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3.36 AVERAGE
3.36 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
For Memorial Day weekend in 2022 I went to Boston with my family. The Barnes and Noble at the Prudential Center was closing and therefore having a huge sale. On the New Fiction shelf there was Auntie Poldi and the Handsome Antonio. The cover caught my eye and being set in Sicily caught my interest. I bought it even though it's the third book in a series. I put off reading it until I could start with book one.
Fast forward to this summer and Audible has the four translated Auntie Poldi books available on their included catalog.
The narration is really good. I like the different voices Matt Addis performed and he really captured the humor. While there are plenty of funny moments, sassy comments from Poldi, and antidotes about Sicily, Giordano doesn't neglect that Poldi is alcoholic that is struggling to remain sober and sometimes she does become depressed.
It was a good murder mystery that kept me guessing with the obvious red herrings. I also loved the mention of Chekhov's Gun. I want to say more but I don't want spoil the mystery either.
I also bought the e-book for $2.99 and there's a Q&A with Mario Giordano. He mentioned that he really did have a glamorous, Bavarian aunt named Poldi who moved to Sicily when she was sixty and she drank herself into a grave. The protagonist is a loosely based on her and the mystery genre is how he's telling a semi-autobiographical story. In this case writing what you know is working.
4 out of 5 Lions.
Memorable quotes:
Page 10 - ...and the relationship between physical stature and criminality in the male population of Sicily. His rule of thumb: the shorter the man, the more threatening and the more likely to be a Mafioso.
Page 20 - The fact was, Poldi had a hobby: photographing good-looking traffic cops from all over the world.
Page 26 - The chocolate and pistachio ice creams had run into each other; they tasted sweet and bitter and salty. Like tears and unfulfilled hopes, she thought.
Page 37 - Quite unnecessarily, it should be added, but having been a costume designer she ought to know.
"A woman's supreme rule for success in business," she told me later, "is: when the chips are down, show plenty of cleavage."
Page 37- "...Always overdress - Karl Lagerfeld told me that. It's an old theatrical rule: moderation is a sign of weakness. Get that into your fat head."
Page 55- "You chatted him up," I exclaimed when she told me about it later. "You find a dead body and flirt with the chief investigator. You're simply-"
"Shameless?"
"No, totally cool."
Page 61 - "No playing Miss Marple, are we agreed?"
"We'd make such a good team, though."
Page 73 - First, however, she bought herself a notebook in which she recorded every lead, every clue, every name, every phone number, every fart - absolutely every last thing. The most important leads she neatly transferred to a card index and pinned up on the wall of her bedroom, together with photographs, newspaper articles and a map of Sicily.
Page 153 - "You've got to make lists in life," Poldi advised me some weeks later. "Lists are magical-that's because they develop a life of their own. Once you start one, it insists on being continued ad infinitum. You may cross out an item from time to time, but you're never finished. A list is never complete, remember..." <- story of my life.
Page 155 - Russo and Patané were arguing in Sicilian, and that, it should be pointed out, has as much in common with Italian as Swiss German with Frisian. The gulf between Italian and regional dialects is far greater than in most countries, and Sicilian is more than a dialect. It is a guttural, almost Arabic-sounding mélange, the phonetic heritage of all the races that have ever occupied the island. Significantly enough, Sicilian has no future tense.
Page 155 - The message is unmistakable: we live in the here and now, and only in the here and now.
Fast forward to this summer and Audible has the four translated Auntie Poldi books available on their included catalog.
The narration is really good. I like the different voices Matt Addis performed and he really captured the humor. While there are plenty of funny moments, sassy comments from Poldi, and antidotes about Sicily, Giordano doesn't neglect that Poldi is alcoholic that is struggling to remain sober and sometimes she does become depressed.
It was a good murder mystery that kept me guessing with the obvious red herrings. I also loved the mention of Chekhov's Gun. I want to say more but I don't want spoil the mystery either.
I also bought the e-book for $2.99 and there's a Q&A with Mario Giordano. He mentioned that he really did have a glamorous, Bavarian aunt named Poldi who moved to Sicily when she was sixty and she drank herself into a grave. The protagonist is a loosely based on her and the mystery genre is how he's telling a semi-autobiographical story. In this case writing what you know is working.
4 out of 5 Lions.
Memorable quotes:
Page 20 - The fact was, Poldi had a hobby: photographing good-looking traffic cops from all over the world.
Page 26 - The chocolate and pistachio ice creams had run into each other; they tasted sweet and bitter and salty. Like tears and unfulfilled hopes, she thought.
Page 37 - Quite unnecessarily, it should be added, but having been a costume designer she ought to know.
"A woman's supreme rule for success in business," she told me later, "is: when the chips are down, show plenty of cleavage."
Page 37- "...Always overdress - Karl Lagerfeld told me that. It's an old theatrical rule: moderation is a sign of weakness. Get that into your fat head."
Page 55- "You chatted him up," I exclaimed when she told me about it later. "You find a dead body and flirt with the chief investigator. You're simply-"
"Shameless?"
"No, totally cool."
Page 61 - "No playing Miss Marple, are we agreed?"
"We'd make such a good team, though."
Page 73 - First, however, she bought herself a notebook in which she recorded every lead, every clue, every name, every phone number, every fart - absolutely every last thing. The most important leads she neatly transferred to a card index and pinned up on the wall of her bedroom, together with photographs, newspaper articles and a map of Sicily.
Page 153 - "You've got to make lists in life," Poldi advised me some weeks later. "Lists are magical-that's because they develop a life of their own. Once you start one, it insists on being continued ad infinitum. You may cross out an item from time to time, but you're never finished. A list is never complete, remember..." <- story of my life.
Page 155 - Russo and Patané were arguing in Sicilian, and that, it should be pointed out, has as much in common with Italian as Swiss German with Frisian. The gulf between Italian and regional dialects is far greater than in most countries, and Sicilian is more than a dialect. It is a guttural, almost Arabic-sounding mélange, the phonetic heritage of all the races that have ever occupied the island. Significantly enough, Sicilian has no future tense.
Page 155 - The message is unmistakable: we live in the here and now, and only in the here and now.
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
funny
mysterious
TLDR: German auntie living in Sicily has adventures and solves crime.
https://klishis.com/reading/archives/17751
https://klishis.com/reading/archives/17751
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I enjoy les this book so much! The writing was clever and the setting spectacular!
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I probably wouldn’t have finished this if there was anything remotely time consuming or stressful going on in my life but I read this during a chill week. I didn’t really find poldi likeable until like halfway through the book and since we know so little about the victim and the nephew is just the narrator, there isn’t really anyone to root for or care about. I also wasn’t really eager to solve the crime before they did. There weren’t any clear stakes until the very end. Also I’m sure they get back together in a sequel, but I thought the end of their relationship was really weird and rushed. Very meh sort of ending. But I did appreciate the depiction of depression and hopelessness.
Caricatures, not characters. Could be set anywhere hot, doesn't feel like it's actually in Italy.
That was a pleasant read.
I can't say much about the writing since this work was translated, but I found it enjoyable. It is definitely the kind of easy read I needed right now. I didn't want something incredibly emotionally draining, and this was so fun and lighthearted.
I didn't exactly care for the narration style, but I could look past that. I'm not sure if I'll read another book by this author or within this series, but this was a pleasant way to occupy my brain and spend the time.
I can't say much about the writing since this work was translated, but I found it enjoyable. It is definitely the kind of easy read I needed right now. I didn't want something incredibly emotionally draining, and this was so fun and lighthearted.
I didn't exactly care for the narration style, but I could look past that. I'm not sure if I'll read another book by this author or within this series, but this was a pleasant way to occupy my brain and spend the time.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated