Marie Giordano

My emotions were snagged by this book, I was swinging up and down along with ChiChi, lonely, unloveable, inadequate.... In a way it was painful to read how her mother treated her, but Giordano kept the story moving along so you didn't have to wallow in it too long. Powerfully shows the influence of how children are treated on their self-image, as well as how one of our cultural memes played out in the 1950's: woman as sex object.
Yes, secrets are a theme in this novel, but that didn't strike me as forcefully as how ChiChi was treated.
We tend to think of immigrants as Mexicans, Central Americans, or Hmong but even at the time I was born there were European immigrants who had a hard time learning how to fit in to our society, finding work, living in cultural enclaves, being discriminated against solely because they weren't born here.… (more)

This is an enjoyable tale of a family that immigrates to Minnesota from sunny southern Italy at the end of WWII. The mother, grandmother (Nonna) and two children are rejected by the American father's family. The father is dead. The family struggles to survive and move to an Italian American neighborhood. The children are exposed to prejudice. The young bot, Marco, has a serious type of asthma and is not expected to live long.ChiChi(Leticia), the older sister looks after her brother and their mother spends much of their childhood living in depression. Nonna lavishes the children with love and affection. The focus of the tale is ChiChi. The book is the first of a trilogy. Though the subject matter seems to be depressing, it is handled with humor. ChiChi's use of the "evil eye" and her penchant for self protection hold the story together and the children grow up and learn about their mother's past.… (more)