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    Kiss Carlo
    Kiss Carlo
    Kiss Carlo
    Audiobook16 hours

    Kiss Carlo

    Written by Adriana Trigiani

    Narrated by Edoardo Ballerini

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Instant New York Times Bestseller • People’s Book of the Week

    From Adriana Trigiani, the beloved New York Times-bestselling author of The Shoemaker’s Wife, comes an exhilarating epic novel of love, loyalty, and creativity—the story of an Italian-American family on the cusp of change.

    It’s 1949 and South Philadelphia bursts with opportunity during the post-war boom. The Palazzini Cab Company & Western Union Telegraph Office, owned and operated by Dominic Palazzini and his three sons, is flourishing: business is good, they’re surrounded by sympathetic wives and daughters-in-law, with grandchildren on the way. But a decades-long feud that split Dominic and his brother Mike and their once-close families sets the stage for a re-match. 

    Amidst the hoopla, the arrival of an urgent telegram from Italy upends the life of Nicky Castone (Dominic and his wife’s orphaned nephew) who lives and works with his Uncle Dom and his family. Nicky decides, at 30, that he wants more—more than just a job driving Car #4 and more than his longtime fiancée Peachy DePino, a bookkeeper, can offer. When he admits to his fiancée that he’s been secretly moonlighting at the local Shakespeare theater company, Nicky finds himself drawn to the stage, its colorful players and to the determined Calla Borelli, who inherited the enterprise from her father, Nicky must choose between the conventional life his family expects of him or chart a new course and risk losing everything he cherishes.

    From the dreamy mountaintop village of Roseto Valfortore in Italy, to the vibrant streets of South Philly, to the close-knit enclave of Roseto, Pennsylvania, to New York City during the birth of the golden age of television, Kiss Carlo is a powerful, inter-generational story that celebrates the ties that bind, while staying true to oneself when all hope seems lost.

    Told against the backdrop of some of Shakespeare’s greatest comedies, this novel brims with romance as long buried secrets are revealed, mistaken identities are unmasked, scores are settled, broken hearts are mended and true love reigns. Trigiani’s consummate storytelling skill and her trademark wit, along with a dazzling cast of characters will enthrall readers. Once again, the author has returned to her own family garden to create an unforgettable feast. Kiss Carlo is a jubilee, resplendent with hope, love, and the abiding power of la famiglia.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateJun 20, 2017
    ISBN9780062657275
    Kiss Carlo
    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 Kiss Carlo

    4/5

    75 ratings9 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Love her characters, descriptions and soppy, happy endings...
    • 3/5
      I have mixed emotions about this book. I have read many of her books and they were amazing but this one seemed to take on too many people/time frames and dragged on. I actually thought it was the end of the story well before it actually ended so for me it became hard to finish, I lost interest.
    • 5/5
      I love family sagas, and Adriana Trigiani is a master at them. “Kiss Carlo” is a story of family, romance, loyalty, trust, dreams, and tradition. It opens in May 1949 in South Philly after the men have returned from war. Dom and Mike Palazzini, brothers in an Italian-American family have not spoken for an estimated 16 years. Nicky Castone, orphaned at a young age, has lived with his uncle Dom and aunt Jo since he was five years old. He drives a taxi for the family cab company and delivers telegrams for Hortense Mooney. He has been engaged to Peachy for seven years. Nicky has never told Peachy about his evening job with a small Shakespeare theatre company run by Calla Borelli. One night when he has to fill in for an absent actor he finds himself bitten by the acting bug. Working with the determined and passionate Calla, Nicky finally realizes that something is missing in his life. He recognizes that he does not want to marry Peachy. Nicky struggles to find his place in the world as he flees to Roseto, Pennsylvania while impersonating an Italian ambassador. This then leads him to the hillside village of Roseto Valfortore in Italy. Upon his return to the US, he announces to his family that he is moving to New York City to pursue an acting career. It took me a while to grasp who all characters were as all of Dom and Jo’s sons and their wives and children still live with them. The characters are beautifully brought to life, revealing their strengths, their flaws, their backstories. She leaves you wanting to be a member of the crazy but loving Palazzini family.
    • 4/5
      This is a huge book at over 500 pages. Yet, it didn't feel that long as I thoroughly enjoyed myself reading this book. Instantly, I was transported back in time to 1949. Everyone from Dom, his bother, Mike, to Nicky and everyone else were great. They all brought life to this story. This story had an old time classic feel to it. As if an old movie with a hint of a Romero and Juliet feel with Nicky and Calla. Luckily, their romance did not have such a dramatic ending to it. In fact, it had a happy ending. It just may have had a few bumps along the way. As I stated, I enjoyed everyone. Getting to know them brought me closer as if I was part of the family. A great, big, crazy Italian family that I never had. I got lost in this story (in a good way). Fans of Adriana Trigiani will be pleased with this book. Kiss Carlo is a wonderful read.
    • 4/5
      Instead of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Adriana Trigiani's Kiss Carlo is a My Big Crazy Italian Family story. And I should know because I've got the remnants of one of those. In fact, some parts of this felt very similar to the (unofficial?--I was little so I don't know if they spontaneously happened or were planned) family reunions that seemed to occur every year at one of my distant relative's house. I recognized the love and loyalty in the book but also the long holding of grudges. It was a fun, somewhat nostalgic read but it also reminded me of the not perfect parts of my own crazy southwestern Philly family.The story opens in South Philadelphia with the falling out of the two Palazzini brothers over a promised inheritance that went to the wrong brother, effectively splitting this formerly close family in half. Then it jumps to 1949 and the small mountain town of Roseto Valfortore in Italy, where the town's ambassador, Carlo Guardinfante, is getting ready to leave for the US and the town of Roseto, Pennsylvania's Jubilee in hopes of convincing the town's Italian Americans, whose parents and grandparents emigrated from Roseto Valfortore to help the Italians rebuild their flood destroyed road, something they can't afford to do on their own. Once the story gets going though, it centers around Nicky Castone, a nephew of one of the original Palazzini brothers. Nicky drives a cab for his Uncle Dom and has been engaged to Peachy for seven years. Orphaned at a young age, Nicky was raised by his Aunt Jo and Uncle Dom, easily and happily enfolded into their large and growing family. But as Nicky starts to look at his life, he's no longer certain he wants to follow the path set out for him by others. What would really bring him happiness is to act. He's been moonlighting at the Borelli theater for several years and when he gets his acting break under the direction of Carla Borelli, who is taking over the theater from her father, he knows he has found his purpose. But divulging his change of plans to everyone in his life, especially Peachy, sets off a chain of events no one could have predicted and will pull together the disparate beginnings of the novel.The plot has some almost farce-like elements as it borrows from the mistaken identity plots in Shakespeare, the only plays that are put on at Borelli's. It is light-hearted and comedic in tone and there are many, many plot threads and secondary characters taking the stage in turn. The side stories give context but there are a few too many of them at times and there is an odd abruptness to the story as it comes closer to the end, especially given the long and detailed build ups earlier in the novel. Nicky is a character who is clearly still trying to find himself, even at thirty years old, but he has a good heart and readers will root for him. This is a family saga with heart, a warm and inviting read, and if there are too many plot threads that don't necessarily move the story along, it does give the novel a big cinematic sweep. For all of its 500 plus pages, this is a relatively fast read. Readers who like family sagas, enjoy allusions to Shakespeare's comedies or acting, and those who are drawn to the nuttiness of large, crazy families should tuck this into their beach bags for sure.
    • 2/5
      Sometimes I'm not sure if it's the book or circumstances going on in my life that a book not as enjoyable as I would have liked. Trigiani is one of my favorite authors but this book kinda felt like a slog. It was a million times better than her last book, All The Stars In The Heavens, which I just attempted to read a month ago and finally had to give up on. This book returned to her more historical settings, Italian-American characters, and typical storylines which I love but I think I was still feeling the burn of the focus on all the silver screen movie star business of Stars with all the theater settings in this book as well. Not sure what the 3 chapters (Overture, Interlude, and Postlude) really contributed to the story. Could have been a great story in itself but there was far to little of it to make it meaningful. I'm not ready to fully discredit this book as "bad" as I think it just came into my life at the wrong time. I will definitely give her next book a try and hope she moves on from her acting obsession.
    • 5/5
      I always look forward to a new Adriana Trigiani book. I feel like I am an honorary Italian when I read her books, filled with family, food, romance and people with a good work ethic.Trigiani's latest novel, Kiss Carlo, is a big, beautiful novel, stuffed with all of the above and more. The story begins in Roseto Valfatore, Italy in 1949, with Carlo, the ambassador, heading to Roseto, Pennsylvania to seek help from some Italian-Americans in rebuilding their road.From there, we meet the Palazzini brothers of Philadelphia, Dom and Mike, who once owned a taxi company together, but after a falling out, they now have competing taxi companies and no longer speak to each other.Dom is the frugal one, and his wife Jo has spent her life caring for their home and (now grown) children, and her nephew Nicky who lost his parents at an early age. Jo is the kind of woman who makes homemade pasta in the basement, and irons everyone's underwear.Mike is the flashier guy, and he has a more successful taxi business. His wife Nancy has the fancy clothes, and visits the hair salon weekly. The sisters-in-law used to be close, but because of the feud no longer speak. It's almost Shakespearean, you could say.Speaking of Shakespeare, Nicky drives Uncle Dom's taxi by day and by night volunteers at a local Shakespearean theater, run by Calla Borelli, who is trying to keep the doors to her father's theater open. This new television craze has hurt live theater.What's interesting in Kiss Carlo is that the main character is Nicky, a man. Nicky feels a little lost, even though his aunt and uncle love him very much. He is engaged to Peachy, a woman who feels her time is running out before she is officially a spinster.When Nicky gets the opportunity to perform onstage at the theater, he comes alive. Now he knows what he wants to do- be an actor. Peachy, however, will not hear of it.There is a lot going on in Kiss Carlo, and watching how Trigiani weaves the story and characters together is just amazing. It's like seeing someone take a skein of yarn and a few minutes later a beautiful blanket materializes.There are so many great characters in this story- Jo Palazzini, Calla, Nicky, Mamie Confalone- but my favorite is Hortense. Hortense is a black woman who works as a dispatcher for Dom's taxi service. She has been with them for years, and she brooks no nonsense. Don't ask Hortense what she thinks unless you really want to know.Hortense finds herself involved in a crazy caper with Nicky, and through that experience she meets a woman who will change her life. I love that Hortense wants a better life for herself and when she sees an opportunity, she works hard and uses her brains to make it happen. (It's that work ethic that shows up in every one of Trigiani's books.)I had the chance to speak briefly with Adriana and I told her that I think Hortense is my all-time favorite character of hers. She told me that Hortense was a real person, and she actually shows up in the Acknowledgements page.Soap opera fans will get a kick out of the fact that uber-producer Gloria Monty has a cameo appearance in this book. I told you, there is a lot packed into this book.I gave a copy of Kiss Carlo to one of my Italian-American friends, and she read the 500+ page book in two days, telling me she couldn't put it down. I totally agree with her, this is one of Adriana Trigiani's best books.Whether you're from a big family or just yearn to be, Kiss Carlo is for you. And if you take this book to the beach, bring along plenty of sunscreen because you will not be able to stop reading it until you finish. I give it my highest recommendation.
    • 5/5
      Adriana Trigiani has gone back to her roots with her latest book, KISS CARLO. It’s the story of a large Italian American family that’s set in Philadelphia in the 1950s. When brothers Dom and Mike have a falling out, they form rival cab companies and go their separate ways but they’re always aware of what the other is doing. I admit to being somewhat biased when it comes to Trigiani’s books but I think this one may be her best one yet. I was charmed and captivated by this well-crafted family saga of love, drama, and loyalty all tied together with a Shakespearean theme. (It’s not necessary to know anything about Shakespeare to love this book.) As I’ve come to expect from Trigiani’s work, the characters are fabulous, the setting is well researched, and the dialogue is top notch. You don’t want to miss KISS CARLO!
    • 4/5
      I would like to thank Edelweiss and Harper Collins for an ARC(advanced reading copy) of "Kiss Carlo" by Adriana Trigiani for my honest review.The genres of this novel are Women's Fiction and Historical Fiction.The timeline of this story is 1949, after the war. The story takes place in a little Italian town, South Philly and New York in the United States.In Southern Philly, there are two brothers feuding over land that had belonged to their father when he was alive. This feud splits the large family in two. Both brothers have a cab company, and one brother adds a service to deliver telegrams. The wives and cousins are now separated by this family feud.Nick, an orphan is brought up in one of the families by his aunt and uncle. He drives a taxi, and delivers telegrams. He finds work also in a small theater company, and finds that he loves acting. Nick has been engaged for seven years and feels something is missing. Nick decides to pursue an acting career in New York City.I love the way that Adriana Trigiani writes about the love, encouragement and support of family. I enjoyed the author's descriptions of family traditions, and the food and festivities.The characters are described as complex and complicated. In "Kiss Carlo", the author describes Italian, Jewish, Polish and Black families in this time period, and how well they get along. The characters are accepting of one another.The author writes about family, friends,loyalty, love and hope. You can see growth in the characters. This is a wonderful book, and I would highly recommend it.