2011 Reading List: Book #1

Big Cherry Holler by: Adriana Trigiani

This book was written as a sequel of Big Stone Gap but it was also meant to stand alone. Because of this, things were mentioned in the book as if you should already know what had happened but then it would be explained later in the book. OR the book would give you a little random detail that had nothing to do with anything. I'm going to put out there and just say it; I didn't enjoy this book. It wasn't until the last 20 pages that I actually had a chuckle out loud and I was able to enjoy the book without feeling the anxiety and the disconnect of the main character.

This book was about a lady who didn't get married until her late thirties and said that she loved her husband but acted like she had settled. The setting of the book was in old hick miner town in the Appalachian mountains. I felt claustrophobic while reading the book; as if my life was stuck in the mud as this lady seemed to live hers. It was routine and monotonous. She lived in a town where the energy of gossip is what kept this people living. And her husband was quite and shy and they could NOT communicate. She would be upset with her husband and he would ask, "What is wrong?" and instead of talking to him she would say in her head what was wrong but then out loud she would smile and say, "Oh nothing, I'm just tired." Or some other lame excuse. Everytime this happened I just wanted to yell, "OMG Talk to Him!" I'm not married but I figure that is how a marriage works... talk it out.

Then this lady and her husband decide to take their daughter to Italy where the main lady's family is from and still lives. Well the night before the are to go, the husband decides not to go and puts words in his wife's mouth, saying she doesn't really want him to go AND you need this time to decide if you really love me AND she just sits there. THEN when she returns it's some how her fault that she didn't fight for him to go with the family to Italy.

I did love when they were in Italy though. The descriptions were so viid and beautiful. I would love to go there someday.

Also, the books revealed a lot of affairs. The husband, the wife, the people in the town. It was like the book was showing all these people who had settled for what they thought was love, (and some really were in love like the husband and wife but had just forgotten it), and they were finally going after their true loves or what they thought was love. Luckily the husband in wife didn't end up actually cheating... but they had their romances with other people.

Overall... with the limited time we have to read, this book was ok but not one that I would recommend. Might as well use your pressure reading time on another book worth being recommend.

2011 Reading List