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Summary: Simply Charming!
Review: I absolutely loved this book - happened upon it by mistake, wasn't too sure about the plot - but turned out to absolutely love it and adore the characters - especially Renato! A nice, simple read that leaves you feeling happy and invigorated!
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Summary: Delightful surprise set in Tuscany!
Review: I am not a big reader of novels, but picked up this book while traveling, attracted by the setting in Tuscany, and the cover notes. Having lived in Italy for awhile I felt like dipping my feet in the stream of life there again. This book was better than I had hoped!From the opening chapter I was drawn into the world of Renato Tizzoni, his family, and his town. Being middle-aged myself, the struggles of Renato are not to distant, and the stories and relationships depicted in this novel, bring them to life, while giving the reader new faith for their own life journey. Of course, I loved the use of italian language, the small town setting, and the reminder of Italy's culinary delights. Must try that pecorino cheese with honey and pepper some time! I am no expert on the language, but even in the english one could trace italian word patterns, which added to the authenticity of the dialogue. I was pleased and again surprised at how everything came together. There is a lot there to think about, and while on the surface it might seem rather "neat", it is in the details that more meaning can be found. Give yourself an Italian holiday and read this book.
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Summary: A perrfect read for a gloomy day!
Review: I highly reccommend Renato's Luck to anyone who enjoys a chraacter driven novel full of interesting yet familiar characters. I found Renato and his fellow Tuscan villagers to have sharp insight into the absurdities and joys present in everyday life. Renato confronts the fears and challenges we all face as we get older and begin to question the choices we have made in life. The answers that Renato finds to these questions point to important truths that are present in our own lives.
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Summary: A perrfect read for a gloomy day!
Review: I highly reccommend Renato's Luck to anyone who enjoys a chraacter driven novel full of interesting yet familiar characters. I found Renato and his fellow Tuscan villagers to have sharp insight into the absurdities and joys present in everyday life. Renato confronts the fears and challenges we all face as we get older and begin to question the choices we have made in life. The answers that Renato finds to these questions point to important truths that are present in our own lives.
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Summary: Enchantingly irresistible!
Review: In keeping with the recent popularity of novels set in the Italian region of Tuscany, a new literary contender, "Renato's Luck" by Jeff Shapiro, enters the arena to delight and fascinate readers. In the small Tuscan village of Sant'Angelo D'Asso, the waterworks man, Renato Tizzoni, comes face to face with a bona-fide dose of mid-life crisis: he has lost his taste for life. His surrogate father and mentor has just died, and his teenaged daughter is wrapped up in her boyfriend. And, although he still loves and cherishes his wife, even his 20-year old marriage seems to have lost its luster. Worst of all, the town where he has lived all his days is slated to become a reservoir when the nearby river is dammed up to follow a government plan for irrigating local soil. Renato longs deeply for renewal and, despite the fact that he is not a religious man, interprets a series of strange dreams featuring a floating hand that points him to treasure as a call to change his luck. Renato decides that he must travel to Rome, to the Vatican City, to shake hands with the pope while touching his behind with his other hand, thereby initiating a chain reaction leading to a stroke of luck, or "stroke of ass" ("colpo di culo" in Italian slang). Eventually, as word of his intentions gets out, almost the entire village becomes invested in the outcome of his trip. As he readies himself for this life-altering journey, Renato collects the villagers' words of wisdom on a slip of paper that he carries in his back pocket and intends to present to the pope. As the story moves leisurely toward an anticipated resolution, Renato realizes that many of the people he knows and loves need a change of luck as much as he does. "Renato's Luck" by Jeff Shapiro is a sweet and engaging tale, without being shallow in the least. Shapiro, a longtime American resident of Tuscany, is writing in English in his debut novel, but his phrasing and inflection that give the narrative and dialogue a flavor that is distinctly, and charmingly, Italian. His descriptions of the picturesque quaintness of the town and its inhabitants are endlessly enchanting, and the cast of interesting secondary characters - including Duncan, Renato's American friend, and Il Piccino, the midget who runs the newspaper stand - are equally fascinating. Readers will find themselves irresistibly drawn into the story, eagerly waiting to discover how the fates of the townspeople will change with Renato's "stroke of luck." -Sharon Galligar Chance
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Summary: The flavor of Italy
Review: It's always fun to discover a brilliant first novel. If Shapiro can continue writing on this level, then we have the makings of another literary giant. His insight and gentle humor, his vivid characters and the ability to capture the nuances of Italian culture held me spellbound. I felt a twinge of sadness in finishing the book, I will miss these people. Bravo, Shapiro!
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Summary: Take a stroll with Renato
Review: Reading "Renato's Luck", by Jeff Shapiro was like taking a stroll. "Strolling was more a question of watching, of giving the eyes the time they might need to take in everything there was to see." This was my experience as I savored every page of this charming story. I too, took my meals at the "bottega," enjoyed the beauty of a small Italian village as the sun set, and felt "la terra" under me as I sat on the hillside at sunrise tending sheep. This had to be a pastoral tale because only in the quiet beauty of Tuscany could a "forty-ish" man find the time or the focus to worry about concerns which haunt everyone at some point in their lives. Emotional and physical changes, such as aging, death, loneliness, estrangement, and relocation are universal. What we fear most is to lose "the taste" for life. Renato proved to me that there is a slice of percorino cheese, "salty and sharp," drizzled with honey, "bittersweet with a tang," and dusted with black pepper, "that tickles your nose," behind every obstacle that life constructs. We need only to slow down long enough to discover this gift and taste the present, worry less about the future, and know deep down that even though problems seem only to happen to us, there is someone else in the world or close by who has to bear a larger burden. That a simple story can tell us so much is the extraordinary gift of it's author. Thank you for allowing me to meet the residents of Sant'Angelo D'Asso. Tell me Jeff, did Milena every juggle those tangerines?
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Summary: Renato's Luck
Review: Renato's Luck is a page turner with loads of earthy, quirky characters and enough foreshadowing to keep your interest without giving away the conclusion. A wonderful first novel. I cannot wait to read the second.
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Summary: A Book That Will Last
Review: RENATO'S LUCK is written in a style as dancing and swift as a pure mountain stream. The characters are real and warm and scenes are laced with humor as well as a wry sensibility to the ordinary moments of ordinary people's lives. It is a book to be read and reread with pleasure because there are depths to be discovered below the simple surface. Above all, it is a book that should last.
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Summary: A Renewed Taste for Life
Review: Renato's Luck, from the first word to the last visual, is the perfect read for anyone seeking a renewed taste for life. Jeff Shapiro has taken the Italian culture and woven a tale of hope, faith, and new-found happiness throughout his characters. Renato, in particular, becomes the small town hero of a delightful Tuscan town. Every character that Renato encounters shares a unique tale, simple yet so very Italian. Amazing for an American expat living in Tuscany. The visuals in this book are so precise that anyone who has visited Siena, Montalcino, or anywhere in Tuscany for that matter will no doubt be transported back to the tranquility of the Italian countryside. I loved the Italian phrases throughout the book, including their incredible translations! Bravo, Jeff Shapiro. Bravo, indeed. A must read for all!
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