Reviews

The Good Left Undone by Adriana Trigiani

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adrianna_0623's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

missyjohnson's review against another edition

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2.0

Not sure that Adriana Trigiani will be any of my want to read lists in the future. I found this book to be sappy, with poorly developed characters, disjointed and predictable. The cover says that it is three generations of women, One remarkable secret. I am not sure what three generations it is referring to as there are four generations focused on with only two that you know much about. I do not know what the remarkable secret was. There was nothing in the book that was remarkable as far as I read. There were gaps in the story that were frustrating and then too much info in areas that were unnecessary. After McVickers dies, the five years that Dominica lives in Scotland at the convent are not even discussed. It just jumps from being a widow and becoming a mother all during the war, then get on a train to Italy. some of the descriptors were annoying as well, for instance, when describing that the Italians had to go to the lower deck berths of the prisoner ship, they were in berths below the water line and the portholes were sealed shut, well duh. Any ship with portholes below the water line had better be sealed shut. Another was when one of the men was packing because he was being rounded up for being Italian in Scotland, he was able to remove his one extra shirt and one pair of underwear in order to make his homemade telescope fit in the suitcase. these lame attempts at tugging at emotion fell very flat......... I am just a bit aggravated that I wasted time on this.

spatterson12's review against another edition

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4.0

Why am I also surprised by how much I enjoy historical fiction? I grew up on Dear America books. I need to respect my past more lol

This has been sitting on my shelf for almost two years. I'm trying to focus on reading my borrowed books this year, so when I saw this author mentioned in a random reading group – I took it as a sign it was time.

The Good Left Undone is a thick buddy. I didn't read the synopsis before diving in, so didn't know what was in store. I could've done without the epilogue and it kind of felt a section was an entirely second book, but it worked in the big picture.

Anina is visiting her grandmother Matelda to pick a piece of jewelry from her collection. In making her selection, Anina recognizes how little she knows of her family history and pushes Matelda to share the familial connections with each piece. In doing so, Matelda flashes back to how her mother, Domenica was forced to leave Italy and move to France away from everything and everyone she has ever known. (All because she tried to save a women from becoming pregnant who had serious health concerns.) Domenica is focused on her work as a nurse and cares for some men who forever change her life.

These flashbacks led to how those of Italian descent were treated during World War II in the United Kingdom. It included personal stories of three families affected by the mistreatment of these people and how the men were torn from their families for further evaluation as they were intended to be shipped to Canada, only for an enemy ship to change their course. (This had me googling the SS Arandora Star.) This historical moment forever shapes Domenica's future and eventually returns her to her homeland. Marking this as a spoiler just in case.

I appreciate the growth of Anina's character as she started focused on material goods – forgetting her grandmother's birthday as she wants all the jewels – but ends with her finding a way to serve the family and consider long-term commitments.