Umbertina (Paperback, New Ed)

A female heritage of strength and courage moves through three generations of Italian-American culture-crossings - in a longwinded Saga enlivened by baldly evocative scenery, glitter from Italy's partying Beautiful People, and a gritty immigrant's tale. That initial immigrant is Umbertina, a stolid peasant from the sour, starved, feudal land of Calabria who comes with her gentle husband to America in the 1860s: she endures the hardships of passage, the debilitating poverty of the crowded Manhattan Italian ghetto (one child dies); and, through years of risk, struggle, and accelerating hope, she finally achieves, in upstate New York, all she has wanted - seven secure children, healthy grandchildren, a fine home, and a thriving business. "What America stood for was that she and her husband could go to a bank that looked like a temple and not be treated like animals but be received, seated, and given a mortgage based on their hard work and thrift." But Umbertina's strength seems to become diluted in later, ocean-crossing generations. Grandchild Marguerite marries scholarly, considerate, older poet Alberto from an ancient Venetian family; he loves her enough to sanction her eccentricities, compassionately cosseting her "sickness," but Marguerite is searching for her creative self (apparently not a reality to either her Italian or American family) and is killed in a car crash en route to her lover. And great-grandchild Tina will also search for a permanent identity in a journey across Italy, finding and discarding American Jason (she fears the loss of both their freedoms), visiting Umbertina's Calabria, finally accepting the need for a solid base of family, a firm "positioning" on life. The psyche-readings of Marguerite and Tina become a bit windy - a whole sophomore year of inner bull sessions - but Umbertina's travails are ruggedly convincing; and scenic sparklers illuminate a romantic's Roma, the traveler's dream of Italy. Evergreen, Italianstyle, with just a bit too much trendy angst for cozy-reading comfort. (Kirkus Reviews)

Widely reviewed and praised, this classic novel of immigration contains the lives of three generations: the successful and powerful businesswoman from a small Calabrian village, her tormented privileged daughter, and her granddaughter who returns to Italy to find her heritage. Cynthia Ozick wrote, "I read Umbertina nonstop on the afternoon and all through the night and the day it came...Large in scope, in depth, and in the gift of rapid narrative movement." Edvige Giunta sees the protagonists of this novel as "complicated characters who capture the conflicts, failures, and achievements of their gender and their culture." "Panoramic, descriptive, and solidly crafted." - "Publishers Weekly".

General

Imprint:	Feminist Press at The City University of New York
Country of origin:	United States
Release date:	February 2023
First published:	1998
Authors:	Helen Barolini
Dimensions:	211 x 135 x 30mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	453
Edition:	New Ed
ISBN-13:	978-1-55861-205-1
Categories:	Books > Fiction > General Books > Social sciences > General
LSN:	1-55861-205-X
Barcode:	9781558612051

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