Customer Reviews

When We Were Strangers: A Novel

5 star:		(49)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
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Pamela Schoenewaldt's work of historical fiction, When We Were Strangers, is an elegantly written novel. It captures the struggles and triumphs of the millions of immigrants who have shaped our country through the eyes of one young Italian woman. Character development and sensory description are Schoenewaldt's strengths. Stitched together with fascinating historical details, ranging from needlework to 19th Century medical practices, she skillfully creates a world of smells, tastes, sights and sounds in both the old country and the new. Her narrator, Irma, becomes every woman who has ever struggled and triumphed over social mores and prohibitions,the limitations of gender, poverty and lack of education, a new land and a new language. Neither she, nor the many others she encounters on her journey, are idealized or stereotyped. They feel authentic; and I, for one, became attached to them and felt as though I had grown to know them well in the pages of this impressive first novel.

When We Were Strangers blew me away.

I mean, it's about time I read a b0ok in 2011 that gripped me as much as this book did and honestly, the binding I got for the Advanced Copy was rough to read, the words were half-faded and still, I didn't mind at all. Not a single bit. Because the story was that powerful.

Irma is a woman with strength, character, and resolve, yet also I found in her innocence, fear, and a sense of loneliness. This character in a story exhibited every trait that I would strive to have when finding myself faced with the challenges she faced. This is an immigration story that, though told on a nearly day-by-day, common occurrences basis, was filled with adventure, longing, hope and more.

Pamela Schoenewaldt writes so beautifully about Italy, about the culture, the food, the scenery. She describes with a brush of truth what life would have been like for a plain girl such as Irma. Without emotion to cloud the story (other than Irma's own emotion), I followed the ups and downs of every event with my heart in my throat. Honestly, this would make for a fantastic book club discussion book and I intend to write it down on my list.

Fantastic, powerful novel and I'm so thankful to TLC Tours for providing me with the opportunity to read it.

Irma Vitale started life out in the poor, desolate town of Opi, Italy. She dreamed of better things and a more advanced life than the one she was leading. He journey took her alone to America in the times of Lincoln's reformation. Irma like the country she now lived in would venture forward and Irma believed she too could become someone else but still be true to her roots and upbringing. She missed her family and longed at times for what she had but never regretted her decision despite the agony she had to endure.

She started out in Cleveland looking for her brother who left before her but soon moved on to Chicago. Irma had a skill as a seamstress and the talent she possessed to create intricate works of art from pieces of cloth earned her an income and a living enough to move on to San Francisco to start yet again in the field of medicine. Irma was a believer who never stopped to wallow in self-pity and always said thank you for the good this new life brought.

Her life was never easy; the times were difficult on good days and despondent on others. She worked hard, never complained and suffered such atrocities no one should endure but still she moved on. But the Opi girl became an American Woman and showed everyone what determination looks like and how to be something when everyone tells you that you are nothing.

Irma is an accumulation of each of our ancestries who did not start out but came to America and made a great life for the generations that followed. Poverty was a way of life and Ms. Schonwewaldt writes this with such clarity you stomach starts to grumble with the hunger these people felt. In this time of immigration critiquing it might be nice to have someone read this book and remember that everyone has a dream to live a better life and shouldn't we be proud they believe all this is possible in the United States of America.

I feel guilty that I did not enjoy this book. I read so many wonderful reviews that I felt like it was a "must read". I found the book to be difficult to read. I felt that the author went into way too much detail about things that didn't have relevance to the story. It became a book that I had to finish,just to see how Irma's life turned out. I was frustrated for much of the book, just wanting it to end. I would not recommend this book to a friend.

As a member of a book club, we are always seeking quality books of substance. An author friend, who had lead our book club on one of his novels, suggested my book club read Pamela Schoenwaldt's novel, When We Were Strangers. What a fabulous read! The character and scene development is amazing! As you read, you truly feel you are there! From page 1 you are able to clearly visualize the streets, boarding houses, dresses, trains, every inch of this book captures you and draws you in. You know each character fully but especially Irma. You find yourself holding your breath praying that no trauma finds her throughout the book. I feel that that Pamela Schoenwaldt nicely balances the events that take place. As humans we are inclined to want there to be good but we are much more fascinated by tragedy. Mrs. Schoenwaldt balances this perfectly. I could not put this novel down, reading it in the car pool line, walking to the mailbox, drying my hair! It is a fascinating tale that must not be missed!!!

The reviews that preceded this one said just about everything that one can say about "When We Were Strangers" by Pamela Schoenewaldt both in terms of the core plot of the novel and the remarkable skill, grace, and insight Ms. Schoenewaldt displays in telling Irma's story. I only want to underscore the powerful character development that flows from the first page to last. I doubt anyone who reads the novel with care will escape a strong personal attachment to Irma Vitale. You weep when she struggles and falls. You cheer when she finally gets a break. You wait with growing anxiety as she strikes out in totally unforeseen directions. And you exhale, slowly, with feeling, when her transformation into an American woman who is loved and accepted finally comes to pass. But Irma is not the only person you come to know in deeply personal terms. Just about anyone who has more than a passing relationship with Irma--both for good or ill--becomes known to you, often in intimate ways. You are not likely to forget any of these characters easily or soon. It is a book to cherish. You'll see.

The Blighted Troth

If you love a good tale interwoven with both heart-break and dreams, loss and success, you will truly enjoy When We Were Strangers by Pamela Schoenewald.

Irma Vitale is a poverty-stricken young woman of marriageable age who lives in the small village of Opi nestled in the Abruzzi mountains of Italy. Her brother and closest friend departs for America, hopeful to escape poverty. He tells her he is going to Cleveland and departs soon afterwards. As more and more youths from Opi and neighbouring villages depart for America, Irma's chances at making a good marriage dwindle. Her aging aunt encourages her to go to America, find her brother, and make a better life for herself. And so, with a secret stash of money passed down from mothers to daughters in the family, Irma sets out and boards a ship to America. The reader is then swept into a heart-wrenching and intriguing tale depicting the hardships of immigrants from the crossing to the desperation and struggles they face the moment they take their first steps into the new world.

I could not help but be touched by this story - my own mother and aunts also immigrated alone to the new world from their own small town in the Abruzzi region of Italy for the same reasons and alone, like Irma. I became wholly immersed in this credible tale of poor Irma, finding parallels with the stories my relatives repeated to me of their own shocking experiences. Every detail of this novel felt authentic - from Italian village life, to the struggles with finding work, to being cheated, and finding a friend or two along the way to help.

It is an inspiring tale of strength, determination, and courage, paying homage to the many women who bravely faced the pain of loss of hearth and kin to scrape out a new life in a land brimming with hope. Vivid detail, heart-felt emotion, and highly developed characters make this novel stand out, lending believability and vividness. I loved this novel and it is most definitely one of my all-time favourite books of all time. I highly recommend it!

I am not trained in "formal" literary criticism, but if I may humbly say so I have read just about everything worth reading, and I know good writing when I see it even when the experts don't. Back in the early sixties, for instance, I recognized Alberto Moravia long before he became Alberto Moravia. It may be instinct (and it may be a lot of reading).I don't really know. But I know a good thing when I see it. And Pamela Schoenewaldt's book is a good thing.

Very few people that I have read and reread have the clear (and clean) style and the insights that Ms. Schoenewaldt has. I do not know how she does it, but human nature and the human condition seem to be so easy for her to understand and to write about. (I just hope she is NOT in constant pain because of that). I have heard of a master photographer who refused to use coated lenses. He did not want any tint to get in the way. Now I know a writer who refuses to let anything come between what she sees and what her reader needs to see. Conrad did that well. Hemingway was very good at it, too. Faulkner mastered it. Now the writer of When We Were Strangers sits with these three and a few others like them.

But even these did not master the muted expressions of pain, fear, hope and violence as she has. She shows us the tip of the iceberg, but she also makes us aware of what lurks below the surface and it is weighty, troublesome and sometimes downright scary. The underbelly of what it is to be human (immigrant or native makes no difference). I am so glad that she--her writing-- (in this increasingly virtual world) is for real. I know these people that she writes about. I can smell them. I can hear their voices. I can touch them. I pity them. And I fear them. Pamela has written our story, everybody's story, not just that of a little seamstress from an obscure mountain village in Italy. She may not like or agree with what I have to say about it, but her story is an allegory that will be read, enjoyed and pondered long after popular Rowling's Harry Potter has gone the way of Ozymandias.

Set in the late 1800s, Schoenewaldt introduces us to Irma Vitale who lives in rural Italy in the small village of Opi. Despite Irma's ailing mother's proclamation that all Vitales who leave Opi are doomed to die among strangers, after her mother's death Irma defies the family "curse": she leaves everything she knows of her village, of Italy, of the Mediterranean portion of the world and travels all the way to America.

In 312 pages Irma lives a significant portion of her life and experiences major life events. Schoenewaldt doesn't hold back; she throws some harsh circumstances in Irma's way, but Irma's tenacity to succeed endures. The girl who leaves Opi and the girl who arrives in Cleveland and later travels on are two drastically different women, and yet Irma's spirit is still the same and we can cheer her on and sympathize with her for this very reason. Along with Irma we learn that no matter where life takes us we have the potential to make our home anywhere, and while those around us in a new location may start out strangers we also have the potential to make those strangers our own family.

I read the book in the space of a weekend. Schoenewaldt's prose is easy on the mind and allows readers to enjoy the story without forcing them to work too hard but also takes us to an intimate level of the story by telling it in first person. This combination gives us a wonderful experience that made me want to turn back to the beginning and re-read the entire book right away.

Finally, what I appreciated most about When We Were Strangers was the lack of unnecessary profanity and sex scenes. More than that, though, Schoenewaldt captures the quaint feeling of the time period without making her story dull or naïve. That, in my mind, is the mark of a truly talented writer, and I look forward to more of Schoenewaldt's work in the future.

I read this book as part of my longtime book club. Like many of the books we read, it is a bit 'chick lit', comprising a nice historical story of a resilient woman coming to this country to seek a better life than that she could attain in the 'old country'. While there is much to commend this book - well-constructed plot, good character development, historically accurate information about the emerging industrial era, exciting action and resolution of various human and feminine dilemmas - I was very disappointed with the abortion apologetics in the story. Without giving away too much of the plot, I felt manipulated by the 'choices' made by some characters. Rape is reprehensible, but ending the life of the conceived child only adds violence to violence for the mother. The background information provided about the 'curette', and its allegedly humanitarian advance as a medical device, saddened me. Even though this story is fictional, any woman or girl reading this story will have the euphemistic concept of 'compassionate' abortion reinforced. I could imagine a life-affirming alternative plot development that, sadly, was not chosen here.