A Passion For Reading: Book Tour: The Tale of Lucia Grandi Review and Giveaway

Summary: The Tale of Lucia Grandi, the Early Years When an old woman is asked to tell the story of her life, she tells is an intense and poignant tale about growing up in and surviving an irrational, warring suburban family during the 1950s and 60s. The narrative is told from Lucia’s perspective as the second child where she and her siblings are caught in the middle of a lifelong war between her mother, Ruth, an overbearing, unhappy homemaker, and her father, Leonard, a manipulative, sometimes violent New York City cop. Lucia is the silent, thoughtful eyewitness to her parents’ constant and sometimes life-threatening battle. The story is told as a memoir; each chapter describes a particular incident in Lucia’s life which shows the constant struggle between her parents and the perverse effect it has on her and her siblings. From her complicated and unwanted birth, to her witnessing a suicide at age 3, to her stint as a runaway at age 14, the story progresses to the final crisis where as a young woman, she is turned out of her house and banished from her family forever. This timeless story of one woman’s courageous attempt to come to terms with her past and the troubled family that dominated it is powerfully and poignantly told.

"This novel recently made it to the Quarter final rounds in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest. Amazon reviewers called it great storytelling and the wrote that the prose “ flows with such beauty you are holding your breath to eagerly read each word!”

Review: This book is big over 400 pages, but don't let that deter you. I really liked this book. I felt a connection with Lucia, and was feeling her emotions throughout the book. The story was relate-able some of the things that have happened to her has happened to me in my life. I am sure quite a few people could relate to Lucia. As a child she was strong and independent, and that certainly effected how she turned out as she got older. Her parents made me so mad! I really wanted to jump into the book, and take their children away from them. I was like these parents should not have been allowed to have children. I liked how the book showed you how they got to why they act like they do as parents. People sometimes fail to look at the big picture, and take the time to figure out why people are the way they are. BUT that still doesn't mean these people should have been allowed to have children. As the summary said it shows important moments in her life. So the story line is constantly moving forward in a steady progression. I thought it was very well written. It didn't move too slow, which I really liked. It definitely has some good lessons to teach us. I definitely suggest you guys check out this book, I laughed, I cried, and I enjoyed the experience.

Here is one of my favorite excerpts: "Suddenly in my fog I thought of the story about the boy who cried wolf so many times when it wasn't true, that when finally it was true, no one believed him. Well here I was, the girl who complained of stomach aches as a way to get out of doing Things To Do and now when I was telling them freely that it had all been a hoax to get me out of doing something I didn't want to do, no one listened. After all, what adult wanted to believe that they had been fooled so convincingly by a seven year old?"

FTC: This book was given to me for review.

Book Rating:

out of 5