romance in the first book was less central to the story and I enjoyed the way...more
The second book in the series focuses on Ave's marriage to Jack Mac. She is tempted by another man when she finds her distance from her husband causes him to stray. The characters of Pearl, a young girl who takes over Ave's pharmacy, Flo, Iva Lou and Theodore all bring the southern small town charm to these books. Pete Rutgledge, her almost lover becomes her husband's friend. When Ave and Etta, her daughter travel to Italy to be with family and she meets Pete, her life with her husband is brough...more
book two of the Big Stone Gap series was just as good as book one.
The characters you know and love are still around, living life in tiny appalachian town.
Ave Maria is now married, mom of two and worried her marriage is going down the tubes. Husband has been laid off from his job and has started his own construction business. His lumber supplier is an attractive blonde who has her sights set on him and is making the move.
Ave is still distraught over the death of her son and just hasnt had the tim...more
The characters you know and love are still around, living life in tiny appalachian town.
Ave Maria is now married, mom of two and worried her marriage is going down the tubes. Husband has been laid off from his job and has started his own construction business. His lumber supplier is an attractive blonde who has her sights set on him and is making the move.
Ave is still distraught over the death of her son and just hasnt had the tim...more
Book two of this series and I thought it was a success. It carries on the story of the main characters in Big Stone Gap seven or eight years down the road with a complete and independent story line. (No rehashing of the first book's plot.) This time around Ave Maria has to deal with marriage and infidelity, which made me nervous but which was thoughtful and honest and in line with my own feelings, so I was satisfied in the end. In fact, I spent a lot of time thinking about the issues and charact...more
This book is a sequal to Big Stone Gap, by Adriana Trigiani. I really like the first book, but this second one I couldn't relate to as much. The main character spends too much time blaming herself for her husband's infidelity. She beats herself up about her failing marriage in the wake of losing her youngest child to leukemia. The character of the husband is too provincially traditional for my own sensibilities, and too much of his bad behavior is excused throughout the book. Still, the characte...more
This story of a marriage trying to find their way back to each other shows a family in crisis. One realizes the marriage is in trouble and the other doesn't accept it. What they do about it is the journey of the book. I've found I like Trigiani's work more than I thought I would. I read "Brava Valentine" first then started this series. While I expected all romance her characters are definitely more complex than that and you see soul-searching and them finding themselves without a lot of syrupy r...more
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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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“All the things I thought I was - simple and plain and sometime funny - are very small words. They do not begin to describe me. They do not begin to express what is inside of me. I have value, and I have worth. I cannot be replaced like old shoes or taken for granted like tap water.”
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“Isn't this the truth of any good mother? That in all of our lives. We worry only about those we brought into this world, regardless of whether they loved us back or treated us fairly or understood our shortcomings.”
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27 people liked it
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