Casa Rossa : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Escape to Italy
Review: Marciano is able to transport the reader into the lushness of her settings with all the sights, smells, sounds and history. Being in Kenya while reading "Rules of the Wild" was wonderful. Now Italy with the added complexity of family and romance and food. I look forward to Francesca's next book and setting perfect for escape.

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully evoked flavors of Italy in the 1970s-80s.
Review: Marciano's book is absorbing and works beautifully on two levels: a story of multiple generations of women in which one comes to care about the characters, and an evocation of Italy during two decades of turmoil, including terrorism. I learned a lot about Italy reading this book, because interwoven among the fictional threads of the plot are glimpses of Italy's social realities: the division between North and South, for example. About one-third of the way through, this book just "took off" and I couldn't stop reading; it surpasses 'Rules of the Wild' which I also enjoyed, having lived in Kenya for a while.

Rating:
Summary: Fabulous Saga
Review: Ms. Marciano has really outdone herself for her second novel, which is as interesting as her first book, Rules of the Wild, but has a much more sophisticated storyline - plus the plot is much more intertwined. A truly fantastic second book which reveals a lot about the Red Brigade and a obviously very troubled time in Italy's history. My only complaint is with the cover, which I feel does the book an injustice by intimating that the book will be a fluffy girls' story and not the interesting and complicated novel that it is.