Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - Eternal

An epic love triangle that spans years, this book is for lovers of a slower paced, more literary, historical fiction. Encapsulating Rome during the ramp up to WWII, this book transports you to a place where pasta and the past loom large. During Mussolini's rule these characters are constantly having to evaluate where they stand in their beliefs in their identities as Italians, friends, family, and humans. Elisabetta is dealing with her family disintegrating around her while both Marco, a bold confident Fascist, and his best friend Sandro, a bookish Jew, court her. They all have to decide where their loyalties lie.

I have read many WWII fiction titles, but never one set in Italy before. This one made me feel like I was strolling on the cobblestones searching for gelato. I normally don't love slower paced books, but this one was so transportive that I knew it would pay off. And by the end I was so emotionally invested in the characters.

I will note that as excellent as Cassandra Campbell and Edoardo Ballerini are as narrators, I think this was a missed opportunity to be a full cast audiobook. Especially in the beginning, the male characters were a bit difficult for me to differentiate between since they had the same voice. And I would have just loved that extra layer of characterization if each POV was a different narrator.

Content Warning: This is a WWII novel, so horrors associated with that time can be found within

Content Warnings

natalieba's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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