Reviews with content warning for Grief - One Italian Summer: A Novel

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

One Italian Summer: A Novel by Rebecca Serle, Rebecca Serle

130 reviews

toris_in_her_own_world's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

This book was so beautiful! I personally love to read books where people are grieving, and this one was really good for that. Katy’s whole journey of finding who she is without her mom is so well portrayed.

I really did not expect this to be actual time travel, but it was an interesting plot element. Now I want to re read it to see what I missed! I also like the ending where nothing really changed in her future situation, she just recognized that she could figure it out and life goes on.

I honestly understand that Katy made a lot of mistakes in her time in Italy, but I also see how it made her realize that she doesn’t want to be wild all the time, she likes the familiar, and that doesn’t have to change with her moms passing. Overall one of my favorite reads recently!

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_verena_'s review against another edition

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emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.5

I've never smoked, but it's the last day of my mothers shiva, so here we are...

- One Italian Summer, 00:00:01

🎧 listened to the audiobook

Short Review:
This was such a mess!
It's just too much!
Too overloaded!

More detailed Review:
I really, really, really, REALLY wanted to like this.
And I did! Right until Katy met Carol in Italy and everything went down the drain. But let's start from the beginning.

I was SO glad about Lauren Graham narrating this. Why you might ask? - Just because, obviously, she is Lauren Graham!
Plus: this book is giving major Gilmore Girls vibes from the start, with a quote from Lorelai in the epigraph and then mentioning Gilmore Girls right at the beginning.

However it is a devastating, heart shattering version of it, and I could hardly deal 😭😭😭
Didn't expect this book to be so sad, but at least it helped me realize that my heart is not made of stone and I can still be touched by books (which I suspected I couldn't be after dnfing The Pairing).
However, I was curious about the 'fantasy' part, which didn't sound especially appealing to me, but I liked the overall premise of a woman grieving and her life totally being derailed by the loss of her parent. So it might make some sense, to throw some delusion in there. I think loss and grief are some of the more taboo topics in mainstream literature, which was why I was happy to find it in a book, that seemed to be lightening up the whole thing with its location being Amalfi Coast.

BUT!
There were just tooooooooo many things cramped in there.
Why did there have to be so many additional storylines, which were so poorly executed?
Like:
The whole storyline about the hotel. Nobody cares!

Katy just arrived 1 day ago, and suddenly she is somehow all informed about all of this, because the staff tells her all the details? It's like the whole town knows about the offer for the hotel. I mean, if my mother just had died, I wouldn't care one second about a random hotel being sold, it makes no sense at all!

Katy.
I did like her at the beginning. I liked how lovingly she thought about her mother, her family, how terrible the loss is. But at some point this just got old. We are in her thoughts all the time and of course, when grieving a human does repeat things a lot, to get over it, but still, I feel like Katy didn't get important parts, that were happening around her quite right. If she had though, I think that could have opened up a lot more of interesting thoughts. Example:

When Carol explains to her, that she left her as a baby, because everything was too much, that could have opened up a whole thoughtprovoking sphere about how women are left alone with childcare, housework, mental load etc. Instead this just didn't happen, and Katy just accepted this superficial explanation...

Adam.
Everything about Adam!

Besides being totally uninteresting and having no charm at all, or anything appealing whatsoever, he was just a huge prick. He knows how awful Katy is doing mentally, and yes, he tells her "we don't have to do this blabla", but if he was actually a good guy, he would back off. I mean what kind of person wants to start a 'relationship' (I don't think you could even call it that) with somebody that is not well so QUICKLY - Give that woman time! Unless of course they only want to get in their pants, so here we are, with a MMC that is displaying borderline predatory behavior by telling a women "we don't have to", who is barely keeping it together and therefore not really able to consent in the first place...

Katy + Adam.

In light of what I wrote above, this seems to be a tiny issue, but let's do it: I'm not sure, if she cheated on Eric, I'm leaning towards NO. Technically they are still married. They are however separated. She left him and told him, she is not sure if she wants to be with him anymore.
Plus, she cheated on him around 30ish years ago, when she was traveling through time. She didn't know, she was in a different time and she knew she was still married, but separated. (THIS is why this book is such a mess to me btw.) So NO.
I really have no idea, why people write enraged reviews on her, because this book is "cheating apologetic" or something? These people are separated.
The more interesting question to me is, if she ever told him about any of this (the time traveling and the cheating).

Eric.
#justiceforEric.

In my opinion he was painted so much as a 'bad guy', which he clearly isn't. Let's not forget, that he is grieving too! And I do understand, that after a traumatic event like that, Katy is questioning her life decisions, which include being with Eric, but that doesn't mean he a the villain...

the fantasy element.

aka Katy has somehow fallen through time and everybody who she dealt with actually lived in the past. I'm generally always sceptical, when it comes to time traveling, because most of the time it's badly executed (except maybe in One Last Stop).
Here is extraordinarily bad... She asks what year it is, and that's it.
How did she never notice, that people don't have any smartphones, only old cars are on the street, or any other technical inventions that have happened in the last 30 years? Did she simply not notice? Or worse, think, that this is Italy nowadays? If it's that, she really is the prototype of ignorant-classist-American-traveling-the-world.
Also she tells everybody to invest into Apple and Starbucks... omfg, this is just so stupid!

Conclusion:
Started out strong, became decreasingly weak to end in a complete and annoying mess...

As they say: Sometimes less is more.

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idesofmarch's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.25

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kerrinikole's review against another edition

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challenging reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

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keeganrb's review against another edition

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4.0

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lauren_shilling's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

This book was such an amazing read! I read it leading up to and during my trip to Italy this summer, and I was reading during my brief visit to the Amalfi Coast, and this book captured the energy I got there perfectly! It was the perfect book to compliment the first part of my trip. I'm so happy I finally read this book, and I'm both very upset and very happy that I didn't read it sooner. I loved following Katy and watching how she navigates the grief of losing her mother, while also coming to some very important realizations about herself, her mother, and their relationship. It was a beautiful story set in a beautiful place. The writing in this book felt like the magic of the story, if that makes sense, and it made for a great experience. This book is quite the emotional read as well, as it does follow a main character who has just lost her mother, who she considered her best friend. As wonderful as it was to watch her navigate that, it was also very emotional to read as well.

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jessicabearbooks's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing slow-paced

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

3.5

Every day the world is born again. Every day the sun rises. It is a miracle, I think. A simple, everyday miracle. Life.

This was the perfect summer read for sitting by the pool in the Italian sun. If you're looking for a quick, lighthearted read that's full of sunshine - read this. Rebecca Serle writes descriptions really well so I felt I was there with Katy the entire time. I was on the boat, I was in the hotel, I could feel the summer air (perhaps this is because I physically could but I believe Serle's writing had something to do with this also ;)

I wasn't a huge fan of Adam. I think he was a tad manipulative and clearly just wanted a summer fling. I didn't like the infidelity storyline but I understood why it was happening. That being said, Katy still made that choice and I don't like that it got swept under the rug and forgotten about.

The whole time travel plot was confusing. It was very clever but I think was a bit problematic and just difficult to understand.

Katy drinks so much wine oh my god. Every other page was her having a drink phaha. I tried not to judge but it was funny.

The plot twist was unexpected and a nice addition to the story - I felt the plot as a whole was potentially a little flat BUT I think the point of this story wasn't to have a heavy plot, but to make the reader feel something, and I did. I didn't sob like I thought as there really isn't as much Mother/Daughter heartbreak as is marketed I think. But the story and relationship is sweet none the less.

The quotes throughout are beautiful. This book was from the library but I'm for sure going to think about buying a copy to annotate next summer.

Majorie - Taylor Swift
Supermarket Flowers - Ed Sheeran

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jessalicemorris's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

“History, memory is by definition fiction. Once an event is no longer present, but remembered, it is narrative. And we can choose the narratives we tell-about our own lives, our own stories, our own relationships. We can choose the chapters we give meaning.”

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georgiaw2k's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I really enjoyed this type of story - The magical mystery of whether Katy’s mother was a live
Throughout the book, I had theories on what may have happened - I initially thought she was in a coma and dreaming it, then I thought it wasn’t really her mother, just person very similar.
I wasn’t expecting the time travel aspect of this book, but I didn’t not like it
This story tugged at my heartstrings a lot as someone who has a very close relationship with their mother - really just everything into perspective.
I felt like I was following along in Katy’s grief and fully felt what she felt - I am surprised I wasn’t more emotional (I think it’s due to my motivation with reading - as always)
I wouldn’t say anything was missing aside from that I really hoped she could’ve seen her mother again.
Could it be classed as cheating in time travel and a reality that isn’t real?
I would be interested to explore more of Rebecca Searle’s work
It felt like I had been gut punched when I realised certain points of the story were real and the hotel characters

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kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I thought this was well—written and interesting. I love the time-travel element in her books that isn’t super science-fictiony. I couldn’t connect with the characters as much as I would’ve liked, primarily I think because this is a story about a woman who has such a deep, abiding love for and affectionate relationship with her mother. As someone who has a difficult mother/daughter relationship I couldn’t imagine what this would be like — it almost seemed like fantasy. I did enjoy the setting of the novel and how the imagery brings to life Positano for the reader. I also liked that there were some parts that were real (the hotel and the people who work there). It is the type of book you don’t want to put down, however, which I love.

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