The Supreme Macaroni Company: A Novel Paperback – Bargain Price, May 6, 2014

Warning: As this title is part of a series, there may be spoilers for those who have not read the earlier novels. The uninitiated who want to avoid plot revelations may want to skip to the break, after the triple-asterisk marker.Those familiar with my reviews know that I can be easily drawn in by good cover art. I don’t completely judge a book by its cover, but this certainly will entice me to take a closer look at the work. A few years ago I was pulled in by the beautifully dressed, lipstick-applying woman on the cover of Adriana Trigiani’s Very Valentine, the first book in her Valentine trilogy. Given the opportunity to read the sequel Brava Valentine for TLC Book Tours, I quickly read the first title to prepare for Brava. As seen in my brief November 6, 2010 review, the beginning of this series was a sumptuous, invigorating read. This continued with Brava Valentine, with enjoyable storytelling and character development.Years passed, and I looked forward to the final book in the series, which reportedly would be aptly titled Ciao, Valentine. In 2011 Adriana contributed to the delightful Jane Austen Made Me Do It (JAMMDI), which I relished as well. The year 2012 brought Trigiani’s nonfiction The Wisdom of My Grandmothers as well as the highly successful novel The Shoemaker’s Wife. With no sign of Ciao, Valentine, I speculated that the series had been put on hold indefinitely. In November 2013 The Supreme Macaroni Company was published, but in the business of life I didn’t recognize it for what it was: the final title I had been waiting for. The cover art was beautiful, but didn’t seem like a Valentine-related image. And of course the title had changed unexpectedly to The Supreme Macaroni Company, which to be honest seemed a bit odd to me. Nevertheless, when I finally realized this was the third Valentine title, I was pleased it had arrived, despite my confusion.The story picks up immediately from where it left off in Brava Valentine. Gianluca Vechiarielli has received a positive response to his marriage proposal to the much-younger Valentine Roncalli. She manages to receive this proposal, despite making a very serious mistake moments before that would have certainly put off most marriage suitors. But the love Gianluca has for Valentine is so great, he forgives her transgression and they move forward to begin a life together as husband and wife, tanner and shoemaker.Many romantic novels conclude with the wedding of the main characters, but the Vechiarielli/Roncalli ceremony occurs almost halfway through. And Valentine’s story is more than just a romance. There’s plenty of family drama as this boisterous group of Catholic Italians plans the nuptials of the last Roncalli daughter to be married, and the stakes actually begin to rise shortly after the newlyweds have tied the knot. They find that trying to mix family with their generations-old shoe and tanning businesses is quite difficult. Compromises must be offered and priorities changed in order to keep many relationships and business ventures alive. Valentine and Gianluca are madly in love, but in order to make their May-December relationship endure, sacrifices had to be made. Initially I felt that Gianluca was being the most sacrificial in the relationship. This may have been the case, but the difficult decisions he makes come from a place of deep love for his wife, and they prove to be the wisest choices in the end.* * *The Supreme Macaroni Company is not a roller-coaster thriller of a story. However, it certainly is a page-turning, captivating tale of family, tradition, love and free enterprise. There are a number of unexpected surprises, with one in particular that is simply heartbreaking. This abrupt tragedy does deepen the story however, bringing a richness that only loss can provide. And Trigiani takes her time with this aspect of the plot. While it comes near the conclusion, her pacing shows her respect for the characters and the investment her readers have made in them over the course of three novels. While bittersweet, the ending is quite satisfying and at times deeply insightful. I found myself literally taking notes, as I am sure I will have to endure a similar pain someday.From Very Valentine to The Supreme Macaroni Company, this three-part series has been a delight from beginning to end. Other than JAMMDI, it has been my only exposure to Trigiani’s work. Her style is very accessible, yet at times profound. Romance is an aspect of her novels, but isn’t overly racy and is not the dominant theme. The Valentine trilogy is about multi-faceted relationships. Family. Decades-old traditions. Religion, culture and so much more. Regardless of age, gender, faith or ethnicity, many readers will be able to relate to the themes presented here. The Valentine collection has been a splendid treat, one that I will look back on fondly for years to come.A Few Fun NotesThe Title - In case you were wondering, the asymmetric title The Supreme Macaroni Company does indeed come to make sense at a certain point in the novel. While I would have preferred a similar Valentine-based name for the book, Macaroni Company does not come without foundation.Audiobook - Separate from the hard copy that was sent to me from the publisher for review purposes, I also used a copy of the audiobook version from another source. This allowed me to continue "reading" the book, even as I ran errands in my minivan. The novel was read by Cassandra Campbell, an accomplished actress, director, and teacher as well as a voice-over artist. Ms. Campbell's performance is superb. Given the different nationalities and generations represented among her "cast", she does a remarkable job in characterizing each personality. Cassandra is outstandingly adept at switching between accents, as even within the bounds of New York you will find different intonations among American people groups. Her performance of the Italian Gianluca was particularly informative, as the elocution I had going in my head initially was not consistent with this foreign accent.

My wife is a fan of the books by Adriana Trigiani and I decided to read this hardcover edition book (The Supreme Macaroni Company). She advised me that I might find it interesting (since I am of Italian heritage) because it is about an Italian family.Even though I did find this book somewhat amusing and interesting as the author weaves the story of her Italian family and her new marriage to an older man named Gianluca who is from Italy. The first part of the book provides a little back ground of the characters and Italian family you learned about in her book The Shoemaker’s daughter, which is a book I have not read. About a fourth way through this book the story than moves to her travels and experiences after marrying Gianluca.This dialog in this book clearly shows the differences between men and women. What is important to women when they talk to each other and men’s dialog with each other is in most cases is totally different? In most cases you seldom hear men talk about their wife and family when they get together. I think evolution has something to do with it. When men had to hunt for dinner and the women stayed in the cave taking care of their children. Women had little to talk about except thier husband and children and hoped for a big deer for dinner. I never like to give away too much information when reviewing any novel because it spoils the story for anyone who decides to read the book. I did find the book to be well written and humorous at times, but l personally thought it was only a fair read at best. I think women might enjoy reading this kind of novel more than men because it is more about family people and issues; however, if you are a fan of Trigiani’s books you may want to check out this volume.Rating: 3 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Never Trust a politician: A critical review of politics and politicians)

I read the first two Valentine novels and was eagerly awaiting this one but was somewhat disappointed. I still gave it four stars because it was very well written and the author made me laugh and cry and I loved the characters but it was not as good as the first two books in the series. Valentine married Gianluca and I knew before their story unfolded, that there would be problems with an American Italian woman marrying an Italian man "from the other side." Those problems developed early, actually on their honeymoon, but were not discussed evenly or consistently. At one point Gianluca was a strong, forceful Italian husband but, as the story developed, he simply caved in. I also feel that in her effort to contrast Valentine's ambition and business acumen with the expected role of an Italian wife, the author turned her into a spoiled, uncompromising witch. This is not the Valentine that I knew and loved from the earlier books. The author redeemed her character in the end which I won't discuss here so that I don't spoil the story for other readers.I would recommend the book to Adriana Trigiani fans as there are many familiar, well-developed characters in Valentine's family and friends and much love and confusion surrounding all of the important Italian family events. I would not recommend this book to someone who hasn't read the first two books in the series, though the story stands alone, the depth of the relationships and characters is one that was carried over from the earlier novels.

How I enjoyed the first Valentina books - light and frothy, ideal holiday reading, so I ordered this one. It was like wading through an overcooked. burnt lump of disgusting pasta. Mawkish, sentimental nonsense, populated by lunatic relatives (why has no one pushed the repellent Feen off the roof is a mystery) And Valentina herself has turned into a me me me girl, the girl who gets everything she wants, and then doesn't much like it. Avoid this - it'll give you indigestion.

I like this author. I’ve read the other books in this series as well as the Big Stone Gap books. I like her quirky humour and insightful way of writing, but this particular book I found overly sentimental. It seemed to have a different tone to the others and then towards the end of the book you find out why. Personally I didn’t like it and became irritated with the main characters.

Having read and thoroughly enjoyed The Shoemaker's Wife, I had high expectations for this story which were sadly not realised!I acknowledge that the descriptive narrative was up to standard. However, the depth and length of this was taken to such extreme ends, I was left feeling exhausted and bored and ended up turning the pages to get on with the story, which sadly, was never allowed to mature.The storyline felt like something an inexperienced writer might submit and could have been so much better.What felt to be lacking was the time for the storyline to unfold. As it is, it felt like I had been on a very long and intensive phonecall with a friend who had felt she must unburden herself of every last detail possible before the call ended, leaving me feeling totally exhausted as a result!

I think truthfully I am a little underwhelmed by this book. It was very poignant in parts, a good read in others but as a whole novel it was unfulfilling. I cannot quite put my finger on why but I felt this one was not as good as the previous Valentine stories. Just a bit light weight, and lacking in substance. Worth a read but not as good as I had hoped or expected.

Adriana Trigiani is or was one of my favourite authors but I found this book was tiresome and very repetitive of her other books about the same family. Quirky aunts yet again and Valentine's total obsession with the business was so irritating that I skipped to the end. I hope we've had enough of her now and Adriana writes about something else in her next book.