false 6090444 2 A village in Tuscany is the setting for this joyous debut—a novel that defies all our expectations as it puts a fresh, clever, captivating spin on the age-old tale of forbidden love. Rich in literary delights, filled with spectacular wordplay, and rife with the bawdy humor of Shakespeare’s comedies, <b>Tomato Rhapsody</b> is the almost-true tale of how the tomato came to Italy—at once a brilliantly inventive fable of love, lust, and longing, and a dazzling feast for the imagination.<b><br><br></b>This is a story born from love—a forbidden love—between Davido, an <i>Ebreo</i> tomato farmer, and Mari, a beautiful Catholic girl.…But it’s not only Davido and Mari who have secrets of the heart. Everyone around them yearns for something—from Davido’s grandfather, who tenderly cultivates the tomato plant he stole on his voyages with Columbus, to Mari’s villainous stepfather, whose eye is trained on his stepdaughter’s virginity and his neighbor’s land. <br><br>Caught in the midst of these passions and machinations is a village full of eccentrics who speak in rhyme, celebrate the Feast of the Drunken Saint, and live a life untouched by the passage of time. The schemes and dreams of these men and women are about to change as what is forbidden becomes too delicious to resist. Tradition, religion, and good taste collide unforgettably in a story about the courage to pursue love and tomato sauce at all costs. 6267393 23 6 2009 Tomato Rhapsody: A Novel of Love, Lust, and Forbidden Fruit total:63|5:27|4:15|3:14|2:4|1:3| 63 248 225 35 5 1 false false Fri Oct 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 09 14:38:57 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 09 15:31:32 -0700 2009
It takes a little effort to enter the world of this novel, accustom oneself to the idiom in which it is written, and enter the flow of th...more...]]> 5 1 false false Tue Sep 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 10 09:47:10 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 10 09:48:39 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 2 false false Sun May 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 26 10:23:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 30 11:32:55 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Tue Jun 16 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 20 23:22:08 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 26 13:32:46 -0700 2009 1
I’ll never look at tomato sauce the same way again.

It was an extraordinary book. It’s a fable about how the tomato came to Europe, and how it overcame the strange, popular prejudice tha...more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue May 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed May 06 19:41:49 -0700 2009 Tue May 12 11:25:56 -0700 2009
When I first started the book, I wasn't sure what to think. It has ...more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Apr 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri May 08 21:14:13 -0700 2009 Fri May 08 21:43:49 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jun 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun May 31 19:08:45 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 08 18:46:36 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue May 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue May 12 09:28:35 -0700 2009 Tue May 12 09:28:35 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 true false Sat Aug 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 08 18:21:41 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 08 16:58:57 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jun 21 01:31:18 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 21 01:53:31 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun May 03 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon May 11 21:08:11 -0700 2009 Mon May 11 22:10:57 -0700 2009
I fell in love with the characte...more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Aug 11 17:51:52 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 07 19:28:53 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 11 17:51:52 -0700 2009 1 I loved that I read it is August during a relatively hot spell (so rare in Chicago) as it brought the book to life.
It reads like a Shakespearean play with the odd cast of characters with all of their secrets and their relationships with one another.
I would lov...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Apr 09 21:30:24 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 09 21:30:24 -0700 2009 1 Almost a dream, definitely a reverie, in a time when alliances are pragmatic, and certainly not romantic the love app...more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Jun 26 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 18 16:40:26 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 27 08:54:01 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 16 13:38:25 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 16 13:50:28 -0700 2009 1 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Sep 20 06:43:57 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 20 06:50:00 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Jun 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 22 00:45:09 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 22 00:47:15 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Mon Jan 12 08:04:52 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 12 08:06:58 -0800 2009 2 0 false false Mon Jun 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 08 17:13:47 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 18 11:19:50 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 23 06:54:50 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 23 06:58:34 -0700 2009