“Faith is courage. It’s the unspoken pact you have with God and your own soul that you will not stop until you are spending the time you’ve been given doing the thing you were born to do.”
Adriana Trigiani, Tony’s Wife
Title: Tony’s Wife
Author: Adriana Trigiani
Genres: Historical Fiction, Romance
Pages: 473 (Paperback)
Published: November 20th, 2018
My Rating: ★★★★
Read: 2/12/2023 – 2/17/2023
Review:
There’s something about Adriana Trigiani’s writing I really love. This book was pretty fun, too, because in a strange way, it was giving me similar vibes as Daisy Jones and the Six only a different era.
Chi Chi and Tony are on their way to stardom in the 1940s. Newly married, they also have to face the questions surrounding starting a family. Can they balance a career and home life? We follow them through the decades through their professional and personal ups and downs.
While I can’t say I enjoyed this as much as The Good Left Undone, it had a similar heart to the writing. It runs long though. I would have enjoyed it more if it’d been a slightly faster pace. I have mixed feelings about Chi Chi and Tony’s relationship, too. However, I do love getting to see the plot span such a long period of time, so there was a lot of give and take for me.
Likes & Dislikes:
What I liked:
- The multi-decade timeline.
- Realistic Catholic characters (though there were some questionable moments as far as the sacraments go).
- The pop-culture references of the time.
What I didn’t like:
- It was unnecessarily wordy in spots.
- Tony and Chi Chi’s relationship wasn’t fantastic.
Afterthoughts:
Though there are several moments in the story itself I can take or leave, there are some nice lines and funny moments that I’ll keep with me. I’m looking forward to diving into other books from Adriana Triginani!