Ricci, Nino Books

Testament: A Novel

Nino Ricci

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Set in a remote corner of the Roman Empire during a period of political unrest and spiritual uncertainty, Testament is a timeless story of how the holy man we know as Jesus alters forever the course of human history.
We come to know Jesus through the eyes of four dissimilar people. First is Judas, a committed political fighter who is invigorated by his discussions with Jesus about a sovereign nation for the Jews -- a place Jesus imagines as a philosophical rather than a physical kingdom. Second is Miryam of Migdal, through whom we learn of Jesus's controversial teachings as the two travel through Galilee and Jesus encourages the masses to question the teachings of the powerful few. Through Jesus' mother, Miryam, we learn of his all-too-human vulnerability, the rigor of his conviction, and his unfailing compassion. Finally, it is through Simon of Gergesa, a Syrian shepherd, that we witness the last days of the Jewish preacher as he journeys to Jerusalem. Though Simon is uncertain about how to assess Jesus' legacy, he now sees beauty where before there was none.
Covering overlapping portions of Jesus' life, Testament tells the recognizable story of the four Gospels but without recourse to miracle. The naturalism of the novel is based on extensive research and is utterly convincing, and yet there is indisputably something profound and even holy about the man and his teachings. As the novel progresses we begin to see how his story, filtered by different eyes and desires and subject to countless retellings, will be transformed into myth.
Ricci is not the first novelist to approach this central figure of western civilization, but here he accomplishes something of an entirely new order: a portrait that is historically grounded, philosophically rich, and emotionally moving and that speaks eloquently to the place and power of stories in our lives.

The Origin of Species

Nino Ricci

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Editorial Review:

The crater held a circle of stars above them as if they were closed up in a snow globe, a private cosmos. He thought of Darwin sleeping out on the pampas during his Beagle trip, a middle-class white kid traveling the world, the first of the backpackers. It was only afterwards, really, that he had made any sense of what he had seen. Alex wondered what, in the fullness of time, he himself would make sense of, what small, crucial detail might be lodging itself in his brain that would shake his life to its foundations. (p 286)


Montreal during the turbulent mid-1980’s: Chernobyl has set geiger counters thrumming across the globe, HIV/AIDS is cutting a deadly swath through the gay population worldwide, and locally, tempers are flaring over the language laws of Bill 101. Hiding out in a seedy apartment near the Concordia campus is Alex Fratarcangeli (“Don’t worry… I can’t even pronounce it myself”), a somewhat oafish 30-something grad student. Though tender and generous at heart, Alex leads a life devoid of healthy relationships, ashamed in particular of the damage he has done to the women with whom he has been romantically entangled. Plagued by the sensation that his entire life is a fraud, Alex attends daily sessions with a lackluster psychoanalyst in an attempt to shake off the demon of depression (and the cigarette-tinged voice of Peter Gzowski in his ear). Scarred by a distant father and a dangerous relationship with his ex Liz, and consumed by a floundering dissertation linking Darwin’s theory of evolution with the history of human narrative, Alex has come to view love and other human emotions as “evolutionary surplus, haphazard neural responses that nature had latched onto for its own insidious purposes.”

Then a convergence of brave souls enter Alex’s life, forcing him to recognize the possibility of meaningful connections. There is his neighbour Esther, whose multiple sclerosis is progressing rapidly, yet who gamely attacks every day she has left. There is the elegant Félix, an older gay man whose own health status is in question yet who remains resolutely generous,and María, returning to fight for human rights in her native El Salvador, knowing she will face certain peril. Along the way Alex meets others whose struggles with their own demons are not so successful, and sometimes tragic. When he receives a letter from Ingrid, the beautiful woman he knew years ago in Sweden, notifying him of the existence of his five year old son. Alex is gripped by a paralytic terror.

Whenever Alex’s thoughts grow darkest, he is compelled to recall Desmond, the British professor with dubious credentials whom he met years ago in the Galapagos. Treacherous and despicable, wearing his ignominy like his rumpled jacket, Desmond nonetheless caught Alex in his thrall and led him to some life-altering truths during their weeks exploring Darwin’s islands together. It is only now that Alex can begin to comprehend these unlikely life lessons, and see a glimmer of hope shining through what he had thought was meaninglessness.

Funny, poignant and visceral, Nino Ricci’s most recent masterpiece The Origin of Species will remind you of the wonder of life, the beauty of existence and the great gift that is our connection to the universe and all that is.

Lives Of The Saints

Nino Ricci

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Editorial Review:

Set in the Valle del Sole, a village nestled in the folds of the Italian Apennines, Lives of the Saints tells the story of young Vittorio Innocente, and his mother, Cristina, whose affair with a blue-eyed stranger abruptly shatters the innocence of Vittorio's childhood. As he tries to piece together the truth of his mother's crime, we discover through Vittorio's eyes the underside of Valle del Sole's pastoral calm, the age-old superstitions and fears, vestiges of a pagan past, beneath the villagers' veneer of Catholicism, and the hypocrisy and malice beneath their self-rightousness.

Lives Of The Saints

Nino Ricci

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

The best book I've read in years!!! 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 14 people found this review helpful.

A book about family, passion, life, and death. About a woman who has no one left who loves her, except for her 10 year old son and the child she carries in her belly. All are agianst her and although she is about to breakdown, she stands tall and does what she believes is right for her to do. She portrays strenth, power, and braveness all in one. She is someone we would all like to be. A book that shows the cruelness of society and the cold-heartedness of family.

Where She Has Gone: A Novel

Nino Ricci

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Wow! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I was not prepared for this book. I was totally side-swiped for days after its conclusion. Mr. Ricci is a fabulous writer, and I was quite unprepared for the emotions I am feeling still.

Mr. Ricci has definitely replaced Graham Greene as my favorite author of fiction, and I am now reading the first two books in this trilogy. Hopefully there will be many more!

Interestingly, I live in Toronto, not far from Victor's apartment. The location and building with the fire escape are just as described in the book.

Editorial Review:

In the final installment of Nino Ricci's acclaimed Vittorio Innocente trilogy, we find Ricci's hero Vittorio strangely drawn to his half-sister Rita. After a disturbing moment between them, he realizes that what he's been searching for is not just his sister—it's their shared history and secret burdens. At once a resolution of previous tensions and a luminous portrayal of discovery and absolution, Where She Has Gone completes a haunting trilogy of the immigrant experience.

A Time for Judas

Morley Callaghan

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Tremendous fiction 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Morley Callaghan is one of the finest Canadian writers I have come across. His themes may not always appeal to a broad readership, since they are sometimes fairly parochial in nature, giving him a wide claim to being a genuine "Canadian" author (rather than North-American). However, he is a truly international writer as well, of a calibre I've not often encountered. Perhaps his career didn't quite have the impact of Ernest Hemingway's (with whom he was quite friendly in the thirties) or Graham Greene's, but the quality of his work puts him very much in their class. "A Time for Judas" is a good example of this. Callaghan takes us, in a Gore Vidal-like fashion, back to the time of Christ and recounts a marvellous tale set in and around Jerusalem. It is not only well-written and exciting, but as a purported account of the "true" events of the time (left to be discovered on papyrus centuries later), it falls into a sort of mystery tradition which is very hard to pull off, from a writing point of view. With complete confidence, Callaghan tells a tale which will thrill and perhaps even enlighten you, and have you seeking out more of his work. Fortunately, there is a relative abundance so find this one if you can.

Editorial Review:

This audacious and intriguing new version of the story of Christ’s trial, crucifixion, and resurrection is based on the writings of Philo of Crete, a secretary to Pontius Pilate. Throughout his time as Pilate’s scribe, he attended Christ’s trial, mingled with city prostitutes and desert bandits, and became acquainted with Judas Iscariot. It was through Judas that he learned the real story of the betrayal and what actually happened to Christ’s body. His convincing account is a radical and dramatic version of the commonly accepted story.

In a Glass House

Nino Ricci

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Ricci produces nothing but MASTERPIECES 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Unlike Lives of the Saints and Where She Has Gone, a longer period of Vittorio's life is portrayed in this book. He's 7 in the begginning and in his mid-twenties in the end. I can't think of another book that exposes the importance of family ties as much as this one. Everyone must read it! It's a masterpiece! There may be better trilogies than that of Ricci's, but I'm afraid I haven't read them.

Excellent coming of age novel. 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Ricci continues to draw us into the life of young Vittorio Innocente through his colorful descriptions. The novel is not as riveting as The Lives of The Saints, but Ricci does paint an excellent picture of the italian immigrant mentality. An excellent novel, it touches on the importance of family as well as the pains and pleasures of adolescence and self-discovery.

Editorial Review:

This is the second novel in Nino Ricci's Vittorio Innocente trilogy, following the award-winning The Book of Saints. As the young Italian boy Vittorio Innocente arrives in the New World, leaving the arms of his dying mother for the troubled haven of his father, he and his half-sister Rita must make their way in a farming community whose ways are both magical and forbidding.

Lives of the Saints

Nino Ricci

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Editorial Review:

Set in the Valle del Sole, a tiny village nestled in Italian Appenines, this novel tells the story of young Vittorio Innocente and of his mother, Christina, whose affair with a mysterious blue-eyed stranger abruptly shatters the innocence of Vittorio's childhood.

The Book of Saints

Nino Ricci

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Book of Saints brings a small Italian town to life 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

On my recent trip to Italy I decided to bring one reading book...I chose Book of Saints. Relaxing on a hot afternoon in my parents'hometown in southern Italy with Book of Saints in my lap, the story simply came to life; the small town, the people, the traditions, the gossip. It's the story of a woman who's husband left for Canada to seek employment. Left at home with their son and her father, she tries to stay happy. But certain situations put her in a bad light and soon the townspeople begin to avoid her and gossip about her. Subborn and proud, she refuses to make amends with the townspeople, which only serves to isolate her even more. Her choices affect her father and son as they too suffer the wrath of the townspeople. The choices that she will finally make will surprise you. Let's just say that she's a very strong and independent woman. I'm looking forward to the rest of Ricci's trilogy.

Editorial Review:

Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Canadian Governor General's Award for Fiction

Set in a small, golden village nestled in folds of the Italian Apennines, The Book of Saints is a deceptively simple novel of startling power and mythic dimension. Young Vittorio Innocente is the pampered son of Cristina, a women whose husband has left Italy for work in North America. Beneath her placid surface, Cristina yearns to escape the restrictive village; and, one day, Vittorio is startled to find her in the family's stable, her ankle swelling from a snakebite. But what really happened to Cristina that day becomes the center of this tale—a story of passion and superstition beneath pastoral calm, a mother's secret life witnessed by a child. The first novel in a trilogy that follows Vittorio to adulthood, The Book of Saints is Ricci's acclaimed debut.

Lives of the Saints

Nino Ricci

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