Review : Brava, Valentine by Adriana Trigiani

Posted by Kay on May 6, 2014 12:22 am in 3 stars reads | 4 comments

Brava, Valentine by Adriana Trigiani
Pages : 371
Genre : Contemporary fiction
Series : Valentine, book 2
My Rating : 3/5

About the Book  :

My Thoughts :

I finished reading Brava, Valentine and I was in a rage. A rage, I tell ya!

Not exactly how I expected my reading to go, really.

On many fronts, Brava, Valentine was as good as its predecessor. Adriana Trigiani’s sense of detailing was as luscious as before, and I learned even more about shoemaking than I did in Very Valentine. It’s so surprising – refreshing, really! – to come out of a novel feeling a like you learned something more practical, without being bored by the details. Though I love shoes, I had never given much thought to how they were made and all the detail that goes into it.

With Valentine I traveled from Europe to South America and absolutely enjoyed hearing about the different places, whether it was on another continent or close to home in New York. The many characters she meets and lives with are as colorful as before, and she learns something from them every day. I was so happy to see gram happy with her new husband, or how the company was getting a new life with Valentine and her brother!

So after a few days to calm down, I had mostly good impressions from Brava, Valentine. But I still had a few problems with it, and this can’t be said without being slightly spoilery (but no big twist revealed here!)

I guess it would be an understatement to say that cheating was a bit of a theme in the book, and I get it. Very early in the first book, we are made aware of how witnessing the consequences of cheating in her family affected Valentine. Understandably, it’s a big part of why she is fearful of relationships. In Brava, Valentine, all generations (her grandfather, her father, her brother) have effectively given cheating a try. Happy stuff.

I’m not naive or anything; sometimes people cheat in real life too. But I wasn’t much of a fan of this “all men cheat” mentality that seemed to permeate her family. Why make the brother the cheater? Why not address the issue head on by making it more complex, and exploring different sides of it? Why not have one faithful man, or have one of the sisters cheat rather than one more cheating man? Even Valentine’s ex-boyfriend thanks her from preventing him of making a huge mistake by “reminding him of how good he has it at home”. Really? Why not have him aware, all by himself, of what’s going on in his own life?

I know the author isn’t trying to make an absolute statement of “men=cheaters” – in fact, that’s pretty much the message Valentine’s new flame tries to convey. But there was still something a bit… odd, I’ll say, about how this was portrayed in the book. And while the author excels at family dynamics, I think she failed a little by encasing her characters in men vs. women stereotypes. Not all men are cheaters, or wannabe-cheaters, or in need of a woman to save them; and cheating isn’t the sole domain of men, either. Uh.

I’m not sure if I am conveying my message properly, either. But one thing is for sure, I was irritated when reading it.

I loved Pamela, though. I thought I did in the first book, though it was hard to say from behind Valentine’s judgemental look; but this book definitely confirmed it!

All in all though, I did enjoy the book. Putting the most irritating parts aside, I was able to enjoy the romance, the glorious landscapes, the minutiae of Valentine’s work. I felt like the book finished in a good place, too, so I am very curious to see what more can happen in the final book of the series!

Series Reading Order : 

1. Very Valentine
2. Brava Valentine
3. The Supreme Macaroni Company