Blue Italian [Paperback]

Rita Ciresi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 10, 1997

Skillfully capturing the daily quirks of life in a boisterous, working-class ethnic family--daily assaulted by family clamor, endless courses of food, embarrassment and fierce love--Blue Italian traces the pitfalls of the young life and three-year marriage of a wise-cracking and heart-winning heroine, Rosa Salvatore. With an ear for acid dialogue and an eye for everyday ironies, Ciresi unfolds Rosa Salvatore's tale: growing up on fantasies, guilt, and fagioli in the New Haven working-class Italian neighborhood of Pizza Beach; working her way through a local college by slinging hash, while agonizing over her thighs and aching for passion; landing a job and meeting Gary Fisher, a nice Jewish lawyer from Flushing with a great butt and angst of his own. Rosa and Gary fall in love, make love, get married, fight, make up, fight again--until Gary is diagnosed with a terminal illness, and Rosa realizes the power of her love--and the crushing force of regret.



Frank and warm, crackling with razor-sharp wit, Blue Italian is a love story about an ill-fated couple who almost missed realizing how much they loved each other. It establishes Rita Ciresi as a writer with a unique gift for language, character, and emotion--a novelist to read, and a novelist to watch.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

When Rosa Salvatore, a Roman Catholic Italian, and Gary Fisher, the only child of prosperous Jewish parents in Long Island, decide to marry, it isn't just their vastly different family backgrounds that lead to their demise. Gary, at age 31, is dying of prostate cancer. Rosa, to put it mildly, has a chip on her shoulder--something she inherited from her mother, who, for Gary, is worse than the stereotypical mother-in-law. As Gary's condition worsens, Rosa's bitterness and shrewishness increases, despite her love for him. And though she seeks professional help, her inability to face the truth about herself ultimately destroys both her marriage and herself. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Smooth prose, a snappy pace and clever, if nasty, repartee give a veneer of fun to Ciresi's bittersweet debut novel (after the Flannery O'Connor Award-winning short-story collection Mother Rocket). But under the shiny surface of this funny, earthy work there's a tremendous amount of pain as, after three years of marriage, Rosa Salvatore and her 31-year-old husband, Gary Fisher, face the fact of his terminal cancer. Bookended by Gary's diagnosis and his rapid decline, the narrative traces their courtship and marriage. Insecure, self-deprecating Rosa, from a working-class, Italian Catholic New Haven neighborhood known as Pizza Beach, is determined to earn a college degree and escape her past. As a hospital social worker, she meets Gary, a wealthy Jewish law student at Yale, when they work together on the case of a black client named Ivory White. Both Rosa and Gary had terrible childhoods, thanks to outrageously neurotic parents. Rosa's are lower-class loudmouths; Gary's mother is a snooker champion who constantly bickers with his father. Both sets of parents are glad to see their children marry, however, and all grieve after Rosa has a miscarriage. Gary's death brings none of the survivors closer, with Rosa suffering many regrets. Ciresi's depiction of New Haven's blue-collar ethnic neighborhoods is complete with local color. Her facile comic energy makes for entertaining reading, though constant wisecracking robs the characterization of some depth. Yet there is real substance in this tragicomic story of two people with smart mouths and starved hearts groping their way towards a love they don't get much chance to enjoy.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Delta (November 10, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385319401
• ISBN-13: 978-0385319409
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 0.5 x 10.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,303,905 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very real and touching..., June 24, 1999

By 

Dianna Johnston "Compulsive Reader" (Joplin, MO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blue Italian (Paperback)

Gary and Rosa--what a marriage! At times I wanted to jump in the pages and break up the fist-fight and other times I laughed at their silly arguments. Ms. Ciresi paints a very vivid portrait of marriage and all it's swirls and brushstrokes. This novel was funny and smart with all of Rosa's hot-headed italianess and Gary's quirky Jewish personality, but also very touching for the same reasons. Throughout the whole novel, I had a hard time figuring out why these two were together, but after reading the Epilogue and finally closing the book, I realized why. Much better than Pink Slip, so read this one first!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Very Disappointing, May 10, 2000

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Blue Italian (Paperback)

I had read the author's second book, Pink Slip, first and loved it, so I eagerly anticipated this novel. I thought it was terrible. In my opinion, none of the characters had any good qualities. paticularly Rosa and Gary. By the time I got through the book I didn't care what happened to them. Ms. Ciresi has a knack for writing about the most gross of bodily functions ad nauseum. Thank goodness Pink Slip was an improvement over this book, and that I read this one after it. I would not recommend this book!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mixed feelings, August 12, 2002

By 

Beverley Strong (Australia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blue Italian (Paperback)

While I commend this book as a good read, the subject matter depressed me SO much. An American-Italian girl,Rosa, is at loggerheads ALL of the time with her parents,especially her mother who never ceases her attempt at dominating her daughter.Rosa meets Gary, the only son of a wealthy Jewish couple and the joy of his mothers life.This unlikely pair marry,more as an attempt to escape the stranglehold that both sets of parents have on them. Their marriage in NOT an unqualified success but they are both struggling along until Rosa loses her baby and Gary is diagnosed with a terminal illness.I'm not giving away the plot as we are given this news on the book cover. Rosa in particular, goes from an unhappy childhood, through to an unhappy marriage and then, on to early widowhood. Hardly a joyous moment accurs throughout the story and, although in Rita Ciresi's great style, overall it's a terribly depressing book--not one to read if you're feeling a bit down!.