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    Rococo: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Rococo: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Rococo: A Novel
    Audiobook (abridged)4 hours

    Rococo: A Novel

    Written by Adriana Trigiani

    Narrated by Mario Cantone

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    New York Times bestselling author Adriana Trigiani, beloved by millions of readers around the world for her humor, warmth, and captivating storytelling in the Big Stone Gap trilogy and Lucia, Lucia, takes on love, lust, tricky family dynamics, and home decorating in Rococo, the uproarious tale of a small Italian American town poised for a makeover it never expected.

    Bartolomeo di Crespi is the acclaimed interior decorator of Our Lady of Fatima, New Jersey. To date, Bartolomeo has hand-selected every chandelier, sconce, and ottoman in OLOF, so when the renovation of the local church is scheduled, he assumes there is only one man for the job.

    From the dazzling shores of New Jersey to the legendary fabric houses of New York City, from the prickly purveyors of fine art in London to luscious Santa Margherita on the Mediterranean coast of Italy, Bartolomeo is on a mission to bring talent, sophistication, and his aesthetic vision to his hometown.

    Trigiani's glittering mosaic of small-town characters sparkles: Bartolomeo's hilarious sister, Toot, is in desperate need of a postdivorce transformation-thirteen years after the fact; "The Benefactor," Aurelia Mandelbaum, the richest woman in New Jersey, has a lust for French interiors and a long-held hope that Bartolomeo will marry her myopic daughter, Capri; Father Porporino, the pastor with a secret, does his best to keep a lid on a simmering scandal; and Eydie Von Gunne, the chic international designer, steps in and changes the course of Bartolomeo's creative life, while his confidante, cousin Christina Menecola, awaits rescue from an inconsolable grief.

    Plaster of Paris, polished marble, and unbridled testosterone arrive in buckets when Bartolomeo recruits Rufus McSherry, a strapping, handsome artist, and Pedro Allercon, a stained-glass artisan, to work with him on the church's interior. Together, the three of them will do more than blow the dust off the old Fatima frescoes-they will turn the town upside down, challenge the faithful, and restore hope where there once was none.

    Brilliantly funny and as fanciful as flocked wallpaper, filled with glamorous locales from New Jersey to Europe, from Sunday Mass to the American Society of Interior Designers soirée at the Plaza Hotel, Rococo is Trigiani's masterpiece, a classic comedy with a heart of gold leaf.


    "A veritable crazy quilt of quirky Italian Americans ... Trigiani weaves all these subplots together with wonderful ease; every seam is perfectly straight, every pleat in place. Bartolomeo would expect no less. A-." -- Entertainment Weekly

    "Clever ... Creating characters so lively they bounce off the page and possessing a wit so subtle that even the best jokes seem effortless, Trigiani is a master storyteller. Equal parts sass and silliness, Rococo is an artfully designed tale with enough brio to make Frank Gehry proud."-- People


    From the Hardcover edition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJun 21, 2005
    ISBN9780739319420
    Unavailable
    Rococo: A Novel
    Author

    Adriana Trigiani

    Beloved by millions of readers around the world for her ""dazzling"" novels (USA Today), Adriana Trigiani is “a master of palpable and visual detail” (Washington Post) and “a comedy writer with a heart of gold” (New York Times). She is the New York Times bestselling author of twenty books of fiction and nonfiction, including her latest, The Good Left Undone- an instant New York Times best seller, Book of the Month pick and People’s Book of the Week. Her work is published in 38 languages around the world. An award-winning playwright, television writer/producer and filmmaker, Adriana’s screen credits include writer/director of the major motion picture of her debut novel, Big Stone Gap, the adaptation of her novel Very Valentine and director of Then Came You. Adriana grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia where she co-founded The Origin Project, an in-school writing program serving over 1,700 students in Appalachia. She is at work on her next novel for Dutton at Penguin Random House.  Follow Adriana on Facebook and Instagram @AdrianaTrigiani and on TikTok @AdrianaTrigianiAuthor or visit her website: AdrianaTrigiani.com.  Join Adriana’s Facebook LIVE show, Adriana Ink, in conversation with the world’s greatest authors- Tuesdays at 3 PM EST! For more from Adriana’s interviews, you can subscribe to her Meta “Bulletin” column, Adriana Spills the Ink: adrianatrigiani.bulletin.com/subscribe.

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    Reviews for Rococo

    3.5/5

    195 ratings8 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Bartolomeo di Crespi thinks he's gotten his dream job when commissioned (after some finagling) to renovate his home parish church. As a successful and experienced interior decorator, he's thrilled that a bit of good old-fashioned Italian family influence has swayed the selection committee's choice. But he may have bitten off more than he can chew, especially while juggling family crises, various romantic entanglements (his and those of other family members), and a looming crisis that may put the whole thing in the dumpster.Trigiani does a fine job here of creating the brawling, boisterous di Crespi family, complete with Bartolomeo's malaprop-ridden sister, a series of romantic entanglements, and a resolution that makes up in warm fuzzies for what it may lack in originality or believability.Don't expect great literature here. Just enjoy.
    • 3/5
      I just adore books by Adriana Trigiani, she is a remarkable storyteller. Unfortunately, Rococo is not her best work and it starts off so slow that I started to question if Ms. Trigiani had even written the book. Thankfully, the book does pick up about 2/3 of the way through. From the start, the book is full of delightful characters that seem to jump off the page, I just wish the plot did the same.
    • 2/5
      Audio Book read by Stephen HoyeBartolomeo di Crespi is THE decorator in town, proprietor of “The House of B,” and a devout Italian-American Catholic. His dream is to renovate the Our Lady of Fatima parish church, creating an atmosphere of splendor, glory and sense of awe that will bring all the faithful closer to their God. This forms the basic plot line, but there’s a lot more going on. Trigiani has the usual cast of colorful characters, starting with B’s sister Toot (rhymes with “foot”), who is divorced and looking for companionship now that her boys are all out of the house. His fiancée (their parents betrothed them as babies) is Capri Mandelbaum; but they really are just going through the motions for her mother, Aurelia (who is financing the renovation as long as B does the job – and marries Capri). Throw in a nephew who has left college to hang drapes, a back-stabbing priest with his own secrets, an Irish artist/general contractor, a cousin who is bereft in her widowhood, a Mexican glass artist, and more relatives and parishioners than you can keep track of. It’s a loud, happy, emotional group.So what’s not to like? I am a fan of Trigiani’s but this one just doesn’t do it for me. I’m not sure if it’s because her main character, and narrator, is a man, or if it is the abysmal job done by Stephen Hoye reading it. Hoye’s delivery is just too slow and one-note. Unless he was using an English accent for a particular character, I had a hard time distinguishing who was speaking. Everyone just sounded too alike. He has a faint note of depression or ennui, too. I just didn’t connect with the Bartolomeo, so the entire book fell flat for me. I know there is an audio version narrated by Mario Cantone; I would think his delivery would be much better suited to Trigiani’s work.
    • 3/5
      Audio review.Bartolomeo di Crespi, aka “B,” is a devoutly Catholic, forthy-something, New Jersey decorator of Italian descent who experiences trials and travails as he renovates his parish church, Our Lady of Fatima in the 1970s. He is mordanat and has a critics eye, but the was he is written makes him "sound" androgenous, if not downright feminine.Still the story is humorous, well written, with sharply drawn heartwarming characters. "Rococ" is a novel that radiates a strong sense of this large Italian-American family. It overflows with characters and thei lives: B's sister (Toot), his nephew, his in-laws, their relationships ups and downs, and the misdirected hopes of a marriage between him and Capri Mandelbaum, a life-long family friend, whose mother, Aurelia, tries to manipulate the “couple.”This novel is full of human understanding, compassion, decorating detail, and recipes. Reading about these people is like reading about what your friends are doing. I had a strong feeling of inclusion in spite of not being Italian nor RC. B is not quite believable as a man, and is never described as gay, just happily single. But the reader fails to suspend disbelief – how could he be anything else?Good diversion. I seem to be seeking this kind of reading material out in face of the first half of the year spent reading “weightier tomes.” Think I’ll try some more unknown writers just to see what it gets me. And maybe more of Adriana Trigiani's writing as well.
    • 2/5
      Fun to read, but not as wonderful as all of her other novels. I thought the narrator was a woman for several pages. Still worth reading since she is such a fun author.
    • 4/5
      This was my first Trigiani, and I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for more of her books. It tells the story of one Bartolomeo di Crespi, interior designer extraordinaire of coastal New Jersey. In between brief flirtations with beautiful women of the design world and dealing with the dramas of his boisterous Italian-American extended family, Bartolomeo manages to secure the job he has always dreamed about: the renovation of his beloved local church, Our Lady of Fatima. However, it soon becomes apparent that there will be huge obstacles to overcome in the quest to turn this old Gothic building into a heavenly haven, and Bartolomeo must bring together all the people he loves and learn a few lessons along the way in order to fulfil his dream.The novel is, quite simply, delicious. It drips with colour and texture, fabrics and furniture, and our charismatic narrator's knowledge and passion for his work infuses every page. The characters are larger than life, and the dialogue within the feisty family just sparkles. I looked forward to returning to the book each time I had to set it aside, and thoroughly enjoyed savouring each and every moment I was reading it. I can't wait to see what else Trigiani has to offer!
    • 2/5
      When reading a book, I generally expect that within 100 pages, I'll have a plot or at least a general idea of where a plot might be. Rococo never seemed to acquire a plot. Mostly it was the story of a petulant bachelor who happened to try to decorate everything in his particular town in New Jersey. The bulk of this book was description - of food, of decor, of clothing, and I was left overwhelmed with description that felt unnecessary and underwhelmed by story that never seemed relevant or even linear.The characters were interesting, but the secondary characters were far more interesting than "B" who, as the main character, seems that he should be therefore the most interesting.The story fell short of my expectations after reading Lucia, Lucia.
    • 5/5
      The main character, B (short for Bartolomeo) is a decorator, and Trigiani has used first person to provide detailed descriptions of interiors and furnishings. Further, she uses marvelous metaphors and similes to do it. This book has some things (especially from page 220 on) to say about friends, family, and faith; rebirth and renewal; love and money; and is an enjoyable read to boot. Finally, it weaves in some great recipes in the story, such as “Our Lady of (Drown Your) Sorrows Cake with Heavenly Frosting,” and a crab and multiple-cheese spread that, toasted with tomato on English muffins, is to die for. Recommended!