Rating: 
Summary: DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS ONE
Review: The previous reviews on this book are either very high or very low. I might be in the minority here but I just didn't enjoy it as much as I would have liked. It is a story that has been told dozens of times before except that the setting is different here -- Big Stone Gap. There were a few parts I did find enjoyable but for the most part, I couldn't wait to be done with it. The main character, Ave Maria, seemed so one dimensional to me. Nothing she did was a surprise. The rest of the book was mundane and trite. The trip by Liz Taylor and her husband was supposed to be the highlight of the book; perhaps in the author's eyes -- not for this reader. My opinion is don't waste your money on this one.
Rating: 
Summary: I absolutely adored it!
Review: Every once in a great while, a book comes along that you absolutely adore. You devour every word and are incredibly sad when it ends. Then you realize happily that you can go back to the beginning and enjoy it all over again. "Big Stone Gap" by Adriana Trigiani is just that sort of book. Overflowing with humor and compassion, "Big Stone Gap" is the enchanting story of a woman who thinks life has passed her by, only to learn that the best is yet to come. Set in Virginia's Appalachian mountains, the novel follows Ave Maria Mulligan on her quest to discover just who she is and what she wants out of life. As the local pharmacist, Ave's been keeping the townsfolk's secrets for years, but she's about to discover a skeleton in her own family's closet that will blow the lid right off her uneventful life. After the death of her mother, Ave Maria kept herself busy with the pharmacy, volunteer work, and as director of the town's long-running outdoor drama. She's content with her life when, suddenly, she discovers that the man she called Daddy was not her real father, and her life might not be all she always thought it was. While trying to come to grips with this new self-realization, Ave finds herself juggling two marriage proposals, conducting a vicious family feud with her feisty aunt, and planning a life-changing journey to Italy to locate her real father. And if that isn't enough, Ave finds time to help her friend Theodore, the high school band director, design a half-time show to dazzle Elizabeth Taylor when the Hollywood star comes through town on a campaign stump with her husband, senatorial candidate John Warner. Yes, this is a very busy book. Filled with a delightful assortment of small-town eccentrics, "Big Stone Gap" is a treasure trove of unique, wise, and wonderful characters. Author Adriana Trigiani grew up in the actual town of Big Stone Gap, Virginia, during the 1970s. Honing her storytelling abilities by writing and producing some of television's top-rated shows, including the groundbreaking Cosby Show, Trigiani proves with her first novel that her talents extend to more than one medium. Production on a movie version of "Big Stone Gap", which will be written, directed and produced by Ms. Trigiani, is already in the works. -Sharon Galligar Chance
Rating: 
Summary: No Literary Masterpiece Here
Review: While the scenery sounds beautiful and some of the characters are charming, I found this book to be very dull. So many parts were very predictable while others were nonsensical. Perhaps this is the author's chance to go back to her childhood and relive the wonderful times in Big Stone Gap; I guess you had to be there because I just couldn't get attached to this book.
Rating:
Summary: Boring, Boring, Boring
Review: I don't know how any reader could give this book a five star rating. I was hoping it would get better as I kept reading but it didn't. It is so predictable and the characters aren't drawn out at all. The key parts in the book are thrown out at you with no preparation at all. ( )
Rating:
Summary: What A Wonderful Book!
Review: Having grown-up in East Stone Gap (two miles east of Big Stone Gap) from 1977 to 1982, I was awash in memories after reading this book. Although I was 10 years old in 1978 (the time period for this book) I remember vividly the Elizabeth Taylor episode and laughed at it once again in the pages of this book. Aside from all of the familiar references to my "hometown", I found this to be a well written book. I put it in a league with Fannie Flagg's "Daisy Faye & The Miracle Man" and even "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe". I love books based in the South, especially when a book such as this shows the real human emotion that everyone feels, not just Southern folks.. Adriana- HURRY-UP and write another one-- you can call it "East Stone Gap"
Rating:
Summary: Who says there is no such thing as a "time machine"!
Review: We all want to experience our youth again, no matter were we lived it out. If you are from New York City,or Big Stone Gap, Va. the trick is to get a ticket that will take you back 20 or 40 or 60 years. Adriana Trigiani with "Big Stone Gap" is that ticket for so many from small town America.
Rating:
Summary: BIG STONE GAP HAS SOME GAPS
Review: At best, this book could be compared to a substandard Lavyrle Spencer offering. The story is weak and the character development is non-existent. While the description of the town is delightful and the visit by Liz Taylor quite humorous, the rest of the story is lacking. Anyone who is giving this book 5 stars must be a friend of the author or has lived in this area and enjoys reminiscing. I originally purchased this book because I heard Carolyn Rhea, of Sabrina fame, tauting it on the Regis and Kathie Lee show as one of the "best books she has ever read." I waited until the last page for it to become one of the best books I ever read. IT NEVER DID. I guess I wasn't surprised to read in the "Acknowledgements" at the end of the book that the author thanked Carolyn Rhea -- obviously they are friends. Need I say more.....
Rating:
Summary: A terrific read
Review: I wasn't sure what to expect when I opened up "Big Stone Gap," but at the end of it I was completely hooked by what Trigiani has done with the characters in Big Stone Gap, Va. She has written a lively, hugely enjoyable novel that's full of humor and heart.
Rating:
Summary: Ordinary Life, Extraordinary People
Review: Big Stone Gap is a truly delightful tale about life in a very small town. It is a story which makes me appreciate the small things in life. Ave Maria Mulligan, the book's heroine, is a lady with lots of love and kindness to share and troubles with which the reader can readily identify. I was rooting for her all the way. I just hooted when I read about the dogs on the football field when Liz Taylor visited and my heart sang when Ave Maria finally meets her father. I loved how she fell in love with Jack Mac. This is just a really good book. It's easy reading and will run the gamut of your emotions. Hip, hip, hooray for Adriana Trigiani!
Rating:
Summary: Taste of Appalachia served on a platter of family intrigue.
Review: In 1973, when I called the administrator of the hospital collect from New Orleans to accept the position of Emergency Room physician, the long-distance operator laughed and thought I was joking: Doctor Sandy Rock calling the administrator of Lonesome Pine Hospital in Big Stone Gap, Virginia? But it was no joke. I spent the better part of the '70s tending to many of the characters I have rediscovered in Adriana Trigiani's "Big Stone Gap." Those who weren't my patients I knew as friends, fellow "pickers 'n' grinners," and colleagues. Often the lines blurred. What hasn't blurred is my memory of this little Appalachian coal-mining town where I found myself a "feriner," truly from another world. Now, in this debut novel, I find new insight into the dreamlike world into which I was cast. Around a clutch of characters that sprang back to life for me in this wonderful story of self-discovery and acceptance, Adri Trigiani tells it like it was. Not since "Coal Miner's Daughter" has the mystery of the Appalachian culture been so well captured; not since "A Confederacy of Dunces" has the flavor of a culture been so well portrayed. Not much has been left out. Life in Big Stone Gap seems to center on coal mining, football, the "Trail of the Lonesome Pine".... and gossip. Trips to the Carter Family Fold, Rescue Squad runs, jaunts to Huff Rock, down-home hospitality and cooking, and sexual fantasies and escapades fill the gaps. Everyone knows everybody else's business...sometimes before they know it themselves. Surprisingly, the most touching moments in the book are those that span both time and oceans as we discover---along with the protagonist---that a mother's love and a father's devotion endure death, distance, the seasons and cultural chasms. For anyone wanting a taste of Appalachia served up on a platter of family intrigue and mixed with as honest a love story as has been scribed in the last decade, "Big Stone Gap" is the four-star plate on the menu. I eagerly await the movie!
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