Book Summary and Reviews of Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer

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Cathryn_Conroy

An Absolute Delight to Read! Charming, Entertaining, and Richly Imagined
This book is everything—an original, clever story, quirky characters, and superior writing. It's also funny, as in laugh-out-loud funny and at the most unexpected times. I lost count of how many times I laughed loud enough for someone to ask me what was so funny. (Can't explain…you just have to read the book.)

Written by Pulitzer Prize winner Andrew Sean Greer, this is the story of Giovedì, which in Italian means Thursday. It is set in the 1990s. Giovedì is a brand new American college graduate with a degree in archival management, but one who never took his studies seriously. He is packed off to the small village of San Drago in Tuscany for four months to organize and archive the treasures, tchotchkes, and bizarre knick-knacks accumulated over the decades by the 92-year-old Baronessa Lisabetta, nicknamed Coco. She lives in a magnificent villa surrounded by a forest, olive trees, and an unreliable road. (We only find out Giovedì's real name at the end of the novel; the nickname Giovedì is bestowed upon him by the baronessa as a kind of joke. Instead of her "Man Friday," he is her "Man Thursday.")

Giovedì's head is spinning. Apparently, archiving the villa's contents, which includes a painting by Picasso, is only a minor part of his job. Primarily, he assists the baronessa in her daily whims, which range from driving her on impulsive trips, helping repair a backed-up sewer, eating scrumptious meals, harvesting olives, entertaining her many eccentric friends, and (most of all) listening to her stories that are so filled with exaggerations it is impossible to tell what's true or not. He is instructed in no uncertain terms that he must immediately learn Italian, learn how to dress properly for dinner, and learn about art and history so there will be something to talk about at dinner. The bossy baronessa may be 92, but she believes she has a lot of living still to do and plans on doing just that.

Along the way Giovedì meets the very handsome (and also very married) Giacomo, a lovely man who is a cousin of the baronessa, with whom he strikes up a sexual relationship (after swearing off such affairs after his aimless college days), as well as befriending Oscar, an elderly, secretive man who imparts much wisdom and life advice. In addition, there are other eccentric characters—friends, servants, and animals—who frequently come in and out of the villa, adding color and laughter to this convoluted story. Each one is richly and deeply depicted.

The villa, which Giovedì calls Villa Coco, is not only filled with treasures, but also secrets to which Giovedì is excluded until the very end when he starts to finally figure out what has been happening right under his nose.

This is an unlikely coming-of-age story as Giovedì learns that the world does not revolve around him and begins to treasure the friendship, companionship, and love of other people in a way he never has before. It is a story filled with hope for the future—even when you're 92 years old.

Oh, I adored this book. It is charming, entertaining, and richly imagined. It is an absolute delight to read.

Bonus: The intricate and colorful cover art is beautiful and filled with details of the story. Do take the time to really study it.

Marianne Vincent

Absolutely delightful!
Villa Coco is the fifth stand-alone novel by award-winning, bestselling American author, Andrew Sean Greer. Our American protagonist, unnamed until the final pages, is twenty-one when he emerges from the sexual freedom of his college days with a qualification in Archives and Record Management.

His college advisor alerts him to an advertised position cataloguing a collection at a country house in Tuscany. It includes a stipend, travel, board and room. His parents are relieved he is finally going to take life seriously, and he vows celibacy after his recent excesses.

Finally arriving at San Drogo, he learns his employer has given him the name Giovedi, calling him her man Thursday, and despite his protestations, the name clings. Baronessa Lisabetta, known to many as Coco, is ninety-two, not as frail as she looks and often imperious, always accompanied by two pugs, Pushkin and Gorky, and occasionally by a failed truffle dog called Cesare.

It’s late September and he has until Christmas to do the job. He’s a little concerned about the Baronessa’s cavalier approach: feeding the pugs, pruning her roses, making appointments, preventing the stone marten from killing the chickens, and dealing with the overflowing septic tank seem to take priority over the cataloguing.

When he manages to start, trying to get some sort of direction about how she wants the many objects classified produces anecdotes that often bear little relevance to the work, and the way she wants her books sorted is certainly novel. “I’m trained in archives and records. Organization. But Villa Coco is nothing but chaos”, he remarks, and wonders “Was she sitting on a fortune? Or a trash heap?”

He finds he is expected to interrupt his work to help with the olive harvest and, early on, the Baronessa stipulates three requirements. He is to: dress for dinner, learn to speak Italian, and learn about Italian history and culture. With the second, her close friend, Oscar suggests he find a warm dictionary. Giacomo, the cousin in the lizard-green Fiat fits the bill, sorely testing his vow.

His naivete still sticks out: “… being American seemed to me, before my later travels, the natural state of being in the world. What could be wrong with that?” Along the way, he learns style and acquires some decent clothing, and the food! “Everything I had tasted in America, everything Italian, was a distant memory of the old country. Like a spell written down but never heard. Of course some enchantment was lost.”

But there is something going on behind the scenes to which Giovedi is not privy, and he begins to wonder if he is in the company of thieves and forgers…

What a wonderful tale! It is filled with characters the reader can’t help but find endearing, the mistranslations and quirky customs are hilarious, and the dialogue, priceless: “’The mechanic says it needs a new belt or a fan.’
‘A belt! Or a fan!’ she said. ‘This is a very well-dressed car.’”

Greer’s descriptive prose is simply marvellous. He charms the reader on the first page with San Drogo’s statue: “The saint wore a floppy hat and seemed overburdened with a crosier, a scythe, and a sleeping lamb, as if he were carrying the shopping for another, more important saint” and doesn’t let up: “There were seasonal clothes to be brought out, brushed of mothballs or unwrapped from tissue, all the while brushing mothballs from her old stories and unwrapping her peculiar thoughts from the tattered tissue of her discretion.” Absolutely delightful!
This unbiased review is from a copy provided by Hachette Australia

jillg

A Magical Escape
VILLA COCO
By Andrew Sean Greer

3.5 stars rounded up
This magical tale is set in the 1990s in a remote corner of Tuscany, where a broke and aimless young American man takes a job working for an eccentric ninety-two-year-old Baronessa in her crumbling villa. Giovedi is hired to catalog her belongings, but he soon discovers he is actually managing the Baronessa’s chaotic household, and the cataloging quickly falls by the wayside.

The Baronessa regales Giovedi with stories from her remarkable life and introduces him to an array of exotic friends and family as she embarks on a quest to reconnect with a lost love.

With its quirky cast of characters, lush Italian setting, and vivid descriptions, this is unlike any book I’ve read. You will fall in love with the Baronessa as what begins as a series of madcap escapades gradually becomes a beautiful ode to life itself. At its heart, it is a story about becoming who you have always wanted to be.

Filled with humor, warmth, eccentric characters, and an immersive Italian atmosphere, this novel allows readers to travel to Italy without the crowds and enjoy a delightful, magical experience.

I also loved the cover, which is what initially inspired me to pick up the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for the eARC.

Other books by Andrew Sean Greer at BookBrowse

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