By Christa Sampson
Rebecca Serle is an author of novels for both adults and young adults. One Italian Summer is her seventh book. This adult novel explores a close relationship between mother and daughter and a bond that lasts even after death. Main character Katy is devastated by the passing of her mother Carol. Attempting to deal with her grief, Katy takes a trip to Positano, Italy, on the Amalfi Coast, a trip that she and her mother were supposed to take together. On one hand, she can’t bear to even think about going, but Positano is a place that her mother remembered so fondly and wanted to share with Katy, and ultimately, she feels that she has no choice but to go.
The novel begins with a grief-stricken Katy trying to reconcile how to live her life without her mother. She is overcome with emotion yet numb at the same time. Everything feels wrong, including her marriage to her college sweetheart. She is staying at her childhood home, surrounded by everything that was her mother. Katy watches her father fumbling through his own emotions, while she can’t even begin to scratch the surface on hers. Instead of addressing the pain that she’s feeling, Katy puts an emotional wall up between herself and her husband, but he remains supportive and encourages her to go on the trip to Italy.
This novel is unique from the perspective that it is a love story, but not in the romantic sense. It is a story of the love between parent and child and how one learns to go on after the other is no longer there. I appreciate the exploration of this type of love story; however, the way in which it was presented in this novel wasn’t compatible with my expectations. Being a daughter and a mother myself, I can relate to the strong love and bond that exists between parent and child, yet I found that the relationship between main character Katy and her recently deceased mother was an extremely dependent one. As the story unfolded, I found myself feeling sorry for twenty-something Katy’s debilitating dependency on her mother, rather than heartbroken for her loss. She seemed to come into her own a little bit during her trip to Positano and even had a casual fling with a fellow traveler despite being married. The reader isn’t provided with much prompting to root for the reconciliation of Katy and her husband, and while there is a fair bit of tension between her and the new love interest, when they finally give into their lust it made me cringe instead of swoon.
Furthermore, I felt that the book read a little differently after this point. The “f” word shows up twice towards the end of the book and while I’m always supportive of a well-placed curse word, it didn’t seem to land right. I felt that because the characters didn’t previously express themselves in that way, laying down an f-bomb just felt out of place. Without giving away any spoilers, I can say that the story ended without much consequence or real resolution.
While this book didn’t work for me, I think that readers who enjoy escaping or travelling vicariously through a book will enjoy the descriptive prose about the rugged beauty of the Amalfi Coast and all of its sights, sounds, smells, and tastes. Reading this book did reignite my desire to go back to Italy.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster for the complimentary NetGalley copy in exchange for an honest review!