Meeting Luciano (Ballantine Readers Circle)

Rating:
Summary: Sadly unimaginative for such a great premise
Review: As this soap opera progresses, the story becomes more and more uninteresting. Emily, the fairly dull narrator, slowly discovers the judgements she made about her mother and her mother's contractor, Alex, are all unfounded. Of course in a book as formulaic as this one the reader has made the discovery pages before the character does. The tangental snippets from Emily's past populated with unimaginatively realized characters like Ben, the radical intellectual pseudo-boyfriend from college, are also run-of-the-mill. Esaki-Smith has an understanding of drama, but only in terms of movie-of-the-week style relationships and situations. Considering the story is about the reconstruction of a house and, metaphorically the entire household, and that Emily had plans to be an architect there was such a wealth for dramatic development and surprises. But all we get is Emily's sorrowful musings of her muddling life as a waitress in a Japanese steakhouse and her not-so-interesting past. And of course paragraphs of her unapproving comments about the relationship between her mother and Alex. The anticipated meeting with Pavarotti and how that meeting eventually turns out is the only surprise in this sadly unfulfilling tale.

Rating:
Summary: If you've ever reinvented yourself, you'll love this
Review: It is my good fortune to find this jewel-like, delectable novel. For me, it was not about meeting up with Luciano himself afterall, but about meeting up with so much more: beautiful food, opera music and the musical language, the intricacies of loving mothers/fathers/siblings/friends, the loss of them, growing up/the uncertainty of the future, and the need to reinvent oneself; Esaki-Smith touches just about all bases, including a delectable mix of cultures. The thoughtfulness and perception from which she writes/describes her mother astonishes me. I highly recommend this novel.

Rating:
Summary: What a sweet story
Review: This is the story of Emily who, after graduating from college returns home to live with Hanako, her mom. What Emily needs is some interests, focus, direction, a little kick in the rear to get her life jumpstarted again but instead decides to fill her time by taking care of the affairs of her "helpless" mother. Hanako, on the other hand, has a mission and is determined to complete it. She was just a delight. At times she seemed so childlike and vulnerable yet had such a strong presence in the book. Alex was right, she is a strong person. I think for the most part Hanako's and Emily's relationship is a typical mom-daughter relationship. The ending was the only disappointment. It came very quickly and I kept wondering why the author ended the book so abruptly.