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Summary: Big Stone Gap
Review: Big Stone Gap written by Adrianna Trigiani is an enchanting story set in a small town in Southwest Virginia in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The story is told from the viewpoint of the heroin of the book Ave Maria Mulligan who is single at thirty-five and self-proclaimed spinster, a pharmacist, and a woman with a mountain girl's body and flat behind. She tells the story in a rather simple narative, but...keeps you riveted. If you have ever lived in a small town you can relate to this story... better yet if you are observant, and read the book, the author puts you right in the small town. I must say, I felt as if I were transported right to Big Stone Gap. I could feel the cool mountain air, see the clear sky and hear the people in the story talking... most engaging and charming book I've read in a long time. I would highly recommend reading this book...unforgettable, with humor about a small town with people with a big heart and a storytelling narative that will captivate.
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Summary: Kinda like a Harlequin romance with ambitions to be art
Review: Adriana Trigiani is a good writer, in the sense that her characters are not one dimensional and she can write an interesting and amusing sentence. She loves the people she writes about, and I appreciate that. But after hearing people fuss about this book I expected something a little less like a soap opera for a plot. This is one of those books where the heroine does not notice that the handsomest kindest man in town is completely in love with her, where she makes up all kinds of reasons to treat him carelessly, for a couple hundred pages, and in the end when she realizes her mistake instead of running her off with a shotgun he just smiles and ding dong off we go to the chapel. And it turns out her dad wasn't really (fill in unsurprising plot twist here)....and in the end her family forgives....(fill in the next unsurprising plot twist here)....Don't want to ruin it for you folks but you can probably guess these without reading the book. It's kind of a beach novel but the beaches are hundreds of miles away from the mountains of Big Stone Gap.
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Summary: A fun, family issues, read !
Review: I too, would give this 4 1/2 stars if possible, be cause it was just this side of a perfect read. I picked up this book without knowing anything about the story or the author, and sometimes that is the best way to go. I was thrilled, and acutually read this one quickly. It wasn't exactly an intense read, in fact much of the book is filled with many small town, small people, details, but that is what added to it's charm. I found Ave Maria to be fun, kind, and honest, while maybe even a bit slow on catching up with true love. As she finds out the truth about her family and gives in to the real self she is her life begins to unfold and bring her true joy. A rounding, circle of life like ending always satisfies me, and you get that here as she sits back and learns to enjoy the life she has. I was also happy to see the Ballantine book circle questions and author interview at the end, because I read it with my book club. I will add that everyone of us enjoyed the book. It is a simple, beautiful novel.
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Summary: A warm and generous story of home and love
Review: As an adopted person who recently found her birthfather, this story really touched my heart. I loved the town, the characters and the story of one woman finding happiness when she did not know how unhappy she way. I look forward to the sequal due out next month. I will be giving this book as a gift to many friends. Enjoy.
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Summary: Easy to read but not that great of a story
Review: I had no trouble getting through this book. It kept my interest well enough for me to read it quickly for my book club. I wasn't that impressed with the author's simple writing style and most of the characters were not very well developed in my opinion.
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Summary: THANK YOU, ADRIANA, FOR THE MEMORIES OF HOME
Review: Big Stone Gap. A place of beauty and harmony. A place of sadness and strength. Adriana, as a native of Wise County now living in Tampa, Florida, I am so moved by this wonderful story that I am hopelessly homesick at this moment. I received my book as a Christmas gift this year and it is my most treasured possession and the best gift I ever received in all 47 years of life. I hated to have it end. I so look forward to "Big Cherry Holler". I spent 16 years as an assistant to Congressman Boucher in his tiny office on Shawnee Avenue, until my "big move" to the city 3 years ago. I came to know and love the people and places you have so vividly described, and still miss the lunch room at the Mutual Pharmacy. While I was not privileged to meet you, I'm sure we would have been good friends. Bless you and thank you.
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Summary: Almost Perfect
Review: I wish Amazon would allow half point ratings, because I would give this a 4.5. An almost perfect book. Characters I cared for, a heroine to really root for, a love story, and a coming of age book for someone in her 30's. I loved Ava Marie the 35 year old so called spinister of Big Stone Gap. Her quirky assortment of friends, Iva Lou the bookmobile lady (and what reader can resist a book that features a Bookmobile?, Pearl the poor but smart girl that makes good, Tayloe that beautiful but not so smart girl that maybe doesn't. Theodore the faithful friend, and countless others that people this book, and make me want to visit Big Stone Gap. Elizabeth Taylor choking on a chicken bone, a family secret revealed, a breakdown, greedy relatives, death, love, who could ask for more? A book I recommend, and I look forward to Big Cherry Holler.
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Summary: A wonderful book
Review: This story caught me in the first pages and I didn't want to put it down. With clear, simple yet deep prose, Trigiani paints the characters of her small Southern town with vigor. These aren't your average townfolk, and Ave Maria isn't your average pharmacist. She reads people's faces, and she discovers, at thirty-five, a family she didn't know existed. With that comes a new focus and zeal for life. Trigiani writes a beautiful book, sometimes wistful or painful, always grippingly entertaining.
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Summary: Great book!
Review: This is an excellent book with witty, interesting characters! I was drawn in after the first page!
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Summary: Love and Death: The Only Stories That Matter
Review: Very much a story about the narrator's self-discovery, set in a small town filled with semi-eccentric characters, "Big Stone Gap" is a pleasant, easy read. Although I personally found some aspects of the story to be predictable, I like the way that the narrator, Ave Maria, gradually reveals truths to herself and to us about her motivations, feelings and life story. It's like peeling layers back to expose things we don't consciously expect to be there. There are a few conflicts left unresolved (e.g., what happens to the aunt and uncle trying to lay claim to the house and business she's been willed by her mother?), but the biggest questions are, of course, answered by novel's end, and the resolutions are sure to be crowd pleasers. While I was at first tempted to categorize "Big Stone Gap" as a woman's book, the two dominant themes -- love and death -- are the most resonant themes of literarure. To that end I think "Big Stone Gap" has fairly universal appeal.
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