Sacred Time

by Ursula Hegi

The bestselling author of Stones from the River delivers her most ambitious and dramatic novel yet -- the unforgettable story of an endearing, but also flawed, Italian American family.

In December 1953 Anthony Amedeo's world is nested in his Bronx neighborhood, his parents' Studebaker, the Paradise Theater, Yankee Stadium -- and in his imagination, where he longs for a stencil kit to decorate the windows like all the other kids on his street. Instead he gets a very different present: his uncle Malcolm's family.

Malcolm is in jail for stealing -- once again -- from his last new job, and Anthony's aunt and twin cousins settle into the Amedeos' fifth-floor walk-up. Sharing a room with girls is excruciating for Anthony, despite his affinity for the twins. But the real change in Anthony's life comes one evening when he causes the unthinkable to happen, changing each family member's life forever.

Evoking all the plenty and optimism of postwar America, Sacred Time spans three generations, taking us from the Bronx of the 1950s to contemporary Brooklyn. Keenly observing the dark side of family as well as its gracefulness, Hegi has outdone herself with this captivating novel about childhood's tenderness and the landscape of loneliness. Ultimately she reveals how the transforming power of a singular event can reverberate through a family for generations. With gravity and poise, Hegi turns her astute yet forgiving eye on the essential frailty and dignity of the human condition in this elegant and fast-paced novel.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Contemporary, Coming Of Age, Literary Fiction, Novels, Family

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Ursula Hegi is a German-born American writer. She is currently an instructor in the MFA program at Stony Brook Southampton.
She was born Ursula Koch in 1946 in Düsseldorf, Germany, a city that was heavily bombed during World War II. Her perception growing up was that the war was avoided as a topic of discussion despite its evidence everywhere, and The Holocaust was a particularly taboo topic. This had a strong effect on her later writing and her feelings about her German identity.
She left West Germany in 1964, at the age of 18. She moved to the United States in 1965, where she married (becoming Ursula Hegi) in 1967 and became a naturalized citizen the same year. In 1979, she graduated from the University of New Hampshire with both a bachelor's and master's degree. She was divorced in 1984. The same year, she was hired at Eastern Washington University, in Cheney, Washington, near Spokane, Washington, where she became an Associate Professor and taught creative writing and contemporary literature.
Hegi's first books were set in the United States. She set her third, Floating in My Mother's Palm, in the fictional German town of "Burgdorf," using her writing to explore her conflicted feelings about her German heritage. She used the setting for three more books, including her best selling novel Stones from the River, which was chosen for Oprah's Book Club in 1997. Hegi appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show on April 8, and her publisher reprinted 1.5 million hardcover copies and 500,000 paperbacks. She subsequently moved from Spokane to New York City.
Hegi's many awards include an NEA Fellowship and five PEN Syndicated Fiction Awards. She won a book award from the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association (PNBA) in 1991 for Floating in My Mother's Palm. She has also had two New York Times Notable Book mentions. She has written many book reviews for The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post.

Reviews

[Brooke · Rating 1 out of 5]

I listened to it and started off loving it and wondering how it could get anything less than 4+ stars as it's rating. The characters were strong, the story was rich... and then it crashed, or maybe just spiraled, or better yet, slumped. It seemed that as the story progressed and the narrators changed, it got more depressing and "dwelly" to the point where I just couldn't wait for the dang thing to be over. Too bad the author lost her voice to the dark side because I felt her writing was rich, even if her story wasn't.

[Kathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a family story, spanning decades, that is subdivided into 3 books. Each book is a different time period in family's life. If I could rate each book individually, Book 1 would be 3.5-4 stars; Book 2 would be 1 star (which may be generous); and Book 3 would be 2.5-3 stars. Book 3 ties up a loose end from Book 1, which was a good way to close the story.

[Lady-R · Rating 3 out of 5]

Historia de una familia italoamericana a lo largo de los años y cómo algunos de ellos han ido afrontando la vida tras un hecho dramático.
En algunos momentos pensaba que se me iba a hacer larga, pero en otros entraba tremendamente en la historia.
Una historia muy cercana, de sentimientos, miedos, lazos, amor, pasión, en la que es fácil identificarse.

[Emi Yoshida · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I read Ursula Hegi's Stones from the River I assumed she must've been a German dwarf to be able to relate that story so convincingly; and now I can't believe she's not a New York Roman-Catholic Italian. Hegi manages to sound more authentic New York Roman-Catholic Italian than my husband's actual New York Roman-Catholic Italian family does!

Sacred Time is the story of four generations of Amedeos in the Bronx. Grandmother Riptide and her husband have an amazing love story beginning with their first meeting when she dives in and saves him from drowning. Their children Florio and Victor marry and separate from their own loves, have children of their own, and together suffer and survive the unthinkable - the loss of a child. Their story is told by different members of this fractured family, over the course of fifty years.

[Kaethe Schwehn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Toward the end of this novel one of the characters says "I suspect what continues to harm long beyond the act of violence in the silence." The act of violence happens early in the story and so the majority of the book is about how the characters live inside their own silences after the event--and how the silence changes each of them differently. The characters are rich and distinct and though we witness them moving forward in time, plot is not the engine that drives the book. If you're a plot/action reader, this probably isn't the novel for you. But if you're interested in the nature of grief--how it changes people differently, how it morphs over time--then you will find this to be a stunning and rewarding read.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sacred Time is the story of an extended Italian-American family told in 3 distinct periods of time. In the first section, which takes place in the 1950s, a horrific tragedy takes place. The second portion of the book takes place in the 1970s, and the third and final section in the early 2000s. Each section has two separate chapters told through the perspective of two main characters.

There were portions of this book that I really liked. I felt the first section, set In the 1950s, was by far the strongest. I felt transported back in time; the autthor's description of the era was exceptionally strong. The storyline was also compelling and I couldn't put the book down.

The following 2 sections were weaker for me, and i didn't necessarily feel a strong connection between each section. Yes, the family tragedy is present in all 3 sections, but I didn't feel it was a factor in moving the story forward, nor was it developed all that well.

A strength is the emotions that the author portrays for the characters. I was tearful while reading a chapter where a major character is facing imminent death. For anyone who has been present while a loved one was dying, you'll know that this author was spot-on in her depiction of this situation.

Overall a pretty good book.

[Becky Marietta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hegi has a great way with words -- especially stream-of-consciousness type words. Her stuff is really hard to beat in terms of character development and general flow of the story. I particularly liked how she began with "Anthony's" story, went through the stories of the women in his life, and then ended again with his story. This "full-circle" writing is my favorite kind of story-telling.

So why only three stars? My main complaint (and call me a prude, if you must) was the excess of SEX in this book. I am always irritated by the portrayal of every woman in a book as sex-crazed kittens who have stronger libidos than the men they are with. This book is no exception -- every female character in it is obsessed with sex. While this may be the norm in Ms. Hegi's circle, it doesn't seem like a realistic portrayal of the average women I know.

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ursula Hegi is hands down my favorite author. She has this way of writing where you feel as if you are going through everything right along with the characters. You feel their pain, joy, fear, with them. I don't think I have ever read a book written by her where I did not cry.This one was no exception. This book takes you through the complex family dynamics of an Italian family after they suffer a horrendous tragedy. You glimpse into how each member deals differently with grief and guilt for the role they played. You see the impact it has on those around them. This author is so skilled at describing human emotions you sometimes feel as though you are reading someones private diary. Her fictional characters feel so real that you swear they will call you up for a cup of coffee one day just to ask how you enjoyed their story, breathtaking.

[Cristin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Since I loved Stones from the River so much, I thought I might enjoy another Hegi book. It took me a long time to make my way past the beginning of this book. While I enjoyed the stories of family, and was moved by the pain of carrying secrets, I found this book a bit too heavy and slow at times. Hegi is poetic and philosophical, with some beautiful scenes, but it was not my favorite.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am giving this one 3 stars, because I liked the story but a lot of it was kind of slow for me. The different chapters from the various characters' perspectives made it interesting. I also liked how the writer took me through time, over a span of 50 years.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story which takes place from the 1953 to 2002 explores how one incident alters the lives of the members of a large Italian family in the Bronx. The many characters are interesting and quirky as they each try to come to grips with the problems in their lives.

[Polly Hansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ursula Hegi is a master. Her conversations leap off the page. Her characters are so three-dimensional I feel I know them and could look them up and talk to them. The novel takes place in the Bronx from 1953 to 2002, so we get to The World Trade Center, but that's hardly the point of the story. It's more a side show. Center stage are two Italian families who don't have last names, Aunt Floria, Uncle Malcom, Riptide Grandma and so on. The plot centers around the young boy Anthony and his twin girl cousins Bianca and Belinda and what happens to them and how it affects the two families and their marriages.

Hegi is brilliant at creating intricate family dynamics. Her details are incredible. Even minor characters are three dimensional. Here is Anthony talking: "My grandfather reached into his pocket. 'How about a peppermint, Antonio?' Just like the nuns at school who would whisk holy cards and erasers from their sleeves, my grandfather could produce whatever I might need from his pockets: rubber bands, money for paper candy or Nik-L-Nips, cat's-eye marbles, a whistle, peppermints, kite string. As a boy in Italy, he'd won a kite flying championship. Riptide Grandma complained that his pockets were always stretched out of shape, and the one thing he'd get angry about was when she cleaned them out." There are other passages about the interior lives of the characters I would love to share but don't want to give away the story. These characters live and breathe and change. They have deep inner lives and thoughts and are dependent on one another and self-sufficient at the same time. I liked these people. I admired them. They are all so flawed and wonderful.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story opens in an Italian neighborhood in the Bronx in the 1950s. Our narrator is a young boy named Anthony who is frustrated when his cousins and aunt move into his cramped apartment over the holidays. The story morphs into something new as our narrator changes to Anthony’s mother and then to his aunt Leonora, then his cousin. The book covers three time periods as well; first the ‘50s, then the ‘70s, and finally the early 2000s.

We watch as the family grows and changes over the course of those decades. We see how a single event can resonate throughout the lives involved. Each of the stories ties the whole picture together, giving a wide and wonderful look at what makes a family a family. How we are able to both hurt and help each other so much more when we are connected by blood.

I really enjoyed every second of this book. It’s not that the story itself is particularly startling; it’s that the characters are so beautifully drawn. They feel like they could be people from our own families. They struggle with the same hurts and unhappiness and guilt that plague us all from time to time.

BOTTOM LINE: What begins as a simple coming-of-age story quickly becomes a powerful look at family dynamics. I’m so glad I stumbled upon this one and I will be searching out more work from this author.

p.s. I listened to the audio version and it was excellent!

“Some days being sure only meant you had to double check, because if you didn’t, everything else would come undone.”

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rich, satisfying saga of two Italian American families spanning the preiod from the Bronx in the 50's to post-9/11 Brooklyn. Hegi is a genius in evoking the perceptual and emotional world of her vivid characters, the power of their secret pleasures and pains, and their bonds in love and loss. Her prose is captivating and often poetic. She plumbs well the resilience of families to surmount challenges they are all subject to. Her major concern here is with the recovery of the accidental loss of a child from the perspective , as well as with the intergenerational impact of physical abuse. Despite this dark subject, the book is life affirming throughout and infused with charm and humor.

[Mike Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hegi is a highly rated author and I picked this book up while browsing in a used book store. It follows an Italian family through roughly three generations and is well written, gritty in places, with Hegi's run-on thoughts in places and great character development. Having said that, I'm not sure the point of the novel aside from the treatment of family secrets and guilt. A good book, but not a great one and certainly worth reading for Hegi fans.

[Kati · Rating 3 out of 5]

I literally could not remember what this book was about while I was reading it. Every time I picked it up, I thought, "what is this about again?" I enjoyed it while I was reading it, but barely retained anything about the book.

Good writing, but not a compelling story, and the title doesn't make a ton of sense.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the plot and the characters in general, but the event around which this novel is built didn't ring true to me. The way the family handled it was deftly drawn and painfully believable, but the event itself wasn't developed enough to seem like something that would have been done by the family member who did it. So the center didn't hold, though the rest was quite well done.

[bipolar_kitty]

“I suspect that what continues to harm long beyond the act of violence is the silence.”
**also, the fact that the title is referring to the “sacred time” with loved ones when we are just doing mundane things like cooking or listening to them humming is perfect and I love it

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

New York in den 50er Jahren. In Anthony Amedeo kleiner Welt dreht sich alles um die Yankees, Den Studebaker seiner Eltern, das Paradise Theater und ein Schablonenset, das er sich sehnlichst wünscht. Aber seine Welt gerät aus den Fugen, als seine Tante und ihre beiden Töchter bei ihnen einziehen. Jetzt wünscht er sich nichts sehnlicher als dass die beiden Mädchen wieder aus seinem Leben verschwinden. Er kann nicht ahnen, auf welche Art ihm sein Wunsch erfüllt wird.

Anthony kleine Familie scheint perfekt. Er hat eine hübsche Mutter und einen erfolgreichen, lustigen Vater. In der Familie seiner Tante sieht es anders aus. Der Onkel sitzt immer wieder wegen kleinerer Vergehen im Gefängnis und seine Frau muss sich mit ihren beiden Töchtern alleine durchschlagen. Als er wieder einmal ins Gefängnis kommt, zieht die Tante mit den Zwillingen zu Anthony und seiner Familie und dringt in sein Leben ein. So empfindet es der Junge. Die Mädchen belagern den Großteil seines Zimmers, überall machen sich Haushaltsgeräte und Kisten breit und seine Mutter verlässt das Schlafzimmer fast nicht mehr. Dann geschieht ein schreckliches Unglück, das die Zweckgemeinschaft auflöst.

Die Autorin erzählt die Geschichte aus der Sicht von verschiedenen Familienmitgliedern. Zuerst wird aus Anthonys Sicht erzählt. Danach kommen die einzelnen Frauen der Familie zu Wort, später auch der Vater. Jeder greift die Geschichte auf, trotzdem klingt sie danach völlig anders. Denn jeder erzählt seine Sicht der Dinge und die unterscheidet sich von der seines Vorredners. Alles zusammen ergibt ein Bild, bei dem man sehr genau auf jede Kleinigkeit achten muss.

Es fängt als heitere Familiengeschichte und endet ganz anders. Sieht es zuerst so aus, als die Familie nur durch die ständigen Reibereien zusammengehalten wird, wird im Verlauf der Geschichte klar dass der Zusammenhalt bedingungslos ist und von Herzen kommt. Mich hat das Buch angenehm überrascht, weil ich vom Klappentext eine andere, leichtere Geschichte erwartet habe.

[Allie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like other readers, Stones from the River is one of my all-time favorite books, which is why I continue to explore Ursula Hegi's novels. I thought I would love this book because the first chapter, narrated by Anthony, was so engaging. Just in that first chapter, told through Anthony as a boy living in the Bronx in 1953, Hegi painted a picture of his family. I loved the writing style, as Anthony's narration starts out while in his parent's car driving through their Bronx neighborhood, but weaves in stories that he tells about his family. It was really engaging. But each chapter was narrated by other characters, and the book for me. I kept reading, though, wanting to see if it would get better, wanting to hear from Anthony's voice again.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sacred Time was a good book - good character development and believable characters. I really enjoyed how the book was told from different points of view. I do like this style of writing. This allows me to have a better understanding of each character, and have much more empathy for them as well.

I would have liked Floria's point of view at the end of the book to have been shorter...it seemed to go on and on, while Anthony's pov seemed way to short. Otherwise, a good book. I would also have liked to read Victor's pov, and had more time with Belinda, and perhaps even Bianca.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. There are so many parts that will stay with me for a long, long time. The early part of the book is very nostalgic which, at first, seemed like a departure for Ursula Hegi. I had just finished Patron Saint…Girls and was reminded why I gravitate toward this author. Much of her writing is so like a prose poem. Sacred Time, I think, set me up with the nostalgia in order to propel me on a family (and inner) journey that stimulated memories of my own sacred times—some pleasant and some not so much. Hegi is a supremely talented author.

[krdito · Rating 3 out of 5]

I seem to have experienced a love/hate relationship with this book. I was entranced by the elegant prose, but disappointed by what I felt was a lack of character development. Don't judge this book by the first chapter, where the reader is dropped into the chaotic lives of an Italian-American family! It's the later chapters that are more beautifully written and revealing, although I felt all along that this family, defined by tragedy, was not as well-developed as I had expected from Hegi. I loved Stones from the River, but this book did not live up to my expectations.

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was extremely hard to get through. Once I started it, I had to force myself to finish it. While the main events happen within the first 50 pages, the rest of the book does nothing to progress the story. We literally have to wait for the last 2 pages to learn the real truth despite knowing it all along. The book was anti-climatic and although it is well written, it is nothing but boring.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I spent a long time thinking about the title of this book because I didn't immediately see a clear connection to the story within. I finally concluded that it refers to those single moments, even one perpetuated by the unfully-developed mind of a boy, that change lives, ours and those around us, forever. And how often, those changes relate to decisions about relationships that are a result of understanding our mortality, realizing our sacred time on earth is always slowly slipping away.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was not a book I enjoyed. While the premise of the story was quite good with strong characters that were easy to visualize, flowing quite well for the first 100 pages or so, it then became very disjointed and even discombobulated. Crash and burn basically. I picked this author as I was recommended to read Stones from the River by Ursula. When I couldn’t find thar book, then I decided to read another one by her. Perhaps I picked the wrong one.

[Julia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t really like the first of the six parts of this novel (even before the unusual ending) and then i read from other Goodreads reviews that it was the best of the six parts. I read/skimmed the second part. And then jumped to part six to see how it ended.

I’m not saying it was bad writing. Just I really didn’t like it.

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Amideo family - their fears,guilts, secrets and for Anthony a hope of redemption. A picture of an Italian family in the Bronx they shared. The way they laughed, cried and loved over the different periods of their life. Very human, funny at times and sad but I didn't want to stop reading.

[Jinjer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmm...this book could've been so much more, I think. A major event happens and we learn how it effected individual lives...kind of...sort of...I didn't care anything about any of these people so this book wasn't great for me.

[Kelly PT · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uno de esos tesoros escondidos entre rebajas de librería. Ursula Hegi nos regala un libro a tres libros y a tres voces que resuenan profundamente, entre sus deseos ocultos, sus realidades y sus apesumbrados sentimientos.