The Family
Fiction
G.P. Putnam's Sons
November 2, 2021
Hardcover
368
Purchased
Two daughters. Two families. One inescapable fate.
Sofia Colicchio is a free spirit, a loud, untamed thing. Antonia Russo is thoughtful, ever observing the world around her. Best friends from birth, their homes share a brick wall and their fathers are part of an unspoken community that connects them all: the Family. Sunday dinners gather the Family each week to feast, discuss business, and renew the intoxicating bond borne of blood and love.
Until Antonia’s father dares to dream of a different life and goes missing soon after. His disappearance drives a whisper-thin wedge between Sofia and Antonia as they become women, wives, mothers, and leaders, all the while maintaining a complex and at times conflicted friendship. Both women are pushing against the walls of a prison made up of expectations, even as they remain bound to one another, their hearts expanding in tandem with Red Hook and Brooklyn around them. One fateful night their loyalty to each other and the Family will be tested. Only one of them can pull the trigger before it’s too late.
My review:
It's a good thing that I didn't see the comparisons between this novel and My Brilliant Friend series, or I probably wouldn't have picked it up. I was not a fan of that book, and even picked up the newest from that author which I also disliked, so obviously we are not a good fit. I can see where the comparisons come from, but I'm here to tell you that I don't think liking one (or in my case disliking) has any bearing on the other. I really enjoyed this look at the lives of two girls growing up in Brooklyn. We follow them from 1928 until 1948 from their school years through marriage and motherhood. The undercurrent flowing through the book is that both girls have families involved in the Italian mafia. I thought it was fascinating to observe that while we as readers know what the fathers are doing, the girls do not understand the ins and outs until they reach a much more mature age. There are glimpses of the dealings happening, but for the most part we follow Sofia and Antonia as they mature and their friendship takes on many different forms. This book does have plot lines to follow, but I would say for the most part it is a character study of that time and place, as well as diving into the feelings of each daughter as they go from child to mother. Also a great account of the mother/daughter relationship. I was definitely caught up in the characters lives, and was eager to see where they would end up. The ending was a bit shocking, yet satisfying, and keeping in form with the crux of the plot.
A really enjoyable story of two Italian best friends throughout two decades of their lives. A good look not only at families, but at friendship, motherhood, and the bonds to The Family.
