Title: One Summer in Venice
Author: Nicky Pelligrino
Publisher: 14th
April 2015 by Hachette Australia - Orion
Pages: 304 pages
How I Read It: ARC ebook
Genre: womens fiction, chick lit
My Rating: three cups
Synopsis:
'This
isn't a mid-life crisis OK? For a start I'm not old enough yet to have one of
those. I'm calling it a happiness project. I've stolen an entire summer from my
life and by the time it's over I plan to leave this place with a list in my
hand. The ten things that make me happy, that's all I want to know. How
difficult can it be? They may be small things - a perfect cup of coffee, a day
without rain - or bigger ones. It's still the beginning so how can I know?'
Addolorata Martinelli knows she should be happy. She has everything she thought she wanted - her own business, a husband, a child. So why does she feel as if something is missing? Then when her restaurant, Little Italy, is slated by a reviewer, she realises that she's lost the one thing she thought she could always count on, her love of food.
So Addolorata heads to Venice for a summer alone, aiming to find the ten things that make her happy. Once she's found them, she'll construct a new life around her ten things, but will they include her life in London?
My thoughts:
“Am I missing
out? Is there another life I ought to be leading?....I wasn’t sure I like who
I’d become. Still, I was getting through the days and weeks all right; I was
managing”.
I was looking
forward to reading about this purported middle-aged heroine taking what could
be described as a sabbatical to Venice. Maybe another type of, ‘Eat, Pray,
Love’ would be forthcoming. Whilst it
contained some interesting components, there was nothing really new or
enlightening, no real fresh insights to deliver. I did not feel a great deal of
empathy for Dolly either (the main character) as she did come off at times as
being quite selfish. The draw card is Coco - she is the real story here - such
an enigma, charismatic is her middle name and the way her story slowly unfolded
was entertaining.
“Do the
things that make you happy.
What if I
don’t know what they are?
Then I
think you really do have a problem”.
I have to give the book credit for
the setting. Venice is lavishly described so well, that many a time you could
picture yourself walking the narrow pathways. I also have to give the book points for its sumptuous food
descriptions – rich like the foods being lovingly prepared. The final
interesting aspect is the inclusion of the dance, the tango. Whether professionals or learners,
everything from the steps to the interpretation were vividly described.
“I’ve
decided my life is just like the tango now. I won’t force it along; I need to
let it happen naturally, stay in the moment, stay with the feeling, live with
my heart not my head. I’m getting better at it”.
But back to
Dolly. There were pearls of wisdom that were sprinkled throughout as she soaked
up Venice – the lifestyle, culture and cuisine.
Her objective was to discover what made her happy – really happy.
“What do I
want from my life? I want to be happier. Don’t you?...All of us deserve some.
But how many days and weeks had I let slip by in a fug of greyness and
dejection? How often even did I notice whether I was happy or not?”
So she makes new friends, takes
afternoon naps, tries new styles of dressing, discovers the local attractions
and learns to cook again for the love of it. Slowly she begins to unwind and
formulate the list of things that make her happy. At the conclusion, her lesson
is to attempt to live her life differently, ensuring time for the rediscovery
of the things that make her smile. Idealistic? Maybe, however, as she learnt
from Coco:
“I can’t change the past and undo my
mistakes. All I can do is get on with life. Keep going and keep trying. It’s
all any of us can do”.
This review is based on a
complimentary copy from the publisher and
provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted
material may have changed in the final release.
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