Lambrusco

by Ellen Cooney

The year is 1943. The Nazis have invaded Italy; American troops have landed. At Aldo's restaurant on the Adriatic coast, Lucia Fantini entertained customers for years with her marvelous opera singing. But normal operations are over. The restaurant has been seized by nazifascisti, and a Resistance squad of waiters and local tradesmen has been formed, led by Lucia's son, Beppino. When Beppino disappears, Lucia must journey across war-devastated Italy to find him. Aided by a richly drawn cast of characters, the story of her adventures is told with the vigor, drama, and lyrical grace of an Italian opera, in a brilliantly arranged narrative that places tragic events side-by-side with high comedy, domestic intrigues, and gripping details. In this captivating story of a mother and son, Cooney enters a world of peril and chance, and brings to life the extraordinary Resistance movement of the Italian people.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Italy, World War II, Audiobook

352 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Ellen Cooney is the author of eleven novels, most recently A Cowardly Woman No More (Coffee House Press, April, 2023). Her short stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Fiction, New England Review, and many other journals. She has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Artists Foundation. Born in Clinton, Massachusetts in 1952, she lived for many years in Cambridge, and taught writing classes and workshops at Boston College, Northeastern University, MIT, Harvard Extension School, and the Seminars at Radcliffe. She lives in Phippsburg, Maine.

Reviews

[Sandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This really is a rather lame book, however I DO feel as if I have spent time in Italy, so it has some fundamental merit.... It is a story about a woman whose life prior to the start of the book, has revolved around opera and singing at her husband's restaurant. The book is her narrative of her chaotic life during WWII, when her home town and the restaurant have been invaded by 'black shirts' (Mussolini's fascists) and she and her son are partisans and on the run. There is too much opera and not enough believability, so I was constantly loosing track of who was who... but it definitely felt italian. And there is one line which I truly liked: "Aldo used to say that when Italians immigrated to America their words no longer sang." or something like that.... I think that is a rich and true description of Italy and it's sad American versions..... When, for instance, does one walk in an American city and hear Opera being sung by workmen on a ladder? In Rome, I heard this, and it was wonderful. So I think what Aldo said is true..... Long live the passion and verse in everyday italian language!

[Beth Farley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of course I can't resist a World War 2 setting, especially from a venue I haven't read from before. I think this would have worked better for me though from a third person perspective and not so much opera.

[Karla Huebner]

A poetic novel set in Nazi-occupied fascist Italy. I sometimes lost track of just what was happening, but overall I liked it.

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a rare treat in an audio book - a compelling story, told beautifully and in a way that was enhanced by having it read aloud. I found myself staying in the car with the engine running so I could listen to it, not to get through it or even to find out what happened, but just for the pure joy of listening to the language.

The story is about Lucia, a mother and singer, who is helping her son rebel against the fascist government in WWII Italy. During a supply run, she's intercepted by an American spy posing as a nun, who warns Lucia she's being looked for, because her son blew up a German car.

Parts of the story are told in a dream-like way, or outright in dreams. Lucia suffers a head wound, and so there are parts of the narrative we can't trust, or that contradict other parts. It's an excellent use of an unreliable narrator, and the first time I haven't wanted to stop reading (or listening, anyway) in exasperation.

The words in the novel, themselves, were very well-chosen. They rolled along, song-like, and were a joy to listen to. The narrator adds the interesting touch of reading most of the book in an Italian accent, and reading American characters in a flat, accent-less voice. The language in the book definitely reads better with the musical Italian lilt to the words, and I don't think I'll be able to read a print copy without the accent.

I think this book has a fairly wide appeal, and so I'd recommend it to most. It should especially interest WWII buffs and fans of strong female characters (and of books that pass the Bechdel test).

In the interest of full disclosure, however, I will add here that Ellen Cooney was my writing professor for a semester a decade or so ago.

[Lynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't engaged with any of the characters until near the end. The horror of the partisans'lives grew steadily throughout the book.

[Jerry Kolwinska · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed. The fly leaf suggested something more exciting than the book delivers. It is too introspective even for a first person narrator. Most of the action, if one can call it action, of the novel takes place in a detached, stream-of-consciousness narrative as the protagonist tries to make sense of what is happening around her.

Even the carnage of the Italian front seems blunted by this detachment. Partisans are murdered, but their deaths are not presented to the reader. Villages are bombed, but the death and destruction are muted by the distance the protagonist creates between herself and the scenes she witnesses.

The search for the protagonist’s son, which the fly leaf builds as a major element of the plot, really is more of a mind game for the protagonist.

There are just too many holes in the plot to make this a great read.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to this book, which may impact my perception. As Lucia searches for her son, her stream of consciousness became somewhat surreal. The tone reminded me of Alice in Wonderland, though the content is obviously different.

[Charlee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did not finish because I couldn't follow the story. Poetic writing, but doesn't make sense.

[Krista]

DNF

[Rebecca L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had not heard of this book prior to purchasing it. The lovely cover art is what first intrigued me. I love to read a book that draws me into a different culture. Lambrusco by Ellen Cooney is an immersion into WWII Italy. The days are bleak as the lead character and narrator, Lucia Fantini, takes the reader on a heart-wrenching tour of the country as she unsuccessfully tries to locate her missing son and find her voice along the way. Along the way, we discover the cost innocent civilians pay as their cities and country become occupied by the enemy, and the tragedies which occur not only to Italians but to the land itself. Although the setting is dark, it is a story about rebuilding- a widow learning how to create a new life for herself and a country determined to survive and keep its heritage alive.
Read more at www.thekeytothegate.blogspot.com/2012...

[Ann Costello · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a story of the German occupation of Italy during World War II. Lucia Fantini has spent her adult life singing opera to patrons of her husband's restaurant. But now the restaurant has been seized to service the Nazis and Lucia's son has formed a partisan unit with waiters from the restaurant. He has also--all alone--blown up a German tank and disappeared. Lucia is annoyed, "What kind of partisan are you, blowing something up without telling your mother?" Lucia leaves her home to find him, aided by a colorful and nice group of neighbors and friends. Along the way, she has conversations with her favorite composers and sees German-orchestrated tragedies. Funny and sad at the same time.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not Corelli's Mandolin, but it is an uplifting story of local partisans facing the evil Nazis and the too eager Americans occupying their beloved country. Well worth spending a little time in WWII Italy. Ir would be specially entertaining, I imagine, for opera buffs with all of the protagonist's imaginary conversations with famous composers and singers.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good read...a local opera singer, Lucia Fantini, leads two secret lives, as a member of the Italian resistance and as a woman in love with a married man. Engine of the story is Lucia's search through the war-torn countryside for her missing son (another partisan) in the company of the afore-mentioned married man. Vivid and with an exquisitely-drawn cast of quirky characters. Real-life humor.

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A character study in 1944 as the Americans entered Italy. It is interesting as you see it from the partisan side, and what they were willing to do to help defeat the Germans as well as how they felt about the Fascists. Life was tough for the Italians as they watched their country, their communities, and their way of life crumble.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to the book on CD on long commutes and it was engrossing. I liked the insight into that era (WWII), that area of Italy, and the cast of characters, especially Marciallina, an old busybody. It ended pretty abruptly.

[Hilary Ellison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably the most unusual, witty, and VERY Italian novel I have read about WWII. It explores a period that is less known: the civilian/military/ partisan groups of family and friends after the Allied invasion of Italy.

[Jodee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like WWII history and it was different to follow a storyline through an occupied country.

[Lu]

Italian Resistance movement & mother's search for son

[Nancy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not sure I get the point of this.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this short novel! Cute forbidden love story entertwined within a war time.

[Kathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn't finish this book. It's all over the place with so much description you lose the train of thought by the time you finish the sentence.