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Summary: Real People Living The Good Life
Review: I was born and raised in Big Stone Gap, and this book captures the essence of life in that town. As I read the book, I could smell the mountain air, hear the bookmobile coming around the street corner at the Post Office, and See the town merchants placing their wares on the sidewalks. What memories it brings back! The characters are real, the talk is true, and the honor and chivalry depicted in the book are still a part of that town. If you want a romantic novel that makes you yearn for the traditional values of yester year, this is the one to read. Big Stone Gap is real, refreshing, and a wonderful read to get lost in!
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Summary: Big Stone Gap is no Small Time Sensation
Review: Having grown up in a small town not so far from the Blue Ridge... I never thought I'd miss it. Until Big Stone Gap. Trigiani's tapestry of characters will make any small town defacto reminisce fondly of the bizarre, conventional life we couldn't wait to leave. Bravo! A swift, heartwarming reminder. I'm going home.
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Summary: This book is a jewel
Review: Loved this book. Everything rings true, from the quirky names, oddball characters that populate the little town, to the hilarious/sad/bittersweet occurances. It's an easy read and a great story. I just love a well put-together story. And that's the whole sweet-potato right there.
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Summary: "Gap" reveals mysteries of love and joy of self-discovery
Review: Capable Adriana Trigiani joins such inspiring Southern authors as Lee Smith and Kaye Gibbons with her moving debut novel, "Big Stone Gap." Her heroine, Ave Maria Mulligan, possesses strength, dignity and, ultimately, vulnerability as she sets out on the most important journey of her life, the search for authentic identity and fulfillment in love. Trigiani invests Ave Maria with the literary gifts of believability, supporting characters who vex and delight the reader, and a setting (the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia) absolutely real and gracious. "Gap" defies easy categorization, as it has both comic and deeply sad moments; yet it is a quintessential American book -- big-hearted, conflict-riddled and triumphant.The protagonist, shattered by the death of her beloved, immigrant mother, outlines the basic challenge she faces as a middle-aged, independent, but lonely woman: "Pracitical Ave Maria must go. Me. The never-married town pharmacist who is never caught without her first aid kit...The girl who built her life so carefully so she'd never have to ask anybody for anything. I have had it with me." Trigiani sculpts her novel around Ave Maria's inability to feel, to act on impulses of love, to become something other than Big Stone Gap's sensible, efficient, spinster-like institution. Soon enough, Ave Maria must determine not only how to treat multiple marriage proposals but to come to grips with her own startling origins. Trigiani is simply extraordinary in he resolution of Ave Maria's quest for identity, never compromising real epiphany for cliched answers. We are fortunate to lie in times where American women authors are so adroit in mining the human heart and presenting works of literature which instruct us as to what loving relationships are and how we, in our stumbling, awkward ways, learn to accept ourselves and have faith in each other. Trigiani prophetically states that "the great mysteries in life can only be solved person to person. We can pull each other through." Americans are lucky to have yet another Southern woman to be our guide to the truths of the heart.
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Summary: Just thinking of this book makes me smile!
Review: What can you say? This book is just nice! Nothing fancy, nothing amazing...just a darn good book. I loved this community and the characters the author created. I was pulled in and watched this town grow. This story was about much more than Ava Maria and her search for answers. It was about this town and the people who made this such a rich place to visit. The best part of this book is knowing that I can visit these characters in the next two books. I look forward to visiting again, and reading more by this author!
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Summary: Fun, But I Probably Won't Read The Other Two
Review: This book was entertaining with lots of twists and turns. The characters were adorable, and growing up in the south, I could definitely relate. Each character had his or her own words of wisdom to add to the story. All that said, I felt like Big Stone Gap was trying too hard. For me, it was one too many runs to the hospital that did it in. The book was fun, and I certainly have no regrets, but I don't think I will be reading Big Cherry Holler or Milk Glass Moon.
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Summary: good story
Review: The book started a little slow for me, but finally picked up. Anyone who is small town at heart will love and appreciate this book. The characters are great and fun. It's an interesting story of Ave Maria who lives in the hills of Virginia. After her mother dies, she learns her father in Big Stone Gap is not her birth father. Her pregnant mother fled Italy with a woman named Ave Maria, which is where our Ave got her name. There in the US she met a nice man who took her in and married her--he was the only father Ave Maria knew. Now, with both parents gone, Ave is trying to discover the truth about her past and to find her birth father in Italy. Word gets out that she is a "bastard" (as she calls herself). She also find herself fielding marriage proposals, at 35! However, Ave must find herself before she can find love and that is what she has set out to do. It's a great story about finding one's self and discovering, sometimes a little late, what you want out of life. And sometimes all you need has been in front of you all along. The story was heart felt. At times I wanted to smack Ave and tell her to wake up and see the man that truly loved her, but like her friends, I was patient, as this was something she needed to discover on her own. Can't wait to read the next one!
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Summary: Warms the heart
Review: Ave Maria Mulligan leads a carefully ordered life in the little town of Big Stone Gap, Virginia. Surrounded by the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Ave Maria seems oblivious as she performs her duties as pharmacist, member of the Rescue Squad, and director of the local historical pageant. Her beloved mother has just died and has left her a letter telling her some family secrets which shake up her well-ordered world. Without her mother to ground her, she begins looking for new meaning in her life and decides that she needs to travel to Italy to meet the relatives she's never known. There are two men who are interested in her, but she decides that she needs to keep one as a best friend and ignore the attentions of the other one. This is the story of a woman who comes of age at thirty-five and who finds what she has really been searching for all of her life. The small-town characters are reminiscent of Fannie Flagg's characters and are delightful. This is recommended reading!
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Summary: This book is a jewel
Review: Loved this book. Everything rings true, from the quirky names, oddball characters that populate the little town, to the hilarious/sad/bittersweet occurances. It's an easy read and a great story. I just love a well put-together story. And that's the whole sweet-potato right there.
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Summary: Loved this book!
Review: Big Stone Gap is about a small Moutain town in Virginia, and the people who live there. You will meet the most wonderful people in Big Stone Gap. Some of the town members we meet include; Ave Maria the local pharmacist, town spinster, who's about to have a breakdown. Jack Mac, a local coal miner, trying to break though the wall Ave has put around her self. Theodore is our loveable feriner, band/choral director at Powell High School. Pearl Grimes is a local teenager who doesn' t have many friends, she goes on to take a job at Mutual Pharmacy working for Ave. Iva Lou is the bookmobie driver, one of Ave's best friends. I can't forget about wise cracking Fleeta who also works at Mutual for Ave. Ave just lost her mama and soon finds out that she really doesn't know where she comes from. With the help of her friends she learns how to live life to its fullest. She finds long lost family and at last falls in love. She has everything she always wanted, and learned to be happy So take a trip down to Big Stone Gap, meet it unique residents. I promise its worth the trip!
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