The Queen of the Big Time by Adriana Trigiani
Reviewed by Vicki CarverThere is a general belief in our country that we are entitled to live our lives as we choose to. We want to live where we choose, with people we choose and spend our time as we choose. However, this mind-set may not have always been a part of our American culture.
Adriana Trigiani has written several books, including her recent bestseller, Lucia, Lucia. Her newest book is called The Queen of the Big Time and it is fast-reading novel about an Italian woman named Nella Castelluca.
The year is 1925. Nella’s father is a hard-working farmer in Roseto, Pennsylvania. Nella is 15 years-old and part of a family of five daughters. Nella is an excellent student who wants to someday go to college and become a teacher. However, her family needs financial help forcing Nella to begin work at a local blouse factory. Nella’s ability to learn rapidly and work hard pays off as she advances to the position of forelady at age sixteen.
While Nella is working to help her family she also manages to full in love. Renato Langara is seven years older than Nella and has attended college and traveled. Nella is fascinated by Renato but is devastated when he leaves Roseta unexpectedly.
Eventually Nella marries and has a family but she continues to work hard and make sure her own family as well as extended family are well cared for. Conflicts arise when Renato returns home and Nella must confront her feelings for him while being married to someone else.
Nella is a person who has not been able to choose how she would live her life. She has always lived her life for others, not herself. Eventually as The Queen of the Big Time progresses, Nella is forced to look back on her life and come to terms with some painful realizations.
Trigiani writes in a style which is fast reading and thought provoking. Nella is a character that the reader learns to care about. The tough choices that Nella has to make in her life force her to neglect the type of life she may have wanted to live.