What better start to a story than, Joseph Santangelo, the butcher, wins his bride, Catherine Falconetti, in a pinochle game with her father and brother. During a heat wave, Joseph bets a walk into the meat freezer and Lino bets his daughter's hand. A bet is bet in the close knit Italian neighborhood in New York City. The next day Catherine is told to buy the best cut of meat and cook a meal for Joseph and his mother, an introduction of sorts. A cook, she was not, the meal a disaster, and Mrs. Santangelo leaves dismayed by the whole idea of this girl becoming her daughter-in-law.
And so their married life began as an unlikely pair. They became the butcher who puts his finger on the scale for a few extra pennies and his wife, who spends her days under the watchful eye of her mother-in-law learning the fine art of sausage making. Soon, a daughter, Theresa, comes along and everything they thought they knew, changes. Theresa felt very early on that her calling was to the convent and to God and nothing her parents did could change her.
I love Francine Prose for her beautiful writing and her quirky stories. I'm a big fan of Blue Angel, another novel by Prose which I've also written a review. The thing that always strikes me is her ability to write male characters so realistically. Joseph and Catherine's father, Lino pop off the page as if I was sitting beside them eaves dropping on their conversations. Catherine, Mrs. Santangelo and Theresa are equally as interesting but Ms. Prose is one of the few writers I know who can give each of the sexes equal footing as characters.
What I learned from Household Saints is that all of us may feel we are living an ordinary life, but within each of us lives a little piece of God. Never underestimate the power of a good gossiping grapevine. And under every roof lives a saint. Who is the saint in your household?
And so their married life began as an unlikely pair. They became the butcher who puts his finger on the scale for a few extra pennies and his wife, who spends her days under the watchful eye of her mother-in-law learning the fine art of sausage making. Soon, a daughter, Theresa, comes along and everything they thought they knew, changes. Theresa felt very early on that her calling was to the convent and to God and nothing her parents did could change her.
I love Francine Prose for her beautiful writing and her quirky stories. I'm a big fan of Blue Angel, another novel by Prose which I've also written a review. The thing that always strikes me is her ability to write male characters so realistically. Joseph and Catherine's father, Lino pop off the page as if I was sitting beside them eaves dropping on their conversations. Catherine, Mrs. Santangelo and Theresa are equally as interesting but Ms. Prose is one of the few writers I know who can give each of the sexes equal footing as characters.
What I learned from Household Saints is that all of us may feel we are living an ordinary life, but within each of us lives a little piece of God. Never underestimate the power of a good gossiping grapevine. And under every roof lives a saint. Who is the saint in your household?
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