Italian Women in Black Dresses (Essential Poets Series 116) (Paperback)

~ Maria Mazziotti Gillan (Author) "I dress now all in black like the old ladies of my childhood, the old ladies who watched our movements and reported to our mothers..." (more)
Key Phrases: metal bed, Donna Laura, New Jersey, Herman Westfall (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"It proves that the human story (regardless of era, locale or nationality) is worth recounting nationwide." -- Home News Tribune

"She finds small words to describe huge truths." -- The Record

Product Description

Written to read like a memoir, this collection of poetry details the life of a family across generations and provides a moving and haunting portrait of the Italian mother who is the center around which this family revolves. But this is much more than a story about ethnicity; it transcends any single identity and explores instead the many ways in which people learn to identify themselves.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Guernica Editions Inc. (April 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1550711563
• ISBN-13: 978-1550711561
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #738,376 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Poetry that offers a window into a woman's life, June 5, 2003

By A Customer

This is such a brilliant, risk-taking moving book, I can only recommend that you read it immediately.You won't be sorry.Here we have poems about growing up, incidents in high school and grammar school. the life of an ethnic Italian neighborhood policed by the old ladies in their black dresses. The book traces this woman's life through girlhood, the books she read like Nancy Drew and the stars she admired like Doris Day to a time when her husband of many years becomes critically ill with Parkinson's Disease. I don't know how anyone could put his down without wanting to return to it again and again. Beautiful!!!!
Also read Maria Mazziotti Gillan's other books. She is a poet who transforms the ordinary, sees below its surface, and allows us to see as well.

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Provincial but Moving Poetry, Good in Heart, Not in Craft, March 26, 2003

By A Customer

Though this poetry is provincial in form and content, it has a heart and its content often transcends its craft. Still, its the sort of poetry that the average reader who is not in love with the craft and knowledgeable about it will enjoy. What it lacks in sophistication, it often makes up for in feeling and insight into the human family in its everyday life--especially the Italian American family of New Jersey. A pleasant and easy read, if not terribly original in style.