Review: The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani

Summary/Cover Image from Publisher's Website:

Beloved New York Times bestselling author Adriana Trigiani returns with the most epic and ambitious novel of her career—a breathtaking multigenerational love story that spans two continents, two World Wars, and the quest of two star-crossed lovers to find each other again. The Shoemaker's Wife is replete with the all the page-turning adventure, sumptuous detail, and heart-stopping romance that has made Adriana Trigiani, “one of the reigning queens of women’s fiction” (USA Today). Fans of Trigiani’s sweeping family dramas like Big Stone Gap and Lucia, Lucia will love her latest masterpiece, a book Kathryn Stockett, author of The Help, calls “totally new and completely wonderful: a rich, sweeping epic which tells the story of the women and men who built America dream by dream.”

Review:

If you're a longtime reader of this blog, you might remember that I reviewed Adriana Trigiani's two Young Adult books previously. I really enjoyed both of them, so when I first received The Shoemaker's Wife, I couldn't wait to start it, especially since it was my first adult book of hers. Amazingly enough, it turned out to be a spectacular book, one that not only contained lush as well as intricate writing, plot development, and writing, but also one that flew right past my expectations.

The Shoemaker's Wife contained so many wonderful aspects, and one of those was definitely the characters! It featured mainly the third person POVs of Enza and Ciro sprinkled with the POVs of various side characters. Enza and Ciro, though, were such strong characters, because not only did the reader witness grow from young children to teens to adults, but they also contained so many characteristics and traits that it was hard to not  see jump of the page and come to life. One of my favorite things about both was their ability to see the best in all situations as well as value the best in all situations. Ciro and Enza both came from poor backgrounds, but not once did they let that hinder them. Instead, they reached for the stars and beyond, and that truly made them remarkable and inspirational.

Seeing them go from children to teens to adults was one of the biggest focuses of the plot, and that truly cared the book to marvelous places. For one, was the vast variety of settings that was introduced. From the Italian Aps to the early 1900s New York City/New Jersey, everything was described beautifully. It really made me feel like I was part of the book. Secondly, for such a long book, it moved in a rapid pace, and that had to do with the various events that occurred. The best event, though, was the love affair between Ciro and Enza, in my opinion. They're romance was the prime example of star crossed love, and I was constantly amazed at how quickly everything would come together for them to how quickly it would then disintegrate...it was a continuous flex, and for the most of the book, I was truly worried they wouldn't end up together, which left for lots of suspense. I also enjoyed seeing both Enza as well Ciro reach for their dreams in this one. Both came to the United States with little to nothing, but in the end, they ended getting much, much more then they ever anticipated from their hard work...everything from the start to the end and everything in between was just so much fun to see.

I also loved Trigiani writing in this! It was so much more detailed and layered than her YA, which I just adored. Plus I really enjoyed how she was never afraid to throw in a punch or two as well as how seamlessly she blended everything together. Seriously, the plot, the characters, EVERYTHING came together beautifully.

In all, The Shoemaker's Wife is a read I highly, highly suggest, and I have to add it's the perfect YA/adult crossover, in my opinion, because not only does the reader see the characters in their teens for half the book but also as adults for the other half. However, word of warning: make sure you have some tissues with you!

Grade: A+

The Shoemaker's Wife (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads) is now out!

Source: Publicist at Goldberg McDuffie Communications- thanks Grace!