Kiss Carlo audiobook

Sitting down with a new Trigiani novel, is like opening a box of chocolates. Not quite sure what’s under the coating, but knowing it will be sweet and tasty. It’s like visiting an old friend. I know I’m in for some delights, some words of wisdom, a tear or two, some chuckles, and some salivating in these Italian kitchens. This novel will take you from South Philly to Roseto, Italy, its sister city, Roseto, PA and to New York, in 1949, post WWII, a remarkable era. On her website she states that she hopes her novels honor working people. Indeed they do. This one is based around the stage and local actors portraying Shakespeare-themed plays in a small Italian neighborhood in South Philly. Borelli’s is the name of the theater, now run by Calla Borelli, daughter of an icon of a man who has kept the theater going through good times and tough times, and this opens during a rough time. Not enough money to keep the theatre maintenance and salaries going, and fewer people buying tickets to see the plays. Calla (I love that name) is named after the favorite flower of her mother, deceased when this opens. Calla is a strong, hard-working young woman wanting to continue the theater in her beloved father’s footsteps. The other main protagonist is Nicky, a stage hand who drives a cab as a real job, but who’s love for the theater, pulls him to make major changes in his life. Much of the novel revolves around the aunts and uncles that he lives with, as he was orphaned at a young age. The dialogue between the cast of characters is in itself a delight. I won’t spoil it for you, dear reader, there are many little gems of wisdom. The main theme is the bonds we build with family, those that are blood, and those that seem like they are. I loved Hortense, the dispatcher/western-union-lady at the cab company, and surrogate mother for Nicky. How she handled her "color" and how she handled her husband in the latter half of the novel was a delight for me. And the marinara sauce recipe she got from Minna, which they call "gravy"... Can't wait to try the recipe that's included in the book. Be patient during the first half, it’s building up the character profiles, and as this novel involves two sides of an Italian family, there are plenty of them. The 2nd half will have you turning the pages faster. I received a complimentary pre-release copy for the purpose of posting an unbiased review, and am happy to recommend it. Available at your favorite book seller June 20, 2017

I would like to thank Edelweiss and Harper Collins for an ARC(advanced reading copy) of "Kiss Carlo" by Adriana Trigiani for my honest review.The genres of this novel are Women's Fiction and Historical Fiction.The timeline of this story is 1949, after the war. The story takes place in a little Italian town, South Philly and New York in the United States.In Southern Philly, there are two brothers feuding over land that had belonged to their father when he was alive. This feud splits the large family in two. Both brothers have a cab company, and one brother adds a service to deliver telegrams. The wives and cousins are now separated by this family feud.Nick, an orphan is brought up in one of the families by his aunt and uncle. He drives a taxi, and delivers telegrams. He finds work also in a small theater company, and finds that he loves acting. Nick has been engaged for seven years and feels something is missing. Nick decides to pursue an acting career in New York City.I love the way that Adriana Trigiani writes about the love, encouragement and support of family. I enjoyed the author's descriptions of family traditions, and the food and festivities.The characters are described as complex and complicated. In "Kiss Carlo", the author describes Italian, Jewish, Polish and Black families in this time period, and how well they get along. The characters are accepting of one another.The author writes about family, friends,loyalty, love and hope. You can see growth in the characters. This is a wonderful book, and I would highly recommend it.

LOVELY 🌺 This delicious book was just as good as I hoped it would be and was well worth the wait! Trigiani is hands-down one of my very favorite authors and this book gave me all the epic Italian family feels that I expected it would! I loved the post-WWII Philadelphia setting and brief glimpses of Italy throughout the book, along with the theater storyline. There is a lot more that I loved, but I don’t want to give anything away. Highly recommend to anyone who likes historical and family fiction.

It's 1949 and Nicky Castone works as a cab driver for the family company. He's an orphan and his uncle Dominic Palazzini has taken him in. Nicky is engaged to Peachy, but after seven years he still hasn't agreed to set a date for the wedding. Nicky secretly spends his evenings in Calla's Shakespeare theater, where he does all kinds of different jobs behind the scenes. When he gets the chance to act, because there is nobody else, he finally finds his passion. He continues following it, but after a disastrous job Nicky has to make some tough choices. Will he stay and work for his family or will he go away and follow his heart?Dominic and Mike are brothers. They've been fighting over an inheritance for many years. They split up the family company and their feud has kept their once so close families apart. Will they ever been able to mend fences and realize that family is more important than property or money?Calla wants to continue her father's legacy. He started the Shakespeare theater she's working so hard for. The plays are her pride and joy and she loves directing them. However, just like her father Calla isn't good with money. The theater's proceeds are meager and she doesn't know how to make her business profitable. She pays her actors and tries to cut back on everything else, but will it be enough to keep her beloved business going? Is there room for love in her life when so much is at stake?Kiss Carlo is a beautiful story about family, friendships, love and dreams. It has a lot of fabulous main characters. Adriana Trigiani has made them all multidimensional and equally interesting, which is something I really enjoyed about her book. Nicky has to find his passion, Calla has found hers, but needs to find love and Dominic and Mike need to find peace. Kiss Carlo has a large number of characters, so there are many more beautifully described personalities, which I found a real treat, and they all have a special place in my heart.Adriana Trigiani writes about people from different generations and each of them has their own story and background. I love reading about families and Kiss Carlo is a fantastic story. It's dynamic, entertaining, unpredictable and original. I fell in love with this book from the first page. I love it when a book is so good that the characters will stay with me for a very long time. Nicky and his family and friends definitely fall into this category and I highly recommend their brilliant stories. Kiss Carlo is a complex novel filled with wisdom, life experience, aspirations and reality. I truly enjoyed reading this wonderful book, it's a real treasure.

Full review to be posted on blog.*Love Adriana Trigiani's books and this one was no exception!*Totally swept up in this family saga. *Great, well-developed characters *And that cover - it's gorgeous - you could totally judge this book by the cover, not that I ever would ;)*I listened to the audio because of the narrator - Edoardo Ballerini's voice is amazing - like a tall drink of cool water. Had to listen when I saw he was narrating - & it was amazing!!! Great pairing - AT's story and EB's narration - perfection!

I loved this book. It reminded me of Moonstruck, a quirky, funny Italian family with lots of crazy characters but the characters were sincere and real. The story also reminded me of A Spool of Blue Thread by Ann Tyler. Not much of plot but a great journey over time with some great characters as they evolve, grow and share with us what they learned along the way.

OK THIS BOOK WOULD BE A GREAT MOVIE

Another book that I loved, by author Adriana Trigiani!

I loooved this book. I was a little hesitant to read this because this is my very favorite writer snd her last book was not my favorite, but I loved it. The characters just jump off the pages and into your heart. I don't know how she keeps so many stories going at one time. Sure hope there is going to be a sequel. Looooove.

Either Trigiani is the Italian-American Maeve Binchy, or Maeve Binchy is the Irish Adriana Trigiani. It doesn't matter, but both create light-hearted stories about families and friends, and I enjoy both.

NOTE: I received a complimentary ARC of this enthralling novel from TLC Book Tours for an honest (and honestly enthusiastic!) review.This wonderful novel was my introduction to Adriana Trigiani, who is now one of my favorite authors! With Kiss Carlo, she has delivered a totally riveting, compelling story that actually plays like a movie from the year in which these events take place -- 1949.I was so captivated by the book's cover, when I first saw it, that I decided to take the risk of going outside my comfort zone; I don't normally read historical family sagas. I'm so very glad that I did in this case, though!I was immediately swept up into this richly-told story of a large Italian-American family living in South Philadelphia. The evocative writing, the combination of drama and humor, along with the idiosyncratic characters, all came together to make this a totally exhilarating reading experience for me! I quickly fell in love with the world so skillfully evoked by Trigiani, to the point that I am now feeling nostalgic for it.One of the fascinating things about this novel is that the author interweaves some profound reflections on one's destiny with the other plot elements.Nicky Castone, the novel's central character, drives a cab for the Palazzini Cab Company, owned by his family. But one day, he is suddenly forced to face the fact that mortality is an inescapable part of the human experience. This epiphany makes him aware, for the first time, that he's simply always gone blithely along with whatever his family expected of him. He suddenly realizes that he wants much more out of life. Nicky's questioning is one that many readers, including myself, can easily relate to. However, Trigiani does not focus on this to the exclusion of all else. Instead, she skillfully develops the plot into a series of tragi-comical events that upset the status quo in the Palazzini family, as well as the DePino family. The results are paradoxically hilarious as well as heartbreaking.Nicky is such a relatable, funny, irrepressible, and totally honest character! It took a lot of courage for him to call off his seven-year engagement to Peachy DePino and go off on a self-searching quest. (Although this quest was, comically enough, propelled by the prospect of facing Peachy's furious father.) Nicky had already discovered that he loved acting at Borelli's Theater, where he works alongside Calla Borelli, the original owner's daughter, who directs all the plays performed there. Although Nicky does feel attracted to Calla, he considers her a friend, as she has her own boyfriend.Calla is a very compelling character in her own right. She is passionately dedicated to the Borelli Theater, which is in danger of going under. She is also very devoted to her father, whom she cares for at the house they've shared for years. Furthermore, Calla is a very strong, determined young woman.The relationship between Calla and Nicky plays out gradually, and I loved that they were friends first. Sometimes "love at first sight" can work, but other times not. In this case, both of these characters came to realize that they had unconsciously loved each other all along, although they did the honorable thing, since they were committed to other people. Their mutual passion for the theater, and especially Shakespeare's plays, plus their similar outlook on life, ultimately brought them together, after they had each taken separate paths. The "supporting cast" Trigiani has assembled is just perfect, from Nicky's Aunt Jo and Uncle Dom, who took him in as an orphan, to his brothers and sisters-in-law, to the people of Roseto, a small town located about 60 miles to the north of Philadelphia. Some of the memorable characters living there are Mamie Confalone, who plays a small part in Nicky's life, and the very funny mother and daughter duo of 'wanna-be femme fatales', Cha Cha and Rosalba Tutolola. The most interesting of all these secondary characters, however, is Hortense Mooney, an African-American woman who has been working as a dispatcher and telegraph operator at the Palazzini Cab Company for the last twenty years. Hortense is a guardian angel of sorts to Nicky, to whom she gives her unconditional love, as well as emotional support. She's actually like a second mother to him, and he really values her advice and help.I loved Hortense's wit, her frequent references to Eleanor Roosevelt -- a woman I have long admired -- and her shrewd observations on the Palazzini family interactions, as well as life in general. I also greatly enjoyed her budding friendship with Minna, a lonely woman who lives in Roseto. I would love it if Trigiani wrote a spinoff novel about Hortense! Minna is a very poignant character. She has actually lived in a self-made prison since the death of her husband. When Hortense arrives in Roseto, and the two women get to know each other, Minna begins to change. This is a very touching part of the novel.Sam Borelli, Calla's father, was another great secondary character. I loved his quiet strength, as well as his close relationship to his daughter, Calla. Although the reader doesn't get to know him as well as Hortense, his influence is felt by the actors at the theater. He has shaped their lives in very important ways, thus leaving a legacy of love for the theater that will survive the impact of the new television technology of the time.This love of the theater is a very important aspect of this novel that makes me even more enthusiastic about the story! I especially like the fact that the actors at the Borelli Theater exclusively perform Shakespeare's plays. Nicky ends up acting in "Twelfth Night", which is very much pertinent to the plot of Kiss Carlo, as it, too, involves a case of mistaken identity. Trigiani includes several quotes from the play, thus making her love of Shakespeare a part of her novel. She skillfully interweaves the action in the play with that of her plot, thus creating an interesting contrast between the events on the stage and those in the novel.I have to add that I couldn't help feeling a bit sorry for Peachy. The fact that she's a rather shallow, conventional person didn't stop me from feeling this way, either. I liked that Trigiani evaded the very easy route of making her a totally one-dimensional character. She loved Nicky, if in her own limited way. Trigiani handled the conflict between these two characters beautifully, avoiding too much drama and pathos.Although Nicky's escapade does create some very funny reading, this is a well-balanced book, as there are some losses, as well. Even though this saddened me, it did make the novel more realistic, and the characters even more appealing. It was heartwarming to see how they supported each other through these situations. The most important quality of a great novel is how deeply the reader is touched, to what degree the reader feels that they have actually lived another life in the reading of that novel. In Kiss Carlo, Trigiani certainly achieves this quality. Readers will feel as if they, too, had lived in South Philly in 1949, sharing in all the crazy, humorous, and sad interactions of the Palazzini family, as well as getting the feel of what it means to be an Italian-American.I did not want this novel to end, and am already looking forward to reading it again in the future! These characters are just too unforgettable and likeable for me to simply put this book on a shelf and never dip into it again! Bravissimo, Ms. Trigiani!!For more of my reviews, please visit my blog, A NIGHT’S DREAM OF BOOKS.http://anightsdreamofbooks.blogspot.com

I always look forward to a new Adriana Trigiani book. I feel like I am an honorary Italian when I read her books, filled with family, food, romance and people with a good work ethic.Trigiani's latest novel, Kiss Carlo, is a big, beautiful novel, stuffed with all of the above and more. The story begins in Roseto Valfatore, Italy in 1949, with Carlo, the ambassador, heading to Roseto, Pennsylvania to seek help from some Italian-Americans in rebuilding their road.From there, we meet the Palazzini brothers of Philadelphia, Dom and Mike, who once owned a taxi company together, but after a falling out, they now have competing taxi companies and no longer speak to each other.Dom is the frugal one, and his wife Jo has spent her life caring for their home and (now grown) children, and her nephew Nicky who lost his parents at an early age. Jo is the kind of woman who makes homemade pasta in the basement, and irons everyone's underwear.Mike is the flashier guy, and he has a more successful taxi business. His wife Nancy has the fancy clothes, and visits the hair salon weekly. The sisters-in-law used to be close, but because of the feud no longer speak. It's almost Shakespearean, you could say.Speaking of Shakespeare, Nicky drives Uncle Dom's taxi by day and by night volunteers at a local Shakespearean theater, run by Calla Borelli, who is trying to keep the doors to her father's theater open. This new television craze has hurt live theater.What's interesting in Kiss Carlo is that the main character is Nicky, a man. Nicky feels a little lost, even though his aunt and uncle love him very much. He is engaged to Peachy, a woman who feels her time is running out before she is officially a spinster.When Nicky gets the opportunity to perform onstage at the theater, he comes alive. Now he knows what he wants to do- be an actor. Peachy, however, will not hear of it.There is a lot going on in Kiss Carlo, and watching how Trigiani weaves the story and characters together is just amazing. It's like seeing someone take a skein of yarn and a few minutes later a beautiful blanket materializes.There are so many great characters in this story- Jo Palazzini, Calla, Nicky, Mamie Confalone- but my favorite is Hortense. Hortense is a black woman who works as a dispatcher for Dom's taxi service. She has been with them for years, and she brooks no nonsense. Don't ask Hortense what she thinks unless you really want to know.Hortense finds herself involved in a crazy caper with Nicky, and through that experience she meets a woman who will change her life. I love that Hortense wants a better life for herself and when she sees an opportunity, she works hard and uses her brains to make it happen. (It's that work ethic that shows up in every one of Trigiani's books.)I had the chance to speak briefly with Adriana and I told her that I think Hortense is my all-time favorite character of hers. She told me that Hortense was a real person, and she actually shows up in the Acknowledgements page.Soap opera fans will get a kick out of the fact that uber-producer Gloria Monty has a cameo appearance in this book. I told you, there is a lot packed into this book.I gave a copy of Kiss Carlo to one of my Italian-American friends, and she read the 500+ page book in two days, telling me she couldn't put it down. I totally agree with her, this is one of Adriana Trigiani's best books.Whether you're from a big family or just yearn to be, Kiss Carlo is for you. And if you take this book to the beach, bring along plenty of sunscreen because you will not be able to stop reading it until you finish. I give it my highest recommendation.

It's 1949 and Calla Borelli's father owns a run down theater in South Philly that only shows Shakespearean plays, so obviously, it is struggling a bit. Calla works there, because along with her father, it's her passion, but she is not sure how it will stay open much longer. Nicky Castone works at the theater and also his family's cab company. He is an orphan and his aunt has taken him in, so he lives with his extended family in South Philly. His Uncle Dom's cab company competes with his estranged Uncle Mike's cab company in true South Philly fashion as they haven't talked to his other family in years due to a feud. Things seems to be going well for Nicky. He is engaged to be married to Peachy, he works at the theater which brings him joy, and he has a steady job at the cab company. One night during the Twelfth Night play at the theater he replaces an ailing actor and he is in a scene with Calla. Sparks fly, but what should he do about it? Should he go against his family's expectations and follow his heart and his dream of acting or should be marry Peachy, live in South Philly and the rest is history? Kiss Carlo by Adriana Trigiani has it all. It has family drama, hilarious moments, quiet moments, and reflections of family life from days gone by. It even has similar characteristics to Shakespeare's plays, which I especially appreciated it.Read the rest of my review here: http://www.confessionsofabookaddict.c...