nhillerwafer 's review for:

The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna by Juliet Grames
4.0
This book was really incredible - once I got into it, I fell completely into the life of Stella and her experiences in Italy and being an immigrant to America. The writing was stellar and I love novels that follow a character throughout their life - books driven by characterization rather than a set plot.
However, I felt this novel had issues with pacing and editing. Or that the author took on too much for what is already a really long book (and maybe the first draft was twice as long, wouldn't surprise me). Grames would put the entire history of a character in one paragraph, then move on. Or a character would be a significant source of strife for Stella and have a traumatic effect on her life, but then that same character and their relationship with Stella wouldn't be further explained or explored even though their presence persisted in her life. On the whole, I just wanted more from this book, more on her life, more on her relationships - but that would have made the book way too long! (Maybe it could have been The Six or Seven Deaths of Stella Fortuna, heh heh.)
Also:
Spoiler I just wanted Stella to be happy. Her life was full of trauma, and her characterization was so strong, I had to believe she wouldn't fall into the same path her mother, sister, and every other woman did at that time. Even though I liked the part about her change/depression after her marriage, I figured she would come out of it. But having 10 children?! Staying married to her husband?! - which, as I mentioned above, was one of the relationships that felt underdeveloped after their initial year of marriage. Like, everyone seemed to like Carmelo and he seemed like a kind fella other than the whole raping his wife thing, so what did the rest of their marriage look like? Their relationship was never talked about after their first year of marriage, which wasn't quite satisfying. It was just so tragic to watch this character, so stubborn and smart and steadfast, completely change for the worse over the course of her life. Realistic, yes, but I wanted even some taste of redemption for Stella, some iota of peace. Even the ending was left open, no resolution - again, realistic, but I wanted a hopeful ending. I don't ask for the book to be wrapped up so neatly and nicely, but just some hope for this woman who has suffered so much. Maybe that was the point - a book thematically focused on the suffering of women with no relief, true to our history and our culture. Not satisfying in reality, and not satisfying in this book. Anyway, I really liked this book, but wanted more than what was given.