From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Playing more than a dozen reoccurring characters living in the small Italian-American town of Our Lady of Fatima, N.J., Cantone gives a wildly entertaining tour de force performance that is both hilarious and moving. Fresh from his Tony Award–winning one-man show,
Laugh Whore, Cantone performs with cyclone energy and his wickedly arch comedic timing is rapier sharp. The biggest surprise is his lightning-fast ability to become different characters, keep them vocally consistent and make them funny but not ridiculous. Trigiani's novel is less plot-driven than full of outrageous and wonderful characters trying to untangle family ties. Bartolomeo di Crespi (aka "B") is an interior designer and bachelor of a certain age who is hired to renovate the local church when he's not dealing with his sister (who's having an affair with her ex-husband), his platonic fiancé, a sultry international designer (who sounds like Lauren Bacall) and a hunky artist brought onto the project. This totally satisfying experience will make listeners happy to learn that it's the first in a planned trilogy. A q&a with Trigiani at the end of disk four is a delightful bonus.
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The hysterics of a middle-aged serial cheater, the gravelly pontifications of a New Jersey parish priest, the meticulous mindset of an interior decorator, the sonorous inflections of a macho local contractor, the take-charge advisories of an international designer, the domineering pronouncements of an autocratic yet lonely widow--these and a cast of others surface full-blown, with hilarity and goodness of heart, in Mario Cantone's relentless narration of Adriana Trigiani's latest novel. Cantone takes Trigiani's story of contemporary (1970s) Italian-American life and injects it with an ineffable joie de vivre--or the Italian equivalent. Hysterics and angst battle for the spotlight, but the ultimate sensibility enveloping the story is abiding love. M.J.B. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine--
Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
