Book Summary and Reviews of The Empire of Dirt by Francesca Manfredi

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Ellie B. (Mount Airy, MD)

Three generation female dynamics
I give this novel five stars. In an excellent translation from Italian, the author delves into the angst of a teen mother, her response to the confines of a forced marriage, and her effort to define her relationship with her own mother.

Searching for her own identity as she matures, we share the young daughter's yearning for a relationship with her father, and her coming-of-age need to declare her independence. It is an efficiently detailed, enjoyable window into the lives of three generations of women. It's an easy read, and at the same time, a thought provoking novel.

Mary L. (Greeley, CO)

Captivating novel
This novel, beautifully translated, immediately pulls a reader in to the lives of three female generations of a family and both the mysterious and human forces which threaten them one summer. Seen through the lens of the 12-year-old, and occasionally the woman she becomes later, one is drawn into this "empire of dirt" and the Biblical (see Exodus) plagues they experience. Most readers will want to carve out time to read this novel in one sitting as I did.

Sandi W. (East Moline, IL)

Beliefs and superstitions
Three generation of women in the Italian countryside with varying beliefs and superstitions. The pressure put on a young girl when she reaches womanhood.

This book reads easily and is very well written. From the premise it sounds as if it could go either way - a good mystery and lesson on other cultures or hokey and just totally unbelievable. I was pleasantly surprised how well I liked this book.

Julia A. (New York, NY)

Charming and Frightening
There is something both charming and frightening about this novel. The frightening part, the Biblical plagues ("Read the Book of Exodus," says Grandma) become a necessary adjunct to the plot, but lend a surreal quality to the book. Valentina's account of the year she was 12 is charming to this adult reader, and may also appeal to the young adult/teenage reader, the mainstays of the YA genre. I have no idea whether Norton intends to the YA cohort, but in my opinion, the average 12 year old would be able to relate to and understand this book, though they might miss a few subtleties. I myself was slightly bothered by the failure to fully explore certain plot lines, and the unresolved cause of the "plague" events, but not enough so that it kept me from devouring the book in two sittings. In fact, maybe it's a good thing to be left wondering. I would have liked to see the character of Valentina's mother more fully developed, or at least as developed as that of the grandmother, but then, this is Valentina's story more than it is theirs.

As a sometimes translator, I wish to give a plug to Ekin OKlap for the way she captures Francesca Manfredi's style. There is no awkward phrasing and I hope to see more of Manfredi's work appear in English.

Molly O. (Centennial, CO)

Coming of age story
Frankly, I'm not sure what to think of this book. I even reread the Book of Exodus to see how the plagues in the Bible were relevant to those in the novel. As the plagues freed the Israelite slaves so did the plagues free Valentina from the superstitions of her ultra-religious grandmother and the guilt of her ultra-feminist mother. Or so I guess. This pubescent girl's coming-of-age story is written with vivid honesty, portraying her summer of female awakening; even as a septuagenarian, I could reminisce about her feelings. Author Francesca Manfredi's prose is beautifully translated in this jewel of a book.

Tricia

A striking coming of age story
In the beautifully written (and translated) “The Empire of Dirt”, now-adult Valentina looks back on a pivotal summer of 1996, when she was twelve and growing up in a small town in Italy. Valentina is the fifth generation to live in the house on the family farm, with her mother and grandmother who both also grew up in this house. Events both totally natural and supernatural occur during this summer. As Valentina states near the end of the book: “the way you were raised defines who you are…the place where you were born is something you carry inside you”. Author Francesca Manfredi weaves a tale of family, women and coming of age, and how this Empire of Dirt (as her mother calls it) shaped all three.

Valentina’s early maturity and budding sexuality happen at the same time as sometimes biblical evens (for example, bleeding walls, plagues of frogs and locusts), leading her to believe that she is the cause of these unusual problems. Her deeply religious and superstitious grandmother, on the other hand, seems to believe that there is a curse on the family and insists on continuous prayer. Valentina’s mother, who became pregnant accidently as a teenager herself, feels the scorn of her own mother, and is unequipped to deal with her own daughter. However, there is no question of the love between this close family.

I wish this book were longer, and included more of what eventually happened to Valentina and her mother after this summer. Manfredi does a wonderful job of fully fleshing out each of the main characters in a short novel, and I would love to read more about them. I found myself not only enjoying the story as I was reading, but also thinking about the book and characters well after I finished.

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