Review by louisekf - The View From Lake Como

louisekf 's review for:

The View From Lake Como by Adriana Trigiani

4.0

emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad medium-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

The View From Lake Como features a boisterous, large Italian-American family who live in Lake Como, New Jersey. The main female character is Jess (Giuseppina), who we meet as a young divorcee living in her parents’ basement and trying to figure out what to do with the rest of her life. She loves the job she has with her uncle Louie, working with the family business, Capodimonte Marble. Her ex is still in her life because they both grew up in the same small town. When a tragedy happens and some secrets about the family business come to light, Jess eagerly leaves for her dream trip to Italy, specifically to the town of Carrara where the world-famous marble is quarried. Contrary to the title of the book, only a small portion of the story takes place in the “other” Lake Como, the one in Italy. Most of the action there centers around Carrara.

I really enjoyed watching Jess step into her own, doing things she wanted to do, not what her overbearing family and her ex wanted her to do. They all took her for granted, and she took on the role of “maiden aunt”, cooking and planning for the weekly Sunday family dinners and more. In Italy, she finally had the room to figure out what it was SHE wanted. We get a lot of her backstory from journal entries she writes as part of an online therapy program.

I disliked her parents and their questionable decisions (in the past) about what to do for their three children (an older brother and an older sister, along with Jess). I really felt for Jess when her dream of going to Rutgers University and living in a dorm was pulled out from under her at the last minute.

Speaking of that, here’s one thing that made no sense to me, as a New Jerseyan. Jess wound up commuting to Montclair State University, which is way further from Lake Como than Rutgers is. Why couldn’t she get her education at Rutgers and commute there instead of schlepping all the way to Montclair? It’s not explained and if you didn’t know NJ geography, you’d never question it.

I was lucky enough to get a hardcover sent to me as well as an e-galley and I bounced between the print version and the audio from PRH Audio. Mira Sorvino did a great job with all the accents on the audio. Her New Jersey accents are perfection. (I should know, I have one myself, I’ve been told!)

Thank you to Dutton, Megan Beattie PR and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance reader copy of this book and to PRH Audio for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of this audiobook. I buddy read this one with my husband, who grabbed the hardcover, while I read the e-galley and listened to the audio. All opinions are my own.

Content Warnings