The Islands of Divine Music

by John Addiego

The Islands of Divine Music is a novel of five generations of an Italian-American family finding its place in the New World. Against a backdrop of Immigration, Prohibition, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, and the new millennium, five generations of the Verbicaro family make their way from Southern Italy to San Francisco as each character brushes up against some aspect of the divine.

The family matriarch is Rosari, a little girl whose family flees Italy because her prodigality is exploited by illiterate kidnappers. After her beautiful, psychotic mother’s suicide, the girl and her despondent father come to San Francisco, where she meets the man she’ll marry, a handsome, fiercely strong peasant named Giuseppe Verbicaro. The twelve linked stories of The Islands of Divine Music are portraits of family members whose lives are interwoven in one narrative that spans 100 years.

Rosari and Giuseppe’s oldest son, Narciso, a handsome and dim-witted dandy, barely evades death and the stain of organized crime by his simple-minded innocence and luck, while his passionate brother Ludovico, a talented third baseman in the old San Francisco minor leagues, falls prey to the illicit dreams of a wise guy from the Gambino family. His scheme to smuggle Cuban cigars to the San Francisco Bay nearly ends in drowning but leads to a kind of salvation.

Their youngest brother, Joe, a brilliant child and shrewd businessman, is ashamed of his ethnicity and, in particular, his father. This is due in part to the fact that Giuseppe, wandering North Beach, believes that God directs him to marry a teen-aged, pregnant Mexican prostitute named Maria. Further senility, faith, or vermouth convinces the old man that Maria’s child, Jesus, is the product of an immaculate conception. The event is both a family disgrace and a bizarre blessing. The child’s life and tragic death come to have a profound effect on Giuseppe’s progeny, particularly Joe’s Penelope, who flees the country following involvement in deadly anti-Vietnam War activities, and her brothers Paulie and Angelo, who are inspired by the young Jesus to embark upon a quest of several thousand miles to recover the family’s lost and most prized spiritual treasures.

Genres: Fiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2008

About the author

John Addiego has published three novels and numerous stories and poems in literary journals. He is a former teacher and poetry editor at the Northwest Review. Raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, he now lives with his wife Ellen in Corvallis, Oregon.

Reviews

[Lainie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first John Addiego novel I've read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The author paints each character in this sprawling Italian family history fully; you feel like you know them, their quirks, and their desires. You'll think about these people with fondness long after you finish reading the book. The writing is strong but not flashy. Like the best marionettist, Addiego lets his characters show you their moves; you're never thinking, "ooh, look at what the author did" but you might well find yourself thinking, "ooh, look at what that character did!"

Recommended.

[Teddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rosari had a difficult start in life. Born in southern Italy, her mother, Eleonora ran off with another man and her father, Lazaro was left to raise her. This was back in the early part of the 20th century, when men didn’t take part in child rearing let alone do it solo.

Rosari learned how to read and write at an early age, while the majority of the town folk didn’t know how at all. One day two men asked her to write a letter. They dictated and she wrote it, not understanding most of what she was writing but very happy that she earned some money. It turned out to be the thing that changed the family forever. When she confessed to her father what she did and what the content of the letter was, he was fearful. So much so that he book passage for the two of them on a ship to America. Right before they left, Eleonora reappeared and she went with them.

They landed in New York and soon Eleonora ran off again, only to show up dead a few months later. That is when Rosari and Lazaro ended up going to settle in San Francisco. That is where Rosari was reacquainted with one of the men that got her into trouble in the old country, Giuseppe. The man that she marries and bears seven children with. He also has an affair with a prostitute and got her pregnant with his eighth child, Jesús.

This is the point where Addiego lost me a bit. He goes on having...

Read my full review here:

http://teddyrose.blogspot.com/2008/12...

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Addiego covers a lot of ground in The Islands of Divine Music. Not only does he touch upon the divine, the immigrant experience, and the impact of the Vietnam War, he also covers fears of nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis, migrant workers, and special needs children, among other things. But it never seems over the top. Addiego doesn’t always present the history of the Verbicaro family in chronological order, but the story flows from the present to the past and from character to character seamlessly.

The writing is brilliant as well. There are no flowery descriptions; Addiego’s prose is sparse, but he says so much. The chapters are like short stories, brief character sketches, and they would have left me wanting more had they not been stitched together in novel form. (And not wanting in a bad way. I just wouldn’t want to be done with these characters so soon.) They were like opening a box of chocolates; you can have one and be satisfied, but it is comforting to know there are more waiting for you, and all together, they provide a rich, filling treat.

Full review on Diary of an Eccentric

[Kathy (Bermudaonion) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lazaro and Eleonora Cara immigrated from Italy to New York with their daughter Rosari. Eleonora battled mental illness and when she was found dead, Lazaro and Rosari decided it was time to start over, so they moved to San Francisco. There, Rosari married Guiseppe Verbicaro and they had 6 children. Guiseppe worked hard and they led a fairly normal life. When Guiseppe was 79, he left Rosari for a young, pregnant prostitute. Her son, Jesús, would change this family forever.

The Islands of Divine Music by John Addiego is more like a series of short stories (about different members of the family) than a novel, and this concept didn't really work well for me. While Addiego's writing is beautiful, I found parts of the book rambling and redundant and there were so many characters I found myself wondering who I was reading about at times. The beginning and the end of the book meshed well for me but a lot of the middle just seemed unnecessary. I received this book as part of the Library Thing Early Reviewers Program.

[Tasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an uncorrected proof so reading it could be quite tedious especially when so of the pages were printed so lightly, I could barely make out the words. But nevertheless, it was a good read.

The story begins with Rosari, the family matriarch, her family and descendents from their beginnings in a small Italian village to Ellis Island ad finally to San Francisco. The multiple points of view would seem confusing but it works here. The story of Rosari, her family, her husband, children and grandchildren is heartbreaking, frustration and comical. Everyone could relate because there is one person like that in every family. The book left me with a smile on my face when I finished.

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Way better than I expected. I am not at all sure what the title of the book or the cover art has to do with the story and that is what really turned me off for a long time. I love the characters and the story was interesting, though the jump around and the stories all seemed somewhat independant made it a little hard for me to keep everyone straight and remember the important details for something further on in the story. But, overall, the book was good, interesting, and kept me involved.

[Stacey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Is the divine something that just pushes us around, sending us floating through our lives? Or is the divine something we can draw strength from to MAKE something of ourselves? I could not get past what I saw were the dark textures of these characters' lives, and their lack of self-determination. A bleak read.

[Janis Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a practicing Lutheran of Scandinavian descent I have always wanted to be Italian. Even though this novel is on the short side, the author provides a lyrical, tender, at turned painful and humorous history of an Italian family, immigrants to the Bay Area. So many generations in a few pages. For a few magical pages, I was part of this family. A pleasure to read.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intergenerational story of great heart and, yes, soul.

[Mary Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short family saga taking place over some of the more interesting times in our history. Pratt has as YA, but I think some of the passages were rougher than I would expect, even for YA.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting -