"An absorbing story of ordinary people trying to find their way." Kirkus Reviews "Reeves' prose is nothing short of mesmerizing. Her attention to emotive detail and her ability to paint vivid, poetic imagery through dialogue is remarkable." Literary Titan "Reeves has produced a powerful set of interlocked vignettes that shine with a sense of place, purpose, and connection...." D. Donovan, Senior Book Reviewer, Midwest Book Review There are so many ways to measure time, to wish ahead and to dream backwards. ...
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"An absorbing story of ordinary people trying to find their way." Kirkus Reviews "Reeves' prose is nothing short of mesmerizing. Her attention to emotive detail and her ability to paint vivid, poetic imagery through dialogue is remarkable." Literary Titan "Reeves has produced a powerful set of interlocked vignettes that shine with a sense of place, purpose, and connection...." D. Donovan, Senior Book Reviewer, Midwest Book Review There are so many ways to measure time, to wish ahead and to dream backwards. Here, with grace and deep, echoing wisdom, Cynthia Reeves yields the generations of an Italian family. Loss follows yearning. Love yields to regret. Distances are traversed, reversed, and finally emptied. The only seams in this lustrous novel-in-stories are those that come at the noble hands of an unforgettable tailor who dares to leave Italy behind to stake a bold claim in hope. -Beth Kephart, My Life in Paper: Adventures in Ephemera Cynthia Reeves' expertly crafted novel-in-stories finds artistry in manual labor and reveals the sacred in the everyday. Twists of lace ribbon, a tailor's steady stitching, thread looped into intricate patterns to make a wedding or mourning veil, a string of rosary beads, notches in a wooden tabletop marking time and human presence: Reeves uses these heirlooms and artifacts to seamlessly bind generations of an Italian-American family, old country to new, past to present. Falling Through the New World is a deeply moving story of the Desiderio family-a history in handwork that is the truest expression of faith in the future. -Elizabeth Mosier, Excavating Memory: Archaeology and Home Spanning three generations and two continents, the richly textured stories of Falling Through the New World explore the costs and promise of emigration from rural Italy to urban America. With meticulous and moving detail, Reeves depicts characters struggling to reconcile the beauty of their parents' customs and faith with their increasing irrelevance in the modern world. Members of the Italian-American diaspora and anyone who has sought a similar reconciliation with the past will find in this collection a voice of wisdom and compassion. -Laura Bonazzoli, author of Consecration Pond: A Novel in Stories Bakhtin suggests that the novel has no formal form, that instead it is voracious in its nature, digesting other form, inventing newer ones. That's what novels do, and that is what Cynthia Reeves in her new novel, Falling Through the New World , does: Effortlessly, it seems, she performs in this collection the Bakhtinian two-step, the Janus glancing glance that looks forward and back at the same time. This new new novel creates a unique physics of form, contains and expels its own unique dimensions of gravity. Its dynamic construction connects galaxies, star by exploding star, and shows you microscopic sadness in a handful of dust. This novel takes its place next to the likes of Love Medicine , A Year of Silence , and Winesburg, Ohio , but it also opens its own place and space, its own amorous apothecary, its own very vocal and evocative kind of silence and slice of time. -Michael Martone, Author of Plain Air: Sketches from Winesburg, Indiana and The Complete Writings of Art Smith, The Bird Boy of Fort Wayne, Edited by Michael Martone
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Fine. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 172 p. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
New. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 172 p. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Fine. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 172 p. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
New. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 172 p. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
Cynthia Reeves' Falling Through the New World is a captivating tale that weaves through four generations of an Italian-American family, artfully set against the backdrop of the dynamic 19th century. This novel, concise yet rich in detail, masterfully explores the ebbs and flows of family life, delving deeply into themes of religion, identity, warfare, and the intricate dynamics of familial relationships. The narrative is beautifully balanced, juxtaposing scenes of warm domesticity against those of poignant loss. It centers around how the Desiderio women, across various generations, navigate their grief through the lens of tradition and faith.
The story commences in a quaint Italian village, but its canvas stretches across continents, oscillating between Italy and the United States. Through fourteen interconnected narratives, Reeves constructs a journey that begins in the early stages of the First World Warâ�"an era she refers to as the "Old World"â�"and culminates in the America of 2018. The novel strikingly captures the complex emotions tied to immigration, as characters like Anna and Vincenzo relinquish the familiarity of their homeland for the prospect of a brighter future for their descendants. The narrative resonates with a poignant, bittersweet sentiment as they cling to their dreams, leaving behind a part of themselves in the land they once called home. Reeves' prose is nothing short of mesmerizing. Her attention to emotive detail and her ability to paint vivid, poetic imagery through dialogue is remarkable. The novel skillfully portrays each character's internal struggle to merge the "old world" of their heritageâ�"fading customs and beliefsâ�"with the realities of a rapidly changing modern world. Reeves employs symbols and metaphors to bring critical themes to life, creating an immersive reading experience where the echoes of the characters' dialogues seem almost audible.
Falling Through the New World is a thought-provoking exploration of the trials and sacrifices endured by immigrant families, a narrative that resonates deeply with the experience of building a life in new worlds. This book is highly recommended for readers who seek to understand the legacies of their forebears and to experience a richly painted panorama of an immigrant family's journey through time.
