An uplifting and often engrossing testament to the power of enduring friendship through the decades.
A novel recounts six decades in the lives of two lifelong friends.
Author, motivational speaker, and former Catholic priest Tagliareni (The Cross or the Swastika, 2014, etc.) blends his own memories with fiction in this sparkling, inspirational novel about Michael McNally and Sal La Greca, who first meet in a New Jersey grade school in 1954. When plucky Sal rescues scrawny Michael from menacing seventh-grade bullies, the two boys forge a bond. The two are different in several ways; black-haired, olive-skinned Michael adheres to his Catholic faith, while blond, blue-eyed, light-skinned Sal is staunchly secular. Still, their friendship deepens and endures throughout their adolescence, and their connection is strengthened by their “abiding respect and trust” for each other, particularly when Sal acts as a pallbearer at Michael’s mother’s funeral. With pleasant assuredness and narrative dexterity, Tagliareni effortlessly builds out his central characters’ profiles through their college years as Michael sacrifices a Notre Dame scholarship to raise his two brothers and Sal embraces the expansive, urban diversity of life at New York University. As the years pass, however, the men’s lives go in very different directions. Michael gets married, loses a brother in a tragic accident, and embarks on a medical career. Sal, after much introspection, surprisingly forges ahead with an intention to enter the priesthood; the author convincingly handles this latter plot development with authenticity, as it’s drawn from Tagliareni’s own experiences as a member of the clergy. As adults, both men are successful, productive members of society and are resilient against the slings and arrows of an unjust, unpredictable world. The author proves to be masterful at filling the two main narratives with life-changing events, both good and bad, which will keep the reader in a constant state of anticipation for Michael and Sal’s inevitable reunion. Indeed, another tragedy brings them together again, and both men are grateful to have the opportunity to catch up. At the same time, the author shows how each character recognizes how far their destinies have diverged. Michael assists wounded Marines in Vietnam before returning home to his family in New York and finding out the truth about his son’s sexual orientation; Sal moves up the ranks of the Catholic hierarchy, but the wisdom of an Austrian doctor drastically alters the course of his life. Throughout the story, Tagliareni draws extensively on his own life experiences, as well as those of his friends, which gives the novel an air of verisimilitude. It’s consistently satisfying, even enchanting at times, even though, for the two main players, the sheer amount of tragedy tends to outweigh the joy. Michael and Sal are immensely memorable characters, and their personalities will make readers care about them instantly. As a result, these kindhearted men are easily able to carry the novel through to its bittersweet conclusion. At its core, this is a life-affirming story that models the most soulful aspects of love and companionship.
An uplifting and often engrossing testament to the power of enduring friendship through the decades.Pub Date: June 24, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-7322149-0-3
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Jamaica Plain Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 10, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.
Life lessons.
Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-345-46750-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s...
The traumatic homecoming of a wounded warrior.
The daughter of alcoholics who left her orphaned at 17, Jolene “Jo” Zarkades found her first stable family in the military: She’s served over two decades, first in the army, later with the National Guard. A helicopter pilot stationed near Seattle, Jo copes as competently at home, raising two daughters, Betsy and Lulu, while trying to dismiss her husband Michael’s increasing emotional distance. Jo’s mettle is sorely tested when Michael informs her flatly that he no longer loves her. Four-year-old Lulu clamors for attention while preteen Betsy, mean-girl-in-training, dismisses as dweeby her former best friend, Seth, son of Jo’s confidante and fellow pilot, Tami. Amid these challenges comes the ultimate one: Jo and Tami are deployed to Iraq. Michael, with the help of his mother, has to take over the household duties, and he rapidly learns that parenting is much harder than his wife made it look. As Michael prepares to defend a PTSD-afflicted veteran charged with Murder I for killing his wife during a dissociative blackout, he begins to understand what Jolene is facing and to revisit his true feelings for her. When her helicopter is shot down under insurgent fire, Jo rescues Tami from the wreck, but a young crewman is killed. Tami remains in a coma and Jo, whose leg has been amputated, returns home to a difficult rehabilitation on several fronts. Her nightmares in which she relives the crash and other horrors she witnessed, and her pain, have turned Jo into a person her daughters now fear (which in the case of bratty Betsy may not be such a bad thing). Jo can't forgive Michael for his rash words. Worse, she is beginning to remind Michael more and more of his homicide client. Characterization can be cursory: Michael’s earlier callousness, left largely unexplained, undercuts the pathos of his later change of heart.
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s aftermath.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-312-57720-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
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