Big Cherry Holler

Rating:
Summary: Decent Read, but can't hold a candle to the first one
Review: I read Big Stone Gap and I just loved it. Great characters, a warm, wonderful tale, etc. I could not wait to read the next one.

It was an easy read and it was great to see all the characters again, but where the first one was fresh and rich, this was stale and bland. Some of the language was so simple and cliche, that I felt as if I were reading some run of the mill romance novel/self-help book.

The biggest problem is Ave's force-feeding us all of her revelations and self-analyses. If there had been more to this story - more about their son and more actual scenes about what was happening to their marriage as opposed to her telling us about them, it may have worked better.

Rating:
Summary: Even better than Big Stone Gap
Review: In Big Stone Gap, the first book of this trilogy, the reader is introduced to the charming characters of this mountain community in Virginia. In the second book, the tone is much more serious as the reader is taken into the eight-year-old marriage of Ave Maria and Jack MacChesney. The couple have two children, but their son dies at an early age from leukemia. Another misfortune strikes when the local mines are closed and Jack loses his job. These two tragedies cause Ave Maria and Jack to look inside themselves and to ponder the meaning of love and commitment. They begin to see that their different temperaments and ways of dealing with tragedy are beginning to pull them apart. Both of them are tempted to be unfaithful and how they deal with this situation determines the fate of their marriage. This is a very well-written book, full of insights about the relationships between men and women and how they are effected by the baggage that people carry with them.

Rating:
Summary: A GREAT ONE OF THREE GREATS.
Review: BIG CHERRY HOLLER IS THE SECOND IN ADRIANA TRIGIANI'S TRILOGY
WITH BIG STONE GAP AND MILK GLASS MOON BEING THE OTHERS. I LOVED
ALL THREE AND RECOMMEND THEM HIGHLY! IF YOU WANT TO GET INVOLVED IN "ANOTHER WORLD" WITH THAT WORLD'S CHARACTERS - I
ESPECIALLY LOVED IVA LOU AND FLEETA WHOSE EXPRESSIONS ARE
PRICELESS - THIS TRILOGY IS FOR YOU. PERSONALLY, I FOUND THESE
BOOKS ENTERTAINING FROM BEGINNING TO END AND WOULD WELCOME A
CONTINUATION WITH # 4.