"I knew my moment with Mama was
lost.
Everyone else was taking over.
But then--then she turned and caught my
eye,
smiled and winked.
A warmth, better than the summer
sun,
seeped into my bloodstream.
She wasn't forgetting me."
Every book club in the world should read this book. There’s
just so much to it. I know with my old book club the discussion would have gone one of
about a million different ways. To begin with, you have a great story. A little
bit of magic, but nothing that would turn off the non-fantasy lovers out there.
You have a theme of domestic violence that’s always ripe for discussion.
There’s a love story, a recurring tragedy: “The day the Amores died” (though to
clarify, the tragedy itself doesn’t recur, just its presence in the story), babies,
mysteries, dual narrators, and the list goes on.
But what can’t be overstated is this book’s incredible theme of
motherhood, which presents itself in so many forms. More specifically, you see
the theme of mother-daughter relationships. You have examples of relationships
that work as well as ones that don’t. You see reality in the swing between
devastating regret and euphoric happiness that seems to always be waiting
around the corner for mother and daughter. I found it masterful that Palmieri
created a story with so many mothers when there were really only 4 main
characters in the book—and three of them have the same mother! You see mothers
of large families, several mothers with only one child, and even some with
none. I especially appreciated the mother figures that came in the form of
aunts and grandmothers, showing the complexity of motherhood that is inherent
in womanhood.
I could talk forever about the mother-daughter theme, but I’d like
to briefly touch on something else I loved about this book. The entire story
centers on Elly regaining her memory. (Don’t worry, I’m not spoiling anything;
it’s right on the back cover of the book.) What Palmieri was so good at was
making you feel like you were remembering things along with Elly. The story
builds on each chapter that came before. Pieces of memories are shared out of
context, and when they’re placed into context, you feel like you’re remembering. The author does this with
her foreshadowing as well. She gives you enough to make you say to yourself, “I
wonder if…” and then when it happens you think, “Ohhhhh, yeah. Now I remember.
I thought maybe that was it.” I don’t want to ruin anything, so I’ll just say
the best example of this was with the story about Cat. Well done, Suzanne Palmieri.
Well done.
This book probably won't make any required-reading lists, but if you want to read a book that's really good for discussion, I recommend The Witch of Little Italy. And if you read it and don't have anyone to talk to about it, TALK TO ME! I finished the book nearly a week ago and can't stop thinking about it.
