Review: Brava Valentine by Adriana Trigiani

 
Brava, Valentine: A Novel by Adriana Trigiani is the second in the Valentine  series.  I reviewed the first is the series, Very Valentine: A Novel, here.  As you can see in that review, I fell in love with the characters so I was anxious to move onto the next book in the series and see what happens to Valentine, Alfred and the entire crazy Roncalli clan.  Brava, Valentine definitely did not disappoint and now I am waiting for the final book in the series, due out in February 2011!

Valentine Roncalli works at her family's custom show company in New York's West Village (love that neighborhood!) and this novel follows her pursuit of a career in the family business and her efforts to take the helm of the business and grow it in new directions as her grandmother exits.  Her ascent to head of the company is complicated by her brother, Alfred, and his lack of faith in her business skills and inability to understand her need to keep the "family" in family business.  Beyond their divergent views on business, they also view families and relationships very differently and that makes for some interesting tension in their work life and in their family's gatherings.

Valentine really begins to grow into herself in this book and takes ownership of her role as creative head of the family business.  I liked seeing this evolution in this character - in Very Valentine, she seemed reluctant to own that role and see her talents as a shoe designer whereas in this book she is almost empowered by her talent and takes the lead more naturally.  With her growing career, come questions about work/life balance and whether she wants a family and how to have that family and dedicate the time necessary to build her business - a never-ending dilemma to which most readers can relate.  Her challenged love life from book one continues and I found myself hoping she would get out of her own way and just let love happen to her!

There is so much more to this book than the snapshot I have offered above in the plot summary - Valentine uncovers a long lost family secret and travels to Buenos Aires to learn more about it, she faces infidelity in her family and the loss of a close friend.  The book is fantastic and offers a deeper dive into the characters from book one.  In fact, in her Blog Talk Radio interview about Very Valentine, the author talks about how she enjoys writing books in series of threes so that she can really "crack" a character and develop them more fully.  I saw that in this book as she offers more insight into Valentine's brother Alfred, and what makes him tick - he moves from relatively one dimensional in book one to much more complex in book two. 

Adriana Trigiani is an artful storyteller and she creates characters that are easy to love- I discovered her The Big Stone Gap series years ago and loved it and am so happy to have found another series to fall into!  You can listen to Adriana Trigiani talk about Brava Valentine in her second Blog Talk Radio interview where she offers insight into where some of the twists in the novel came from and her book recommendations for non-fiction and fiction.  It's good to have some recommendations to tie me over until the release of the third Valentine book in February 2011!

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for providing this book for review

Review: Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani

Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani introduces the Roncalli clan and the world of custom shoes, the West Village and the beauty of Italy. What a combination - the premise sounded irresistible to me and the book certainly delivered.





My Summary: Valentine Roncalli lives with her grandmother in an apartment above the West Village shop that houses the Angelini custom shoe business in which Valentine works with her grandmother. The business has been in the family for generations and Valentine has a passion for her family, their history and for the artistry of making one of a kind shoes using luxurious materials. Amid the stresses of keeping a small niche business afloat, Valentine attempts a romance with a handsome restauranteur and tries to fit their lovelife into their crazy schedules. When Valentine accompanies her grandmother to Italy on her annual buying trip, she steps back into time and her passion for the art of shoemaking deepens. While there, she also begins to question work/life balance and the importance of trying to achieve it all.

My Thoughts: I absolutely loved this book! Valentine is a dynamic protagonist - she is pushed to taking her family business into the current century by financial pressures but then learns she has a real head for business and a true passion for the artistry of the craft of custom shoe design. I found myself rooting for her from the start whether in her struggles with the business or her relationship with the complicated and ambitious Roman Falconi. When she traveled to Italy (a dream of mine!) and observed how much Italians value work/life balance, I found I really related to her desire for a slower pace. This quote, spoken by Valentine, certainly gives me pause,

"You [her Italian friend] live a balanced life. You work, you eat, you rest. We don't. We can't. We live as though we have something to prove. There's never enough time, we eat on the run, and we sleep as little as possible. We believe the one who works the hardest wins."

What I really love about this book, however, is the boisterous Roncalli clan and the vivid descriptions of both New York City and Italy (especially the scenes in Isle of Capri). In addition to their matriarch, Gram, the Roncalli clan includes Valentine's two sisters, Tess and Jaclyn, her brother Alfred, her funny, larger than life mother and her drily humorous Dad. Despite their bickering and the fact that are all involved in each other's lives, their love for each other and the value they place on family is clear. Although not nearly as boisterous (or boisterous at all for that matter!), my family also places a lot of importance on pulling together and being there for each other above all so I could relate to Valentine's involvement with and true affection for her family.

The Roncalli's are from Queens, which is where I grew up, and I enjoyed all the references to local spots in the neighborhood including Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Church in Forest Hills and Leonard's of Great Neck (I attended a prom there!) If I didn't know that author grew up in SW Virginia, I would think she hailed from Queens - her references were spot on! The level of detail she provides about locales - Queens, Italy, The West Village - really add to the novel and serve to draw the reader even further into her story.

This was one of those books where I was dreading the end because I didn't want to leave the characters or the life the author had created. Fortunately, this is the first in a 3 book series and I was able to quickly move on to the 2nd book Brava, Valentine (review will be posted soon) but it will be a long wait for the 3rd book due to come out in February 2010. If you want a little more from the author in the meantime, check out her website, or listen to her interview with Book Club Girl on Blog Talk Radio where she talks about Very Valentine.

I received this book for review from TLC Book Tours; although the author is orignally from SW VA, she currently lives in NYC and her book is decidedly set in NYC so this review meets the criteria for the Literary Road Trip