A humane and humorous tale that follows Verdi’s musical development.
A debut biographical novel tells the story of opera composer Giuseppe Verdi.
Growing up the son of tavern keepers in the village of Le Roncole in the Duchy of Parma, young Giuseppe is known as “Carlo’s Old Man” for his solemn demeanor. (Carlo is his father.) Displaying an early gift for musical composition, Giuseppe plays the organ at the local church, though his creativity is not always encouraged. The aspirational Carlo connects his young son with Antonio Barezzi, a wealthy local patron, whose daughter, Margherita, becomes the object of Giuseppe’s affection. Barezzi arranges for Giuseppe’s musical education in Milan, which leads to composition work and, eventually, to operas. As Giuseppe’s star begins to rise in the world of music, his homeland starts to bubble with a somewhat fantastic notion: an independent, unified Kingdom of Italy. Giuseppe’s work becomes associated with the movement, though the contrarian composer isn’t thrilled by it: “He struggled with his growing association with Italian unification and he made an effort to absolve himself of this label by dedicating the music to” Austrian Duchess Marie Louise of Parma “at a performance.” Even so, Giuseppe’s destiny is linked to that of his homeland: He will become one of his country’s most beloved men as well as one of the most celebrated opera composers in history. Writing in a precise, detailed prose, Mitchell brings warmth and wit to Verdi’s story. (When his mentor says, at one point, “I have some good news right here,” Verdi quips in response, “The Austrians have put a moratorium on practicing fugues?”) Whereas other volumes of the Mentoris Project (“a series of novels and biographies about the lives of great Italians and Italian-Americans”) have felt rather wooden, Mitchell has managed to enliven the life of Verdi by fleshing out the characters and truly dramatizing the events. Similarly, the author celebrates his subject’s flaws in a way that keeps the book from reading like a hagiography. Though it does not rise quite to the level of literary fiction, this novel is an enjoyable and highly informative portrait of Verdi that should please opera fans and foes alike.
A humane and humorous tale that follows Verdi’s musical development.Pub Date: July 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-947431-11-9
Page Count: 292
Publisher: Barbera Foundation
Review Posted Online: Aug. 23, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her...
Another middle-aged mom in a muddle.
After years of false starts and big hopes, Elizabeth’s ruggedly handsome husband Jack, a former football star, just landed a spot as a sportscaster on national news. He still loves her, even though much younger women are giving him come-hither looks. Heck, he doesn’t want to betray the love of his life after she helped him kick drugs and stuck by him even when he was a struggling has-been. And won’t it seem hypocritical if he fools around with his sexy assistant while he does in-depth reporting on a rape case involving a famous basketball center? Well, he fools around anyway. Elizabeth, nicknamed Birdie, knows nothing of this, but she withdraws from Jack when her hard-drinking, salt-of-the-earth father has a stroke and dies. Now no one will call her “sugar beet” ever again. Time to return home to Tennessee and contend with Anita, the sort-of-evil stepmother so trashy she wears pink puffy slippers all day long. Naturally, it turns out that Anita actually has a heart of gold and knows a few things about Birdie’s dead mother that were hushed up for years. Mom was an artist, just like Birdie, and an old scandal comes to light as Anita unrolls a vibrant canvas that portrays her secret lover. Perhaps, Birdie muses, her mother died of heartbreak, never having followed her true love or developed her talent. Has she, too, compromised everything she holds dear? Hoping to find out, Birdie joins a support group that promises to reconnect confused women with their passion. She and Jack separate, prompting a how-dare-you fit from their grown daughters. Will Birdie fly her empty nest? Will she go back to college for a degree in art? Will her brooding watercolors ever sell?
Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her previous tales (Summer Island, 2001, etc.).Pub Date: July 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-345-45071-X
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2002
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