Varina Palladino's Jersey Italian Love Story
A Novel
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4.3 • 41 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
“Varina Palladino’s Jersey Italian Love Story is fun and funny, wonderfully exuberant, and incredibly wise. These endearing characters—their voices and stories— will be with me for a long time to come. I didn’t want to say good-bye.” –Jill McCorkle, New York Times bestselling author of Hieroglyphics
An utterly delightful and surprising family drama—think Moonstruck and My Big Fat Greek Wedding set in New Jersey—about a boisterous, complicated Italian family determined to help their widowed mother find a new boyfriend.
Lively widow Varina Palladino has lived in the same house in Wyldale, New Jersey, her entire life. The town might be slightly stuck in the 1960s, when small businesses thrived and most residents were Italian, but its population is getting younger and the Palladinos are embracing the change. What Varina’s not embracing, much to her ninety-two-year-old mother’s dismay, is dating. Running Palladino’s Italian Specialties grocery, caring for her mother, and keeping her large, loud Jersey Italian family from killing one another takes up all of Varina’s energy anyway.
Sylvia Spini worries about her daughter Varina being left all alone when she dies. Sylvia knows what it is to be old and alone, so when her granddaughter, Donatella, comes to her with an ill-conceived plan to find Varina a man, Sylvia dives in. The three men of the family—Dante, Tommy, and Paulie—are each secretly plotting their own big life changes, which will throw everyone for a loop.
Three generations of Palladinos butt heads and break one another’s hearts as they wrestle with their own Jersey Italian love stories in this hilarious and life-affirming ode to love and family.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
DeFino (The Bar Harbor Retirement Home for Famous Writers (And Their Muses)) offers a bighearted story of a suburban New Jersey Italian family. Holding the family together, if barely, is 70-year-old Varina Palladino, widowed 14 years and running the family's grocery store. Varina's feisty 92-year-old mother, Sylvia, and her volatile 35-year-old daughter, Donatella, believe Varina needs a new guy in her life, and they concoct a plan to arrange a match. Meanwhile, Varina has plans to travel in Europe, Sylvia finds a possible love interest of her own, Donatella gets in trouble for violating a restraining order against her ex, and a gay family friend yearns for Donatella's older brother. DeFino prefaces each chapter with colorful definitions of Italian American slang and hand gestures ("To counter the maloik , make the ma'cornoot (mana cornuto, in Italian) or, the ‘devil' sign, by making a fist and leaving up index finger and pinky"). DeFino keeps the many plots spinning over the course of a year, with happy romances tempered by bittersweet changes in the characters' lives and a mental health diagnosis for Donatella. Readers will be glad to immerse themselves in the Palladinos' exuberant world.
Customer Reviews
An Entertaining Read!
This book is a well told and entertaining story that will have you laughing out loud at times!
This book just draws you in from the beginning with Varina preparing for her family’s Christmas Eve dinner. The typical of getting down to almost finishing when you realize you don’t have enough to make the last dish. In this case, pasta for the kids.
Varina owns and works at Palladino’s Italian Speciality grocery store. Paulie and her 92 year old mother, Slyvia, live with Varina. Varina and her husband, Dino, had taken in Paulie as a teenager due to his parents disowning him after coming out. Varina’s life was never dull with her adult children, especially with her daughter Donnatella in and out of prison. Varina has to keep putting off her trip to Europe in order to bail out her daughter. Will she be able to finally go on a much needed trip?
Varina’s husband, Dino, died over 10 years ago, so her mother and daughter felt it was time to date again. Donnatella felt it would help distract her, so she wouldn’t worry about her so much. The lengths they go to find her a date is creative! It just shows their desperation to make Varina happy! Will they find one or will it flop? Will this give Varina the push to start living her life again?
I liked how this book has likable characters that make you laugh and even shake your head at times! This story felt real and authentic because this author used her own Italian family from New Jersey for inspiration.
I loved how this author explained, at the beginning of each chapter, the Italian words and slang that were used as this added to the understanding and meaning of the story!
A great book to take along on vacations! Perfect for book clubs as it will lead to many interesting discussions.