Rating: 
Summary: Vastly over hyped and tired
Review: I took this book (audio version) on a drive through the Blue Ridge Mountains, as the subject matter seemed appropriate. What a disapointment! I have read the first two books, and thought they were OK but you can see the material (mostly fresh in the first book) getting staler and more tired with each outing.
Same old characters...Ms. Trigiani kills off one character per book, I guess. She doesn't introduce any new or challenging characters. Everyone -- Iva Lou, Spec, Pearl, Jack Mac -- make an appearance with absolutely nothing new to say. Many old scenes are revisited to no point (Ave Maria and Pete headed back to the blue bell field).
I think this is just a money machine now for the author. Anything charming or authentic to the locale has been sucked dry. The characters seem old and tired, without nothing new about them to explore.
One thing nobody talks about with this series, which I think is a real cheat, is how in each book Ave Maria and family get to take, not one, but several incredibly long, expensive Italian vacations.
In the real world, in the REAL Big Stone Gap, about how often do you think this happens? Most of the people in this region live modestly. Even a pharmacist wouldn't be rich by any means (and Ave gave up ownership of her store and house -- improbably in my view -- in the first book). Even with relatives, just the plane fare for all these trips would be a fortune and that's not taking into consideration that they aren't normal two week vacations but whole summers.
Honestly, the only people who can do this -- time AND moneywise -- are...rich authors and screenwriters, like say...Adriana Trigiani.
It certainly tells us NOTHING about real life in Southwestern Virginia, to hear that these lucky individuals get to take mindbending shopping trips in the Italian Alps every few pages.
In the first book, it was maybe excusable as Ave had just reconnected with her Italian family. But to incorporate into every book seems forced, improbable and more like Ms. Trigiani is bragging about her own luxurious lifestyle than telling us anything remotely believeable about life in a unique and distinctive part of the US.
Yes, I get it...it's a fantasy. But the charm of the first book was that it was a sweet fantasy that incorporated a very real and distinctive view of the Big Stone Gap region. If the characters flounce off to New York and the Italian Alps all the time, you might as well be reading Jackie Collins.
Adrianna Trigianni, it's time to move on. You have some writing talent, now give up Ave and write about something else for a change.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful ending....
Review: I was very sorry for this book to end..It made me laugh and cry.Jack Mac and Ave life's are just beginning, I hope that the author continues to write about them...I see grandchildren, a new career. Lots of joy and pain to come. I only wish that I was just beginning the books...
Rating:
Summary: As real as it gets in fiction
Review: I went to graduate school at Virginia Tech, about 90 miles from Big Stone Gap (BSG). About 20 years later, I lived much closer to Big Stone Gap and actually did some work there. Trigiani does an absolutely superb job of capturing life in BSG. The settings are authentic, and the characters are all too real. I have found that Southern Appalachia is either too romanticized or too criticized. The truth is that the small towns in Southern Appalachia have rich tapestries of charm, poverty, homespun delight, generational-taught craftmanship of unmatched quality, slap-dash workmanship of almost childlike poor quality, and pathos and despair which is sometimes hard to fathom for most suburbanized Americans. Trigiani is truly gifted in her ability to recreate this rich tapestry in each of her BSG books. There is a lovely entrance to BSG as you cruise into the Powell Valley from Wise, Virginia. The views are breathtaking. Just prior to entering BSG, you can take a left and go up the side of Wallen's Ridge, looking down to the right, and seeing the entirety of BSG. BSG looks tranquil from this view, and you can imagine the goings on depicted by Trigiani. Further up Wallen's Ridge is one of two supermax prisons in Wise County, and you get the all too real sense that BSG is a very complex place indeed. Bravo to Adriana for capturing this slice of Americana that most will never get to experience.
Rating:
Summary: Milk Glass Moon
Review: I've been waiting for months for the third book in the Big Stone Gap series to be published, and it was well worth the wait! This is the best of the three. I love reading about Ave and Etta's mother/daughter relationship, and the pain and pleasures it brings. I feel at times this story is my life! I laughed, I cried and I never wanted it to end!
Rating: 
Summary: Bittersweet story
Review: If this is the final book in the Big Stone Gap series, I will be disappointed. Ave Maria and Etta grows up over the years together. Etta resists her mother's attempts to make her over into a different person and Ave Maria resists the fact that her baby is growing up. It is a wonderful book about growing up, loving and learning to let go. All of the main characters are still in this book though they, too, have grown older. Iva Lou is still the loyal best friend though she undergoes a crisis of her own. Spec is still the crusty father-figure for Ave. Theodore is still the best friend, only now he lives in New York and happily in love. Fleeta is still the crusty woman who wows everyone with her baking skills. Pearl is still the young girl that Ave befriended, only she is married and has a child of her own. Jack is still Ave's husband and this time, the tension between them is not there. They too have grown up together over the years. This is a bittersweet story of friends and family growing together as a child comes of age. No matter where they are, the gorgeous mountains ~~ either of Gap Creek or of the Italy Alps ~~ are in the background. This book is more lyrically-written as if the author has come into her own and found her voice. It is a sweet novel ~~ one that makes you wish for more after the last page is turned. If this is the finale of the Big Stone Gap series, then it is worth every drop of tears I've shed on this one! 10-3-03
Rating:
Summary: Welcome Back to your Big Stone Gap Family~
Review: In the third installation In the Big Stone Gap trilogy we are
reunited with our beloved characters from Big Stone Gap, Virginia. After the long, winding road we took with Ave Maria and Jack Mac in Big Stone Gap, and the introspective look we got at the realities of their marriage 8 years later in Big Cherry Holler, Milk Glass Moon lets us into these treasured characters lives even deeper. This is another sequel that does not disappoint. The gang of favorite towns folk are back: Iva Lou, Pearl, Fleeta, Spec & the like. Beginning four years after Big Cherry Holler leaves off, Ave Maria is experiencing the challenges of unchartered waters in the territory of motherhood. She's learning how to deal with a teenage daughter, Etta, who it seems has more in common with her father-.."she's all Macchesney.."As Ave struggles to form a bond with Etta, she must find a balance between trying to protect her daughter from the mistakes she made, and allowing Etta to be her own person. Milk Glass Moon maintains the charm that it's sister novels possessed, but opens the heart even deeper. You'll struggle through more of lifes twists and turns with the Big Stone Gap family and share more joys. Not only does Ave cope with learning to let go of the reign of motherhood, she is also forced to re-examine some old story lines with Pete Rutlidge and the effects this temptation has on her marriage. Ave also faces the changes time inevitably brings, as friends grow older and life as she has known it is being redefined. Trigiani's writing and gift for story telling continue to be magical. In Big Stone Gap she will make you fall in love with the town & it's family. In Big Cherry Holler she lets you in to some heavier issues and the path that true love and years of marriage can find itself on. In Milk Glass Moon we see how years of struggles and triumphs work together to make the Big Stone Gap family who they are. We get some closure on some still unresolved issues and Trigiani's usual insightfulness on relationships and human frailties. I couldn't read this novel fast enough, but was sad when it was over. This is one reader who can't wait for more from Trigiani~
Rating:
Summary: Welcome back friends
Review: In this long awaited conclusion to the Big Stone Gap trilogy you will once again meet up with all your friends. The story opens with Etta at the difficult age of 13 and ends with her being a young woman of 18. Will Ave Marie be able to survive her daughter growing up? You will have to be sure to read this one because there are alot of surprises for you just around the bend.
Milk Glass Moon is a wonderful cozy read that you should not pass up on.
Rating: 
Summary: While I didn't completely hate it
Review: it didn't have that special something that Big Stone Gap did. I loved Big Stone Gap, liked Big Cherry Holler, but there was something missing in this one. There is nothing new or exciting here. New characters are introduced then not truly developed, the old ones don't get nearly as much attention. I just don't understand why Ave Maria doesn't make her break out of Stone Gap when she has the most stimulating conversation with Theodore than she's had for months at home and still feels like such an outsider. Surely a pharmacist could find work anywhere she would choose to. We are all set up to see Ave Maria and Jack Mac again, next time in Italy. Hopefully Adrianna Trigiani will be able to recapture the original magic of the first book again.
Rating: 
Summary: A decent read
Review: It's been a few years since I read the first two books in this series. However, I had high hopes for this one. I found myself quickly becoming bored with the characters. I skimmed several pages toward the end just to finish the book. I also felt this book was rushed. Trigiani takes us from her daughter being 11 to 13, then it seems as though she rushes us through the book to marry off the daughter. Ave seems to continually choose the "safe" option, which was boring. This was not what I expected. A decent read, but not as exciting as the first two books.
Rating:
Summary: Milk Glass Moon
Review: Milk Glass Moon written by Adriana Trigiani is book three of a triology in the Big Stone Gap series, (Big Stone Gap, Big Cherry Hollar and Milk Glass Moon). This book takes us six years further into the lives of Ave Maria Mulligan MacChesney and her family and friends. All of the characters that we loved in the previous books are growing up or matured and their character is coming out well in this book. The mother/daughter relationship is strong in this book, as Ave Maria doesn't want to let going of the little girl that is now maturing, her daughter is facing her first love and mother is experiencing heartbreak. This book is about life through Ave Maria's eyes, in the Southwestern part of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia with all of the flavor of that small town distilled into this book making it a wild ride throgh the emotional roller coaster. With twist and turns woven into the main story we learn what's happening to Ave Maria's friends, Iva Lou, Pearl Grimes, Theodore Tipton, Jack Mac, and Fleeta. With humor, you will laugh along with the characters as life in Big Stone Gap is changing. You'll love reading the book as the narrative is simple but very effective and you can imagine the characters in your mind as you read on, making this book engaging. There is drama, mountain wisdom along ith a sprinkle of humor and romance all rolled into a very well told story.
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