Olivia or The Weight of the Past [Hardcover]

Judith Rossner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 26, 1994

Caroline Ferrante, a charismatic cooking teacher, faces a new challenge when her hostile daughter, Olivia, the result of a teenage marriage to an unfaithful, domineering Italian, joins her in New York. 100,000 first printing. Lit Guild Alt. Tour.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Good news for Rossner ( Looking for Mr. Goodbar ) fans: after a lapse in His Little Women , she is back in top form in this bouillabaisse of a novel, the story of a woman who turns a passion for food into a career but in the process almost loses her daughter and her self-esteem. Narrator Caroline wryly describes her Manhattan youth in a family of academics to whom her interest in food is declasse; her disastrous marriage in Italy to flagrantly unfaithful Angelo Ferrante; the birth of their daughter Olivia; her term as chef of the Ferrantes' ristorante and her decision to divorce Angelo, who insists on retaining custody of Livvy. When events later bring Livvy to New York, where Cara supports herself by giving cooking classes, Livvy is a self-righteous teenager who hates her mother and calls her a "kitchen monster." Manipulative, truculent Livvy is the quintessential rotten kid, so bad you want Cara to belt her one. Complicating Cara's life are her relationship with the doctor who lives in the upstairs apartment and a TV packager's yen to transform her cable TV show into a prime-time network star turn. When Livvy repeats her mother's mistakes, the narrative acquires complexity and momentum. Rossner takes some risks here in debating Jewish/Catholic attitudes toward abortion, but as both Cara and Livvy probe their uncertain ways to identity as mothers and as independent women, the novel ends on a satisfying, if realistically ambiguous, note. Anyone who likes to eat, cook or read about food will savor Rossner's descriptions of tasty dishes and culinary lore, conveyed with gusto and sensuous detail. Author tour.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

She's got a terrific job, a terrific lover, and a terrific relationship with her lover's children, but Caroline Ferrante still has a problem: her daughter, Olivia, whose father has turned her against the mother who finally abandoned an intolerable marriage.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 334 pages
• Publisher: Crown Publishers; 1st edition (July 26, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517597209
• ISBN-13: 978-0517597200
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,243,431 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars ROSSNER COOKS UP ANOTHER TELLING PLOT, April 8, 2004

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Olivia (Mass Market Paperback)

Judith Rossner surely caught our eyes with "Looking For Mr. Goodbar," an on target encapsulation of the singles scene. With this title she hones in on troubled family relationships as she relates the story of a celebrated cook and her estranged daughter.

Caroline, the narrator, has grown up in New York City, neglected by career driven parents. Seeking affection Caroline stakes claims on the family cooks. When the last of them, Anna, returns to a family restaurant in Italy, Caroline scrambles after her.

After marrying the father of her child, the insensitive womanizing Angelo, Caroline takes over the running of the restaurant's kitchen, and is soon repeating her mother's mistakes. When Olivia, her daughter is 12, Caroline returns to New York City without her.

The gist of Rossner's story begins when a sutbborn and antagonistic Olivia follows her mother to America. Mix the mother daughter relationship with the doctor who lives in the apartment above Caroline, and Caroline's mother who is now a wonderful grandmother, then stir in all of these women seeking their place in the world.

Rossner's description of food, and culinary how-to are as satisfying as the novel's ending.

- Gail Cooke

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a great book!, September 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Olivia or The Weight of the Past (Hardcover)

If you liked Marilyn French's Her Mother's Daughter you'll love this book. Judith Rossner does a wonderful job developing her characters. You'll feel like you really know all of them when you're done reading the book. I really can't recommend this book highly enough!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good recepie -Food, Italy, Single Mum and New York, July 17, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Olivia or The Weight of the Past (Hardcover)

I read this on a recent holiday - ideal for reading on the beach and dreaming of a woman who could cook you gourmet italian meals every day of your life! Do such people really exist or is this why the genre is fiction. I learnt a lot about food and New York style neurosis. Got a bit slow towards the end but overall a good light read