“When you’re just a reflection, what happens when the image vanishes?”
Author: Rebecca Serle
Narrated By: Lauren Graham (!!! Yes!!! Lorelai from Gilmore Girls)
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Actual Rating: 2 stars (and I’m being generous)
Spicy Meter: 1 fire emoji
Narration: 5 mikes
Content Warnings: Death of parent, unhealthy grief coping mechanisms, cancer, cheating, and some sexual content.
“One Italian Summer” follows Katy, as she travels to Italy in hopes to reconnect with her mother, who’s just passed away. Leaving her husband behind, Katy sets off to the small town her mother loved—little did she know she would indeed reconnect with her mother, as she literally runs into her, in the flesh, and 30 years younger.
Rebecca Serle is one of my biggest hits or miss. And this one was definitely a miss for me. I came in blindly because I will read anything Rebecca publishes, period, but I lowkey regret doing that.
The only reason this has 2 stars is because of Lauren Graham, THE Lorelai Gilmore, who narrated the audiobook I listened to. Her voice was absolutely perfect. Disliked the story, but loved the experience. So lets get on with the actual review.
The relationship between Katy and her mother is absolutely, insanely, unequivocally unhealthy. Like no, honey, your mother is not your soulmate. And hey, I am all for magical realism, but this book was insane. You’re telling me you run into your dead mother, 30 years younger, and you wait 200 pages to ask someone what year you’re in? This was just ridiculous.
Also, there was some cheating here. Which, as you know if you’ve been following my reviews for a while, is the BIGGEST no-no for me. This novel had literally nothing going for it in my opinion (except for the narrator, 10/10).
I would only recommend “One Italian Summer” if time-travel cheating and dysfunctional, codependent mother-daughter relationships are your jam. If not, please just steer clear.
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“(…) Memory is by definition fiction. Once an event is no longer present, but remembered, it is narrative. And we can choose the narratives we tell—about our own lives, our own stories, our own relationships. We can choose the chapters we give meaning.”
andrea's galley 