Villa Serena

Keeping with what seems to be my theme for this summer, I offer you today a very overdue review. The timing, however, isn't completely horrible because this book fits perfectly into WestofMars' Hidden Treasures Contest (read more about it here).

Villa Serena by Domenica de Rosa

First of all, I love the cover design, although I have to say that the subtitle-looking text "falling in love Italian-style" isn't exactly an accurate description of the book. Villa Serena is less about the protagonist falling in love than about her dealing with and overcoming various heartbreaks.

Emily Robertson seems to have a perfect life. She's living her dream in a restored villa in Tuscany, writing a weekly column on Italian life for a British paper. It all seems like an illusion, though, when her husband of many years dumps her - by text message! Suddenly she feels stranded. She can't really speak Italian, she has no money, and her three children are running her ragged, each in a completely different way. It's only when Emily begins to open up to the locals that she is able to really inhabit their home and find herself along the way.

While I enjoyed the novel overall, I have two criticisms. The first (and most important, in my opinion at least) is about how de Rosa handles the youngest daughter's eating disorder. Despite the alternate view of the situation shown in another character, the resolution of the problem seemed too simple and Emily's lack of action distressed me. The second is that the small thriller aspect of the story isn't fully realized so its climax seems a bit out of place in the novel. That being said, that atmosphere, setting, and well-drawn characters make up for these inadequacies.

De Rosa's third novel (after The Italian Quarter and The Eternal City) is written with a clear love of Italy and all things Italian. Villa Serena is a great summer read, perfect for those who daydream of Tuscany and not recommended only to readers who are suffering from (or have loved ones suffering from) eating disorders.

Stay Out of the Kitchen!

Stay Out of the Kitchen! by Mable John and David Ritz

Stay Out of the Kitchen! is the second novel in a series featuring Albertina Merci, a 70-something R&B singer-turned-minister. John and Ritz's sympathetic protagonist is the driving force behind the novels and what will keep readers coming back for more.

Albertina may be a senior, she may be African-American, and she may be a minister, but there's just something about her that transcends those descriptors. She's written in a way that makes her accessible to all readers. She's not perfect: she does lose patience, she does get mad, and she doesn't always have the right answers, but that's what makes her come alive on the page. She has an abundance of fortitude and generosity, and, while Albertina is devout, she is open-minded in a way that keeps the authors from alienating non-Christian readers.

The action of Stay Out of the Kitchen! revolves around two main dramas. First, Albertina (in her innocent way) is involved in a love triangle with two very different men, a Shakespeare-quoting diner owner and an upstanding parishioner who shares her taste in music. Both are pushing her to commit, but she's not sure romance is in God's plan for her. Second, a mega-church is muscling its way into area. They want the land her church stands on and they won't take "no" for an answer. Of course, that isn't the half of it: her single-minded nephew Patrick and sex-crazed neighbor Justine are up to their usual tricks, her son's marriage is on shaky ground, her flock is divided, and it's up to Albertina to sort things out or to "let go and let God."

While Stay Out of the Kitchen! stands alone, readers of Sanctified Blues (read my review) may enjoy it just a bit more because of their previous experience with the characters. All in all, Stay Out of the Kitchen! is a strong addition to the series; better than the first.

Read my review on Front Street Reviews...

Sanctified Blues and Stay Out of the Kitchen! are Hidden Treasures, why don't you check them out?

Hidden Treasures Contest

My friend Susan over at West of Mars is hosting another read-and-review contest. This time, the name of the game is Hidden Treasures.

Here are the basics:

1. Find a book that's a "hidden treasure". That means a book that hasn't made it to a best-seller list anywhere that you can find. A suggested reading list is available at WestofMars.com (some of you will recognize two of my suggestions right away, the other is one that I haven't mentioned here before). Feel free to find your own treasure, though.

2. The book MUST be from a royalty-paying publisher. If in doubt, ask.

3. Read it.

4. Post a review somewhere on the Internet between July 15 and August 15.

5. Sign the Mr. Linky at West of Mars. Include the permalink for your review.

6. Yes, you can use a Hidden Treasure book that fulfills another contest or reading challenge.

7. Yes, you can review more than one book.

8. If, for some reason, you don't want to win a prize, let Susan know.

9. If you have suggestions for the Hidden Treasures Suggested Reading List, or a prize for the winners, drop Susan an e-mail.

10. Prizes will be awarded August 20. Winners will be contacted and winning list will be posted no later than 22 August; be sure to have a way for us to contact you!

For more information, check out this post.


If you have any questions about the contest, feel free to ask me. I look forward to seeing what you decide to read-and-review and you can bet that I'll be playing along as well.

Debut a Debut: The Interpretation of Murder

I've actually had the first book I'm featuring for Debut a Debut on Mt. TBR for quite a while. It seems that the contest was just what I need to propel the book to the top of my list.

The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld

In 1909, after being invited to give a series of lectures at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, Sigmund Freud made his first and only visit to the United States accompanied by then-disciple Carl Jung as well as the less well-known psychoanalyst Sándor Ferenczi. The visit prompted Freud to call America "a gigantic mistake" and all Americans "savages." He also blamed the trip for many physical ailments some of which predated the visit; no one is exactly sure why. The exploration of that question is the premise of law professor and first-time novelist Jed Rubenfeld's historical thriller The Interpretation of Murder.

In Rubenfeld's version of events, Freud's animosity toward America is a result of what happened while he was staying in New York City before his lecture series. During that week, Freud and his followers become involved in a strange murder investigation and are blackmailed by people trying to impede the introduction of psychoanalysis to the country.

When society girl Nora Acton, having survived a brutal attack strikingly similar to a recent murder, is suffering from crypto-amnesia and hysterical muteness, it seems that psychoanalysis may help catch a serial killer. Due to his prior committments, Freud delegates the analysis/treatment to protagonist and narrator Stratham Younger (a fictional character described as "America's most committed Freudian analyst") and so the tale begins to unfold.

Within the novel, historical personages -- including Abraham Brill (Freud's translator and one of America's first proponents of psychoanalysis), G. Stanley Hall (president of Clark University and founder of the American Psychological Association), and New York's mayor George McClellan -- mingle with fictional characters like Stratham Younger, Nora Acton (loosely based on Freud's real-life patient "Dora"), coroner Charles Hugel, and Detective James Littlemore, making for a very realistic tale. The Interpretation of Murder is steeped in period detail, providing a painfully accurate portrait of early 20th Century New York City (Rubenfeld includes an author's note in which he explains exactly where the novel deviates from historical fact).

While I enjoyed "seeing" Freud and Jung "in the flesh" so to speak, I found the novel to be less thrilling than expected. The story seems to get a bit lost in the details. For example, while including so many specifics about Jung and Freud, their individual neuroses, and their relationship did enhance their stock as fictional characters, it detracted (and distracted) from the story itself. In any case, this is an easy mistake for a first-time novelist to make and The Interpretation of Murder is nothing if not an ambitious novel. While it may not be perfect, it still makes for a fascinating read.

On a side note:
Strangely enough, one of my favorite things about the book is the cover design. That's not to say that the novel itself isn't good, it's just that the cover is amazing, masterfully done by Raquel Jaramillo. The photo that you see through the window in the black dustjacket wraps around the book itself and evokes the scene of the book's first murder. Just wonderful...

Another side note:
The Freud Museum in Vienna has a wonderful group photo taken at Clark in 1909. You can see it here.