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Smiling Shelves

Big Stone Gap [Review]

2/1/2014

2 Comments

 
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I don’t know what I was waiting for all these years before I picked up an Adriana Trigiani book. Okay, I do know – I hadn’t heard of her before people’s BEA posts from this past year. But now that I know what I’ve been missing, it won’t be long before I devour every book she’s written.

Big Stone Gap is the first book in the Big Stone Gap series. It follows Ave Maria Mulligan through her thirty-fifth year, when she goes from being the town spinster to being content with who she is. Of course, it turns out that who she is is different than who she thought she was (everyone follow that sentence?). Ave Maria’s mother left her a letter when she died, explaining that the father she grew up with was not her biological father. Ave Maria, who has always been so in control of her life that she could spend it focused on others, suddenly needs to discover who she really is. Ave Maria’s voice shines throughout the story, and this is what had me hooked by page two. I knew Ave Maria and was inside her head from the very beginning.

There are moments when I’m glad I’ve been introduced to a series late, and this is one of them. I can go to the library right now and get the rest of the Big Stone Gap series, without waiting years between publication dates. On the other hand, some series need to be read slowly and savored, rather than devoured, and this is certainly one of those. I love Adriana Trigiani’s writing! You’ve got to slow down and read carefully or you miss some of the best phrases. To savor or devour. . .Oh, the dilemma!

If you, too, are late to the Adriana Trigiani party like I was, please remedy that soon! Find a copy of Big Stone Gap or any of her other books, and introduce yourself to this amazing author and her irrestible writing.

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Voice
Writing

2 Comments
Kim link
2/1/2014 09:36:01 am

This one sounds really good. I'm going to have to check it out.

Reply
Julie @ Smiling Shelves link
2/2/2014 08:55:32 am

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. It's a great book!

Reply



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    My name is Julie, and I own a lot of books. As in, they are stacked on the floor because I've run out of room on the shelves. And those shelves? There are so many books on them that they smile -- not sag; smile. This blog will cover book reviews and all manner of other bookish things.

    You can contact me at julie@smilingshelves.com.

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