While I am not Italian-American, I have had and have, close friendships with a number of people of Italian descent, and because they were so kind and welcoming to me, I knew a number of their Italian families, including a few in New Jersey, so quite a lot about this novel reminded of them. But really, I'm not sure how much difference there is between Pennsylvanian Italians, New York Italians, and the Jersey Italians of this novel.
The author precedes each chapter with a few "Jersey" dialect Italian words or expressions – some of which I have heard, even used myself, over the years, though many were new to me too. The definitions and pronunciation guides were very helpful (and often very funny), and now I think I could finally order a sfogliatella (a shell-shaped pastry filled with custard), pronounced svoo-ya-del, in an Italian bakery or café without sounding ridiculous or feeling embarrassed.
The words figure into the story, the saga of the Palladino family, which is based in Wyldale, a fictional working-to-middle class town, which sounds like any number of towns I know in north and mid Jersey (or Brooklyn, Queens, or Philly). Varina, the central character, is a 70-ish widow, who operates a small Italian food specialty store. Sylvia Spini, her 90-plus mother, also widowed, lives with her, and has made finding Varina a boyfriend, who could perhaps even become a new husband, the mission of her remaining years.
There are three grown children: Davide, a high-end hairdresser, owns several salons in the better towns in the area. A ladies' man, he is successful and always in and out of relationships. Dante is the other son, who now heads the family's other business, construction, until recently run by Varina's brother Tommy, who retires and decamps to Florida. Dante is amicably divorced from Pandora, his Greek-American (wow) wife, and has a college-age daughter, Gabriella. The youngest, Donatella, is the wild child, a thirty-something woman who is always in some kind of trouble or difficulty. I must digress here – I love these character's names, which are so expressive of the family's Italian heritage.
The "almost" fourth child is Paulie, a gay man who was rejected by his own parents when they couldn't accept his orientation. He has been unofficially adopted by the Palladinos, works in Dante's business, and since their childhood, has been Donatella's best friend, protector, fall guy, and as an adult, her sometimes lover, despite his identity.
Sylvia and Donatella secretly team up to find a man for Varina, leading to all kinds of unintended, but mostly positive, consequences. Varina makes a new friend, Ruth, a Jewish woman, also widowed, when they meet at a travel agent's office where they have independently booked the same trip to France. Sylvia is skeptical of Ruth (Not Italian, not close to her family, no kids – could she be a lesbian after Varina?), but soon Sylvia will have something else to occupy her thoughts and dreams.
There is one other, shall we say, character in this book, known as Vicky. Vicky is an old-time Victrola record player which has been in the family for generations, that plays opera and waltz music, on its own ghostly schedule...an accompaniment to the three generations of Palladinos and Spinis who have lived in the same house for decades, and just another bit of the craziness of the family dynamic.
Just like life, there are some unexpected twists and turns for the Palladino clan, though we as readers are likely to suss them out before they do. But no matter, as they make for entertaining and heart-pleasing reading that would certainly translate into a joyful film or Netflix series, which I would hope to see one day. As Shakespeare wrote, "All's Well That Ends Well", and the sequence of events makes this novel worthy of your readership.
No comments:
Post a Comment