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From Amazon
It's hard not to see Tempting Faith DiNapoli as a response to Alice Munro's Lives of Girls and Women. Both books recount the youth and adolescence of girls growing up in southwestern Ontario: their familial troubles, cultural awakenings, and tentative encounters with sex. While Munro's Del Jordan is a sprightly, liberated, intellectual postwar teenager, though, Gabriele's Faith DiNapoli is morose and troubled. Faith is the third of four children in a struggling working-class family, and she lives a sad, disjointed sort of life. The DiNapolis are uneasy about nearly everything--their marriage, their children, their Catholicism, their bank statements. Faith embraces all of her parents' worries and embellishes them with troubles of her own: a shoplifting habit, a fondness for booze and soft drugs, a painfully low sense of herself, a series of crises of faith, and, worst of all, a morbid redneck sexuality in which intercourse is synonymous with date rape.
Gabriele's account of Faith's childhood is the strongest part of Tempting Faith DiNapoli--she has a keen eye for the kind of cultural detritus that can perfectly encapsulate a character. Once she moves into Faith's teenage years, however, the novel loses much of its momentum. That may be inevitable, since Faith leads a chaotic, aimless, almost shapeless life, and Gabriele's only fault lies in following this form too closely, leaving readers longing for the directed teenage rage of a book like Mary-Lou Zeitoun's 13. Tempting Faith DiNapoli is a promising debut, but Gabriele hasn't quite mastered the trick of keeping her readers enthralled by a life that even her protagonist isn't too crazy about. --Jack Illingworth --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Library Journal
Faith DiNapoli is the well-meaning eldest daughter of a dysfunctional Italian family living in 1970s Canada. With an absent father, three rambunctious siblings, and a mother who's trying to make the best of the life she's got instead of focusing on the life she wanted, young Faith takes it upon herself to assume religious responsibility and tries to be "good enough" to make up for the flaws of her whole family. She struggles between the person she is and the perfect one she wants to be, and it ultimately takes a test of faith for her to find self-acceptance and her place in the world. Gabriele, a Canadian Lifesize TV executive producer whose work has been published in the Washington Post and Nerve magazine, has written a poignant, memoir-style debut novel that is emotionally intense and ultimately satisfying. Recommended for public libraries. Amy Brozio-Andrews, Albany P.L., NY
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
My Favourite Book In A Long Time,
By Beth R. (London, Ontario) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Tempting Faith Di Napoli (Hardcover)
I bought this on recommendation from a friend and I have to say it's one of my favourite books ever. I loved it more than Cure For Death By Lightening which I just adore. The Dinapolis are so recognizable to me as a real, real family, I laughed along with them, then in turn, I cried for them. Ms. Gabriele is a national treasure for writing such a pure and honest book about growing up the way she did. I felt like I was there with them, in some intance I could hear their voices. (I know, I am Italian (half) and from London, Ont. so I am biased, but still.) Thank you for this book. Grazie.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A beautiful book,
By Susan Caille---- CPC (Windsor, Ontario) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Tempting Faith Di Napoli (Hardcover)
This was one of the best books I have ever read. Equally heartbreaking, and hilarious. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to feel what it is like to be in a REAL family, with real dilemmas, and real love. This family, as disfunctional as they were, really loved eachother, were truly close in every way. I adored each and every one of them. This was a wonderful book, it will make you laugh and cry, and the characters remain in my heart long after the last page is turned. I loved it!!!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
funny, touching and heartwarming,
By Jan (Ontario) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Tempting Faith Di Napoli (Hardcover)
I loved this book, bought it because of an excerpt in the National Post that made me want to read more. So many of the experiences of the members of this family brought back memories of growing up in the same area where the book took place. Such a wacky, dysfunctional family, but some of the characters seemed so real,I actually laughed out loud through parts, and could have cried at others.
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