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Rococo
by
Adriana Trigiani (Goodreads Author)
New York Times bestselling author Adriana Trigiani, beloved by millions of readers around the world for her humor, warmth, and captivating storytelling in the Big Stone Gap trilogy and Lucia, Lucia, takes on love, lust, tricky family dynamics, and home decorating in Rococo, the uproarious tale of a small Italian American town poised for a makeover it never expected.
Bartolo...more
Bartolo...more
ebook, 0 pages
Published
June 21st 2005
by Random House
(first published 1980)
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May 12, 2011
Dawn
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Anyone who read any of the Big Stone Gap books.
Recommended to Dawn by:
I read all of Adriana Trigiani's books!
Adriana Trigiani is my favorite author. Even though this is not my favorite book by Adriana, it was still a very enjoyable read. Maybe it was a little bit harder for me to get into because I am used to her books having women as the main character. Still I enjoyed the quirky characters and all the references to Italian Americans. I have met Adriana in person and her vibrant attitude and humor comes through in her books. I can't wait until her next book comes out!
Loved this! Just the first few chapters draw you into the setting. You want to be sitting next to this guy on that porch looking at the sunrise and anticipating what's next. Well written, character driven novel about a male interior designer - not gay :) but delightful, who lives in a small Italian-based town, and wants to renovate the local Cathedral. All of the characters are wonderful. I hated for it to end. I love interior design and travel, so I loved him going to Europe and studying the wo...more
2 likes · like · see review
view all 11 comments
Amusing and filled with memorable characters (and some nice recipes.) Took me a little while to get into the decorating details, as I really don't know much about fabrics and furniture. I did like the details about renovating Our Lady of Fatima...and I still think the portrait was a young Aurela Mandelbaum...
One more note-- Though I tired rapidly of this author's Big Stone Gap sequels, I like her other stand alone books a lot.
From the Publisher
New York Times bestselling author Adriana Trigiani,...more
One more note-- Though I tired rapidly of this author's Big Stone Gap sequels, I like her other stand alone books a lot.
From the Publisher
New York Times bestselling author Adriana Trigiani,...more
Adriana Trigiani is one of my favorite authors because her style of writing is so natural; it's like talking to a good friend. Rococo is set in the 1970s and it reminds me of my childhood. There are some parts that are laugh out loud funny, especially when it comes to the relationship between the main character, Bartolomeo (an interior decorator - when they were called that!), and his sister Toot ("like Tootsie, not toot your horn"), a woman who's been divorced from her cheating husband and as a...more
Aug 10, 2012
Maria
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Light read
Recommended to Maria by:
reading group
Shelves:
contemporary-fiction
This was a selection for my reading group. It was called a "beach read"-- not too deep, light and fun, and a little funny. It's about an Italian family in New Jersey in the 1970's. The main character, Bartolomeo, is a decorator who has done the best houses in town and dreams of redecorating his church, but when he's finally given the chance, after much ado, he goes for "safe."
The book, though, is more about family, specifically Italian family, and how they fight and quarrel and love and forgive...more
The book, though, is more about family, specifically Italian family, and how they fight and quarrel and love and forgive...more
There is no secret that I adore Adriana Trigiani. She is an amazing woman, writer, and author. I have been lucky enough to spend time with her and this is where I stumbled on to this treasure of audio. Adriana is an amazing story-teller.... not only in her books, but in everyday life. Recently at a lunch in New York, Adriana shared stories about her books and about her good friend Mario recording Rococo. (You may recognize Mario from the Sex In The City movie).
When I left that luncheon I knew I...more
When I left that luncheon I knew I...more
Audio Book read by Stephen Hoye
Bartolomeo di Crespi is THE decorator in town, proprietor of “The House of B,” and a devout Italian-American Catholic. His dream is to renovate the Our Lady of Fatima parish church, creating an atmosphere of splendor, glory and sense of awe that will bring all the faithful closer to their God. This forms the basic plot line, but there’s a lot more going on. Trigiani has the usual cast of colorful characters, starting with B’s sister Toot (rhymes with “foot”), who i...more
Bartolomeo di Crespi is THE decorator in town, proprietor of “The House of B,” and a devout Italian-American Catholic. His dream is to renovate the Our Lady of Fatima parish church, creating an atmosphere of splendor, glory and sense of awe that will bring all the faithful closer to their God. This forms the basic plot line, but there’s a lot more going on. Trigiani has the usual cast of colorful characters, starting with B’s sister Toot (rhymes with “foot”), who i...more
Just before leaving on my most recent car trip I couldn't help but grab an Adriana Trigiani audiobook when it crossed my path. Normally I avoid abridged audiobooks like the plague, but I didn't notice this was abridged until after I started it, so I figured I might as well finish it. I have to say that this is easily my least favorite Trigiani book, and I hate to admit that may only be because it is different. While there are still plenty of Italian Americans in a small town setting, this story...more
Adriana Trigiani's "Rococo" does not evoke the 1970 I knew, but then I lived in split-level midwest suburbia, not moneyed New Jersey, and I was young (a mere babe, an infant. Practically in utero.) However, it certainly does evoke the Italian families I knew, and have had the privilege to join.
I was a bit misled by the front cover art, thinking the main character would be a woman and even a bit deceived by B's voice, so that it was a bit of a jolt to realize he was a man. Sometimes the referenc...more
I was a bit misled by the front cover art, thinking the main character would be a woman and even a bit deceived by B's voice, so that it was a bit of a jolt to realize he was a man. Sometimes the referenc...more
I've read other books by Adriana Trigiani and enjoyed her "Big Stone Gap" trilogy. I found this book too predictable, the characters more like caricatures. It was sent in the 1970's but written in 2005. It felt like the author did that more to be able to describe the bad fashion and decorating sensibilities than for any character development. Ultimately, I gave up and stopped reading because I just didn't care about what happened.
5 likes · like · see review
Adriana Trigiani's words + Mario Cantone's voice = perfect together in this entertaining audio book!
The year is 1970. The place is New Jersey. Enter Bartolomeo di Crespi, the interior decorator of Our Lady of Fatima, New Jersey (OLOF for short). Affectionately known as "B", he is a middle-aged bachelor with a large, colorful Italian-American family firmly situated in South Jersey. (Those of us from North Jersey understand my need to state this fact). B travels to London, Italy and New York City...more
The year is 1970. The place is New Jersey. Enter Bartolomeo di Crespi, the interior decorator of Our Lady of Fatima, New Jersey (OLOF for short). Affectionately known as "B", he is a middle-aged bachelor with a large, colorful Italian-American family firmly situated in South Jersey. (Those of us from North Jersey understand my need to state this fact). B travels to London, Italy and New York City...more
I so enjoyed this book. Being of Italian descent I can easily relate to the behaviors, mannerisms, sayings and traditions covered in this book. This following excerpt from the book describes it so very accurately and beautifully: "We have a way of being as a family that is purely Italian, beginning with the food we eat and ending with the regalia of our funerals. The care we take with our recipes, the slow preparation of the food, the retelling of old stories with the same familiar punch lines,...more
This is not my first time reading a novel from Adriana Trigiani and I think each book she writes just gets better and better. This book was no exception. Set in the backdrop of New Jersey with an Italian-American family I felt like this family could have been my own. Her writing is descriptive (almost too much at rare times) but her characters just come alive on the page. Multiple times I laughed out loud as I so often do in her books. Another thing I love that she does is places recipes appropr...more
After reading Very Valentine, I went to the library to see if there were any other Adriana Trigiani books. After checking out this one, and reading the first chapter, I was more than pleasantly surprised to find out that the action takes place in the very neighborhoods and towns where I grew up!
The story, which takes place in 1970, tells a light tale of a small town interior designer who is eager to get the job to refurbish and update his church. Trigiani writes her characters with clear voices...more
The story, which takes place in 1970, tells a light tale of a small town interior designer who is eager to get the job to refurbish and update his church. Trigiani writes her characters with clear voices...more
I haven't rated this novel as high as I have other Trigiani novels because it didn't have the usual umph her others have had. I thought the plot line was too simple and didn't flow with her usual shimmering prose. I felt the story didn't end properly. After such a HUGE build up about renovating the Church, there was no focal point at the end where the parishoners extolled the virtues of Bartolomeo's decorating. Although I did enjoy this novel, it just wasn't as good as her previous works and I w...more
Jun 24, 2011
Katie
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2011books,
adriana-trigiani
My feelings about this book were perfectly quoted by Dawn: "Adriana Trigiani is my favorite author. Even though this is not my favorite book by Adriana, it was still a very enjoyable read. Maybe it was a little bit harder for me to get into because I am used to her books having women as the main character." I perhaps said these exact words to my husband as I was reading the novel! I don't understand that if the main character is a male why there is a female in high heels pictured on the front co...more
I know, I know. I said in my In My Mailbox post last week that I was going to save Rococo for later, since I've been reading a lot of Adriana Trigiani lately and I want to make her books last. But, I have no self-control. That is why I read compulsively! I just couldn't return Rococo to the library without reading it.
I love all things Adriana Trigiani so I was shocked that I didn't like Rococo more than I did. I had a hard time getting into the book---it wasn't until I was about halfway through...more
I love all things Adriana Trigiani so I was shocked that I didn't like Rococo more than I did. I had a hard time getting into the book---it wasn't until I was about halfway through...more
I was very disappointed with this book. So far I've read the two first books in the authors series "Big Stone Gap", absolutely loved and adored both of them, especially the second "Big Cherry Holler". However this book was a very big disappointment, it tells the story of how the decorator "B" gets the job of renovating his home town church. I'm sure this book could be both interesting and enjoyable, but I just never get to care about the characters and when half the book consists of "B"'s opinio...more
May 28, 2013
Jesse
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Chick Lit fans
I chose this book off of the library shelf because I loved Trigiani's "The Shoemaker's Wife". Although I didn't love "Rococo" nearly as much as Shoemaker - it was still a fun read.
Trigiani's description of New Jersey's 1st and 2nd generation Italian Americans is spot on and hilarious.
If you love HGTV AND Chick Lit - you'll love this book. It's essentially about an Italian American bachelor living in Jersey whose only goal is to make his entire (enormous) family step away from the polyester and...more
Trigiani's description of New Jersey's 1st and 2nd generation Italian Americans is spot on and hilarious.
If you love HGTV AND Chick Lit - you'll love this book. It's essentially about an Italian American bachelor living in Jersey whose only goal is to make his entire (enormous) family step away from the polyester and...more
I ended up liking this book more than I thought I would at first. I have no interest at all in interior decorating (my house is just a wooden box that encloses my knitting supplies) so all that added fat about the decorating field just made me say, "Okay so you did your research, so please quit showing off and get on with the story," which eventually she did. In the meantime I got very good at skimming through the b-b-booooring decorating and descriptive fat and seeking-out the much more intrigu...more
Not as riveting as the Big Stone Gap trilogy, but another fine effort by Ms Trigiani. Bartolomeo, known as B to family and friends, is a heterosexual interior decorator, living and working on the New Jersey Shore in 1970. The interaction with his extended family and many friends provide lots of laughs as B gets his fondest wish and then experiences creative brain freeze. The dialogue is hilarious at times and the evocation of miriad relatives almost makes it necessary to keep notes to keep them...more
Listened to this on my commute. It was read by someone with a fairly authentic Jersey accent, so that added personality. This is a feel-good book -- pure entertainment, with engaging characters, some unrealistic events, amusing situations, happy endings, and a few yummy recipes thrown in for fun.
The author has a way with words. The descriptions of decor, clothing, architecture, and fabric were spot-on, conjuring vivid mental images. There are some moments that made me think for a minute and many...more
The author has a way with words. The descriptions of decor, clothing, architecture, and fabric were spot-on, conjuring vivid mental images. There are some moments that made me think for a minute and many...more
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I am about 3/4 of the way through this one. I have read some of the author's other books...all just wonderfully entertaining. This one is more of the same...dessert for your soul. Trigiani gives a wonderful idea of what the Italian-American experience was in the middle of the last century. Having grown up in a similar situation, I find myself laughing and thinking of my own Italian-American childhood! Go find her books if you need to relax and laugh! Despite the "lightness" of this novel, there...more
enjoyable tale of a male interior designer whose dream is renovate his local parish church. He gets the chance to do it - and with the help of family and some new friends, he is able complete the task with renovations far beyond his original plans and dreams. The juxtaposition of his adventures in international design with the everyday big Italian family issues keeps things amusing. I kept waiting for romance in this book - it seemed to happen to everyone but the main character (Bartolomeo - lov...more
Wow; a Trigiani book that I didn't LOVE!
I'm not sure how I feel about this book. Even though I'm Italian and from New Jersey, I didn't really connect with the individual characters. Perhaps it was because the central character was a 40-year-old male interior decorator. There was something about him that just didn't ring true for me. (He was unlike any Italian or Ital/Amer man I have ever met!) After a while, I realized the story wasn't about him; he was just the figure who held all the other ch...more
I'm not sure how I feel about this book. Even though I'm Italian and from New Jersey, I didn't really connect with the individual characters. Perhaps it was because the central character was a 40-year-old male interior decorator. There was something about him that just didn't ring true for me. (He was unlike any Italian or Ital/Amer man I have ever met!) After a while, I realized the story wasn't about him; he was just the figure who held all the other ch...more
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I enjoyed this book so much. It had so many laugh out loud moments for me. It was definitely much needed after all the tears I shed with The Shoemaker's Wife.
B and Toot had such an amazing relationship. It reminds me of the one I have with my older brother of 11 years.
This was a book about a designer that was married to his work -his art. I enjoyed all of the details about his work and the designs, because he was so passionate about it. It was like reading about how much you love your s...more
I enjoyed this book so much. It had so many laugh out loud moments for me. It was definitely much needed after all the tears I shed with The Shoemaker's Wife.
B and Toot had such an amazing relationship. It reminds me of the one I have with my older brother of 11 years.
This was a book about a designer that was married to his work -his art. I enjoyed all of the details about his work and the designs, because he was so passionate about it. It was like reading about how much you love your s...more
I would give this 3.5 stars if that were a choice however I went with 4 mostly because it's an Adriana Trigiani book. She is one of my favorite authors. I love her characters and there were some great ones in this book but I felt the story fell a little flat and the ending seemed rushed. The premise is original and it was interesting to see her write from a male's perspective. I just wish there had been that sweet magic that caused me to fall in love with her other books.
So gad to be finished with this book and move on to something else. The best thing I liked was the cammaradarie of the family. Really neat interaction. I could not get into the descriptions of all the clothing, art all things interior directory. I liked the whole refurbish the church theme. That was cool. And the storyline of the rich lady and the 40 yr old daughter. HA Other than that, this was a book that I was very happy to be finished with.
I did laugh my way through parts of this book. Maybe because of the stereotyping of the characters, but at times I felt like I was reading a SNL skit. Also, for the first part of the book I really thought the main character was a woman from the way it was written. I don't think it's as good as Queen of the Big Time, but it is very different. The decorating descriptions are a little wordy in places and bog down the story. I enjoyed it enough to want to finish it though.
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Bestselling author 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 bestseller Big Stone Gap. The heartwarming story continues in the novel's sequels...more
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“Relief is a wonderful emotion, highly underrated. In fact, I prefer it to elation or joy. Relief lets the air out of the Tire of Pain.”
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“It [money] doesn't have anything have anything to do with the magnificence of a person. It doesn't. What matters is what you make. Whether it's a cake for bingo night or a costume for a saint or a wall of water--whatever you pour into this life is what makes you rich.”
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