What do You think about Rococo (2006)?
Adriana Trigiani's words + Mario Cantone's voice = perfect together in this entertaining audio book!The year is 1970. The place is New Jersey. Enter Bartolomeo di Crespi, the interior decorator of Our Lady of Fatima, New Jersey (OLOF for short). Affectionately known as "B", he is a middle-aged bachelor with a large, colorful Italian-American family firmly situated in South Jersey. (Those of us from North Jersey understand my need to state this fact). B travels to London, Italy and New York City in search of inspiration as he takes on the monumental task of renovating the town's church, the very place he first learned to pray. After spending just one afternoon with Adriana and her regaling us with stories of her family, her work and her friendship with Mario Cantone, I knew I would be listening to his audio of Rococo. If you are like me and only really know of Mario Cantone from Sex and the City, you will be as pleasantly surprised as I to find out just how talented this man is! The VOICES! It was so easy to forget that there was only one person reading this book - there could have easily been 10 people in that studio!I feel like I spent a few days with my nose pressed up against the window of B's well decorated house in New Jersey. Adriana Trigiani has a way of opening up her heart and allowing her readers unrestricted access to her fictional families - the di Crespis are no exception. Bartolomeo de Crespi is an interior decorator, and Adriana Trigiani doesn't allow her readers to pass a wall, a chandelier, or a swatch of fabric without bringing it to life - from the beautiful textiles of the legendary fabric houses of New York City to the frescoes of Italy all the way to the tacky plastic sofa covers of south Jersey. More important than the decor, Adriana has a way of decorating her books with characters that are so alive and colorful, one can't help but feel like one of the family.
—Alison
Not my favorite Adrianna Trigiani novel. I've enjoyed the five other books I've read of hers (loved Lucia, Lucia), but Rococo failed to interest or intrigue me. While I usually can't put down a book, I procrastinated to finish this one.The main character is male, which threw me off early on, I had to go back a few pages to do a double take when I realized that B. was a man. (Used to her strong femalevoices telling the story.)For the first half of the book, I struggled through too-lengthy description and wondering what the plot was. I appreciate Trigiani's humor, but this read fell short for me.Regardless, I look forward to reading her next book in my stack.
—Amanda
I haven't rated this novel as high as I have other Trigiani novels because it didn't have the usual umph her others have had. I thought the plot line was too simple and didn't flow with her usual shimmering prose. I felt the story didn't end properly. After such a HUGE build up about renovating the Church, there was no focal point at the end where the parishoners extolled the virtues of Bartolomeo's decorating. Although I did enjoy this novel, it just wasn't as good as her previous works and I was a tad disappointed.From back cover:"Bartolomeo di Crespi is the acclaimed interior decorator of Our Lady of Fatima, New Jersey. To date, Bartolomeo has hand-selected every chandelier, sconce, and ottoman in OLOF, so when the renovation of the local church is scheduled, he assumes there is only one man for the job.From the dazzling shores of New Jersey to the legendary fabric houses of New York City, from the prickly purveyors of fine art in London to luscious Santa Margherita on the Mediterranean coast of Italy, Bartolomeo is on a mission to bring talent, sophistication, and his aesthetic vision to his hometown.Trigiani's glittering mosaic of small-town characters sparkles: Bartolomeo's hilarious sister, Toot, is in desperate need of a postdivorce transformation-thirteen years after the fact: "The Benefactor," Aurelia Mandelbaum, the richest woman in New Jersey, has a lust for French interiors and a long-held hope that Bartolomeo will marry her myopic daughter, Capri: Father Porporino, the pastor with a secret, does his best to keep a lid on a simmering scandal; and Eydie Von Gunne, the chic international designer, steps in and changes the course of Bartolomeo's creative life, while his confidante, cousin Christina Menecola, awaits rescue from an inconsolable grief.Plaster of Paris, polished marble, and unbridled testosterone arrive in buckets when Bartolomeo recruits Rufus McSherry, a strapping, handsome artist, and Pedro Alarcon, a stained-glass artisan, to work with him on the church's interior. Together, the three of them will do more than blow the dust off the old Fatima frescoes-they will turn the town upside down, challenge the faithful, and restore hope where there once was none..."
—Louise
