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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Wonderful Debut Novel, 22 Jan 2004
A KISS FROM MADDALENA captures love and reality in World War II Italy and the years immediately following the war. We meet the young Vito Leone who is madly in love with the beautiful Maddalena Piccineli, the youngest daughter of the village’s storekeeper. At first, Maddalena wants nothing to do with the loveable, yet goofy Vito. Vito is hardly handsome, has a limited future, and is considered too much of a mama’s boy. Besides, her parents want their favorite daughter to marry someone more worthy of her love than Vito. Gradually she sees the charm of this genuinely good young man. The war separates the two, and changes after the war test the couple. The characters are so well developed, and the details of the story are so vivid, the reader immediately is drawn into the work. Maddalena has to make very important choices in the novel. If she marries the man her parents prefer, she will risk losing their love, but doing so would crush Vito. The reader wonders which way she will go, will she marry the man she loves and hurt her parents, or will she hurt Vito?The two main characters of the book are real flesh and blood people, and the reader cannot help but love them both. Readers will immediately develop a soft spot for Vito; he is the epitome of goodness. He unselfishly cares for his mentally ill mother even though it means putting his own life and ambitions on hold, he will do anything for anyone, and he deserves to be loved by someone as good as Maddalena. Readers will sympathize with Maddalena as well, a girl who wants to please everyone yet also wants to be happy. Throughout the work readers will hope that she is able to follow her heart. Though the book is an old fashioned love story, it is never sentimental, and it does not follow conventional twists. It is realistic in the way it depicts World War II and the conflicts in Italy after the overthrow of Mussolini. The village of Santa Cecelia, where most of the action takes place, is the sort of village most people would imagine in a remote section of Italy, and it has a certain Old World charm, yet the interactions of the people in the village show that it is not necessary Italy’s version of heaven on earth. Conflicts develop which give the village a realistic flair. In the dedication page of the novel, the author dedicates the book to his parents, calling it his love letter to them. Judging from the exquisite writing of these pages, combined with lovable characters, historical accuracy, and a memorable plot, the reader can make one conclusion. Christopher Castellani must deeply love his parents.
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