This a fascinating and sometimes horrifying story about the life and near‑deaths of Stella Fortuna, an Italian immigrant born in a remote mountain village shortly after the first world war. It's presented as a fictionalized biography of the author's grandmother and would have been convincing as such if the toxic masculinity of several family members had been toned down. I’ve got to admit the middle dragged a bit and I got frustrated with Stella’s obstinacy more than a few times but the revelations near the end wouldn’t have had the same impact if this had been shorter. It’s one of the most expressively narrated audiobooks I’ve listened to - I don’t know that I would've felt the same connection to Stella's story if I'd read the print version instead. ( )

This book was fucking devastating. The first 2/3 or so felt like Big Fish or even History of Love, just spectacular character portraits and suspense/drama with the flash-forward in time (being told by the granddaughter), beautifully evocative descriptions of Calabria and quirky yet completely awful tales of near-death. Just goddamn good storytelling!!!

THEN. Fucking Carmelo and his bullshit, and Stella being incapable of telling ANYONE about her father, leading to decades of sadness and neglected children and then OOPS child molestation and incest??!?! Fuck.

I loved reading this book (except for the last third) but I can’t recommend it to anyone because it hurt too much. Yet another reason for comprehensive sex Ed beginning in preschool and outlawing lobotomies. Sigh. ( )

A beautifully written but very, very heavy story of generational trauma. For the right reader in the right mindset this book would be an instant favorite - and for good reason - but it did not settle well with me. The story is well told, the characters are complex and intriguing, and the plot kept me engaged enough to want to continue reading but, man, was it relentlessly depressing.

Also as a content warning: there is a LOT of sexual and physical abuse in this book. ( )

I needed to discuss this one as soon as I finished it, and think readers will enjoy the strong writing, tough female lead, and the Italian history woven throughout.

Digital audiobook performed by Lisa Flanagan
3.5***

In her debut novel, Grames explores the lives of two sisters and the rift between them. Spanning a century, we follow Stella Fortuna from her birth in a small Italian village at the beginning of the 20th century, through her family’s immigration to America, to the birth of successive generations, until she is an old woman mostly confined to bed and still “at war” with her younger sister, Tina, who lives just across the street.

I love family sagas and this one is epic. Stella doesn’t really realize the freedom she enjoys in her small village. Yes, the family is poor, and everyone must work to eke out a living. But they enjoy a certain independence and autonomy because Stella’s father is gone to America. They manage to immigrate just before WW2 breaks out and that freedom from Mussolini is in contrast to the restrictions Stella now faces in Connecticut; arriving at Christmas, the weather is brutally cold, her father rules with an iron hand, they don’t have the language skills, don’t even have room to grow their own tomatoes.

But Stella is a survivor. She works hard and works smart, saving and dreaming of independence. If things don’t work out exactly as she would have liked … well she keeps on.

I really enjoyed this book and this story of one family’s immigrant experience, as well as the background story of what was happening in America during this time. If I have any complaint it’s the device of “seven or eight deaths” that just seems so contrived. Even the title irritates me, as it makes it seem somehow paranormal. But maybe that’s just me.

I listened to the audiobook, performed by Lisa Flanagan, who does a marvelous job. She has a huge cast of characters to deal with and she was up to the task . ( )