The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I've read 5 of Trigiani's other books and enjoyed them immensely...was a bit disappointed wit this. Largely biographical (her family), this was too drawn out and would have benefited by a ruthless editing of a more objective person. There were ideas, and characters, and actions that did not move the story forward or enrich the act of reading in any way. Too many wasted words (470 pages) making the plot line seem secondary to the telling, i.e. too much telling and not enough showing. At least 150 pages too long. It was sweet and sad and somewhat predictable and I missed the humor found in her other books.
I listened to audio version and felt her choice, halfway into the novel, to divide the audio narration between Sciorra and herself was a mistake. Sciorra was a much better audio narrator. One of the problems was the difference in pronunciation of the same names, places & events between the 2 of them. It was confusing to an audio reader that may not have been a problem with the print version. Clean GP read.


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