Another ex-bookworm group review:Since I chose this book it will come as no surprise to anyone that I like it. I like it a lot. Yet, at first glance, it doesn't seem my sort of book at all. Had someone outlined the plot, I might have rolled my eyes heavenwards and thought to myself "Mills and Boon" or, since it is set in a sleepy hamlet in the Blue Ridge Mountains, "Mills and Boondocks"! But I would have missed a delightful experience had I not read it. I think Ms Trigiani's strongest talent is the ability to create characters you really care about. Although not being reviewed here, I also read the sequel "Big Cherry Holler" and I was absolutely on the edge of my seat and couldn't go to bed until I made sure things turned out the way I hoped. I've never been anywhere near the Blue Ridge Mountains, but I know people like this. They may be quirky and talk with a southern American accent (not many people say "whooped the tar" in Ealing Broadway!) but they were real to me, their feelings were real and I felt with and for them. I laughed at their antics and cried at their sorrows and for as long as I read the book (and after) I felt like they were part of my neighbourhood or I was part of Big Stone Gap. Obviously, since I am female, I identified with some of the women. Like Pearl, I was an ugly duckling that never looked likely to turn into a swan (and never did!). I might be the town spinster like Ave Maria if I lived in a town rather than a city. But weren't the men decent? I wish I had a Theodore to lean on when times get tough and I wish I had Worley and Otto to fix things for me (tradesman round here never turn up). As for Jack Mac, if Ave Maria hadn't got to him first, I'd definitely be interested. If there were more like him, we wouldn't be posting so many messages about what's wrong with men! Remarkably, this book gave me a strong sense of nostalgia for a place I have never been to. I developed quite a yearning to live in a place where the neighbours bring pot roasts and pies when you need them, a place where everyone has a history and everyone else knows what it is. In reality, I probably wouldn't choose to live in Big Stone Gap, but it's nice to know places like this exist, like the end of the rainbow. What I liked best about the book was its warmth. No matter how eccentric the characters were, they fitted in and everyone else cared about them and accepted them the way they were. I cared about them too and found their idiosyncrasies very endearing. It was comforting to realise that people might like you because of your little oddities, rather than in spite of them! This was a book that I picked up at random on a day I was in a hurry and I'm so glad I did. It doesn't have the historical sweep of War and Peace, the emotional intensity of Wuthering Heights, the detailed descriptive passages, complex plotting and coincidences of Bleak House or the manic inventiveness of Slaughterhouse Five. But isn't it great to read a book that just makes you feel good? Big Stone Gap was gentle and funny, personal and real and it made me feel good in a way I haven't since I saw "Field of Dreams".
This is the book that started my mom's & my love for Adriana Trigiani. I decided to reread the whole Big Stone Gap series in anticipation of the new installment, Home to Big Stone Gap. Rereading a book I got ten years ago was really fun. Generally I don't reread books because there are too many new books out there for me to read, but maybe I'll have to try it more often.Big Stone Gap is the story of 35-year-old town spinster Ave Maria Mulligan. The story is set in the small Blue Ridge Mountain town of Big Stone Gap, Virginia in the late 1970s. Clearly I was in love with the small town aspects of the story. There is certainly a charming cast of eccentric supporting characters, although they're really minimized in the abridged audiobook I listened to, which is a shame.Ave Maria's the town pharmacist who's never quite felt like she fit into the life of Big Stone Gap. Her mother was born in Italy and somehow Ave Maria inherited her "foreignness" even though she was born in Virginia. While you miss out on a lot of interesting local color in the audiobook, it did help me focus on Ave Maria's personal struggles as the book is told from her perspective and spends a lot of time with her internal monologues.It also happens to be a romance, although a very reluctant one. You don't get to be the town spinster without avoiding romance at all costs. Despite the fact that I married relatively young, I still identify with Ave Maria, I worried that I would when I read the book in high school. It's so surprising to reread her romantic development now that I'm old enough to have actually had some romance myself. I never been able to understand why as a teenager I loved the story of this 35-year-old so much, but I think it has something to do with the fact that Ave Maria is about as romantically developed as a teenager. She's spent so long shutting people out, that she's never really figured out the give and take that's part of romantic relationships.Plus, in other areas of her life, she really does remind me of me - loves to read, hard-working small town girl, dutiful daughter and all around nice quiet unassuming good girl. She also happens to be best friends with the town librarian, who does anything but fit the typical old-cat-lady stereotype. Iva Lou Wade is essentially Samantha on Sex in the City, except 20 years ago & in rural Virginia.One other quick thing that hasn't been mentioned, this is the book that made me fall in love with Italy. It plays a relatively small role in this book, yet it all seems so wonderful that I've wanted to visit northern Italy ever since I read it.
What do You think about Big Stone Gap (2003)?
My new favorite author is Adriana Trigiani. Wow! Her characters are richly developed. I feel as though I grew up with her friends and family myself. I love how the dialect and way of life reaches out and places you right in the middle of town. I felt that I walked along with Ave Maria instead of looking in on her life. Of course, as a fellow Virginian, I was able to identify with the language dialect and the views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. This is a wonderful read and I encourage anyone to pick up all three of her Big Stone Gap series. You are not going to want to wait for another book once you are finished with one.
—Kristi
This was a very light fun book to read. The story is set in the 70's in a very rural mountain town in Virginia. If there was a list called: "Books set in small quirky towns," I would add this book to it. The cast of characters includes all the quirky lovable types that you would expect in a book like this. The story follows Ave Maria, a single Italian-American woman, as she turns 35 and the following year in her life. I found her character to be very likable and could easily relate to her. The discoveries Ave Maria makes about herself and women in general I thought were insightful and interesting. I liked this book because: (1) the character has several love interests that are all really good guys. No one ruined their chances with Ave Maria by doing something wrong. I had no idea who she would end up with until the very end. (2) It was a good romance book that was rated PG. I only gave it 4 stars because although it was a fun read, it wasn't incredibly mind-blowing. In a year, I probably won't remember the plot.Overall a fun fast read. Looking forward to the following books in the series (so far there are 3 more after this one).
—Laura
This was such a poorly written book that if it had not been required reading by the Baton Rouge Newcommer's Literary Review book club I would have turned it in to the library after the first chapter.The author attemps to place the book in 1978 rural Virginia. Trigiani tells her readers in the first chapter of the book that the main character's mother came over from Italy pregnant, unwed, and without sponsorship in the 1940's. Given the USA's immigration policy of that time this senerio is Impossible.The first 5 chapters(90 pages out of 268.5) are so dull that you could skip them and not miss much. The Character portrayal is flat. The development is nonexistant. The plot is weak. In chapter 10 when the main character suddenly decides that she's in love is unbelieveable. This developement screams of an editor shouting," REWRITE THOSE LAST CHAPTERS AND THROW IN SOME ROMANCE IF YOU WANT A BOOK DEAL!" The writting noticeably improves at (chapters 8 - 11) the end of the book that I find myself wondering if the editorial staff has written the last chapters or if not perhaps Ms. Trigiani was in a Deep Sleep as she wrote the first 200 pages of this novel.In short if you want a well written, interesting, folksy book this is Not it. Perhaps you should read Fried Green Tomatoes instead. If you have to read this book...read the first chapter then skip the next 7. You'll save yourself a lot of time.
—Julianna
