Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - One Italian Summer

Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle

37 reviews

khymihr's review against another edition

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reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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mattiedancer's review against another edition

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hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Writing: 3.75⭐️/5

Rebecca Serle writes almost hard and clear about what hurts. Something in her writing felt a bit distant to me when talking about very intimate emotions, but overall the writing of the novel did not take away from the reading experience, and in fact, felt relatively focused and pointed. I do wish Serle had pushed the writing a bit further, doing a bit more showing rather than telling at the heart of the hardest moments.

Characters: 3⭐️/5

Alright, so at certain intervals all the characters feel real. At other times, they didn’t quite fit. Both Katy’s mom and Katy felt real for the most part. However, the hotel’s staff very much slipped into the novel to be very convenient plot devices. In a similar vein, Katy herself – while a well-developed character – read as extremely juvenile at times. Her obsession with keeping her mom to herself was odd, and her anger at finding out her mother left her as a child (which results in her sleeping with someone who is not her husband almost out of revenge), felt very petulant and small. I understand everyone processes grief differently, but I had a hard time buying into a 30-year-old woman thinking about her mother as “hers” in a very toddler-like way.

Plot: 3⭐️/5

The overarching plot felt interesting, but the details really didn’t feel right. I understand, on a deep level, needing to run away in order to heal from loss and manage grief. However, the way the character then acted as she ran into her mother and started to fall for a stranger in her hotel felt a bit disjointed. In regards to the magical realism, it's also implied that she really did travel back in time, which means she cheated on her husband and decided to never reveal that to him, which, all in all, felt very immature and shitty. Another hold-up I had was the sheer number of details that were so unnecessary. It felt a bit travel journal-ly in the way that Serle chose to recount nearly every meal our MC ate. While I appreciate that as an appeal to travelling to Italy, it felt incongruent with the purpose and theme of the novel.

Who Should Read This Book?

Those looking for a “lighter” read about death and grief
Those looking for a bit of summer escapism into Italy with some serious topics

Content Warnings?

Death of parent, grief, death, abandonment, infidelity, sexual content, gaslighting, medical content, terminal illness, chronic illness, cancer

Post-Reading Rating: 2.75⭐️/5

Oh. I guess?

Final Rating: 3⭐️/5

Content Warnings

kelsimarirobb's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Content Warnings

tsodeur's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

morganw33's review against another edition

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fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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fkshg8465's review

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emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was hard to read because I found nursing grieving my own mother all throughout it, yearning to know her in her youth, wanting to hold her and tell her how proud I am of her and how proud I am to be her daughter. If only I too could get a do over…a book about how mothers and daughters can and it to be for each other.

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lavatea's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Content Warnings

graceboyd's review against another edition

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emotional sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Awful. Goodreads has the in depth review

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cakeroo's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

For my fellow Gilmore Girls fans- Lauren Graham narrates the audiobook version of One Italian Summer and she does an amazing job.

The originality of the plot of One Italian Summer appealed to me quite a bit, but nothing else lived up to my expectations. The characters were boring and their experiences read a bit like wish fulfillment (with the exception of the mother's death). Who wouldn't want to spend a summer in Italy eating amazing food, drinking wine all day, going dancing, falling for a handsome & wealthy stranger? The heavier aspects of the novel were overshadowed by the romantic ideal of an Italian summer. In addition to being boring, I found some of the characters' actions to be reprehensible.

The main character cheats on her husband but it isn't treated as such. The main character's mother abandons her infant daughter to party in Italy for a summer and everyone excuses this behavior after the initial (and very short lived) feeling of betrayal. Personally, I think it's dangerous and reductive to contribute to the narrative that a woman's life and sense of self stops the moment she has a child. Women continue to be individuals after becoming mothers. They can also continue to change and grow without having to abandon their families. I think there is much more to be gained in having children than lost, and it would have been nice if the book had explored that more

.

I think the author's writing really shined when she wrote about grief. The passages about Katy's depression during her mother's illness, and the subsequent anger and grief, were really moving. She didn't shy away from the dark thoughts that can come from grieving. I also enjoyed her descriptions of setting. In the end, I think this author is probably a decent writer and I will likely give her another chance.

Edit: I knocked this down from 2.5 to 2 stars because I remembered that Katy unironically mentions shopping at Erewhon.

Content Warnings

butle2em's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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