.com Review
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An Best Book of July 2016: (
//www..com/b/?node=390919011 ) At the start of Delia Ephron’s
slyly sinister, Siracusa, you know something has gone terribly
awry in a Sicilian town where two couples have decided to
vacation—one of them with their enigmatic ten-year-old in tow.
Each chapter, told from different character’s points of view,
teases the horror to come, but along the way, other
transgressions are revealed that demonstrate just how frayed
these relationships are. And then there’s the mysterious Snow;
the child whose angelic appearance may, or may not, belie a
diabolical side…That is one of the things that makes this
propulsive novel such a pleasure, and a torment, to read--Ephron
keeps you guessing. She also provides an important lesson for
those of you who haven’t learned it from The Amazing Race—choose
your travel companions wisely. --Erin Kodicek, The Book Review
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Review
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"[Ephron] excels at [depicting] characters’
unintended comedy, their emotional warfare and witty observations
of travel and consumption....with a deft, stinging touch. They
are a wise reminder that the hungers driving these people are a
ravenous, even violent, business."
—The New York Times Book Review
"An irresistible novel for fans of psychological thrillers, or
those considering vacationing with former lovers and spouses
(often one and the same).
—Oprah Magazine
"Sophisticated, elegantly written, delightfully cynical…Ephron’s
novel has the feel of a classic.”
—Patrick Anderson, Washington Post
“[A] suspenseful, thoroughly delicious tale. You can almost taste
the gelato.”
—People Magazine
“Siracusa starts innocuously enough, as an ironic travelogue
about American sophisticates abroad...The situation begins to
resemble a Ford Madox Ford novel, with each narrator recounting
and interpreting the same encounters from vastly differing
perspectives….As the clues pile up, the coming storm is expertly
foreshadowed—but when it arrives, it's utterly surprising.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“A seductive and edgy dissection of two imploding marriages—and
an unhinged mother-daughter alliance . . . Each of these toxic
relationships puts the characters on course to careen headlong
into a dark place of deceit and rage in Ephron’s brilliant
takedown of marital and familial pretense.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A master of precise and keen character development, a virtuoso
of pacing and surprise, a wizard at skewering convention and
expectation, Ephron offers a bew take on
relationships—marital, parental, casual, and serious—in this
read-in-one-sitting, escapist escapade with a message.”
—Booklist
“The word ‘unputdownable’ is somewhat overused when describing a
good book—but really, I just could not put this book down. Delia
Ephron’s Siracusa is a dark tale with incredibly well-drawn
characters. It reveals the slights and secrets that can bring
about chaos among friends and within families, and adds more than
a spoonful of evil into the bargain. I stayed up well past my
bedtime to finish.”
—Jacqueline Winspear, author of the Maisie Dobbs novels
“Delia Ephron’s Siracusa is a stunning portrait of two
marriages coming unraveled during the stress of travel abroad.
Inful and engaging. A must-read!”
—Sue Grafton, author of X
“Siracusa is an Italian aria, a Greek tragedy and a modern
American masterpiece written by Delia Ephron at the height of
her powers. This is a story of two complicated marriages, one
vulnerable child, and a trip to Italy that changes each of their
lives forever. Secrets, lies, love raging, love dying, and the
shame of unrealized potential are exposed in detail under the
Sicilian sun. And, like the Moro blood oranges that grow there
with abandon, the taste is both sour and sweet at once, but the
bitterness that remains is not only haunting but unforgettable.”
—Adriana Trigiani, author of The Shoemaker’s Wife
“Siracusa is an unusually crackling, tricky journey into the
distant land of other people’s marriages: their secrets,
paradoxes, weaknesses, and pleasures. Delia Ephron writes like a
warm-blooded Patricia Highsmith, her story’s treachery matched
by a deep and easy feel for the various human, imperfect ways
that people find themselves bound together, and sometimes
painstakingly unbind themselves. An absorbing, tense, and
original novel.”
—Meg Wolitzer, author of The Interestings
“Siracusa is dazzling. Here is Delia Ephron with a stunning noir
tale of marriage and morality, as two couples tangled in secret
longings and betrayals travel through Italy, along with a
gimlet-eyed ten-year-old daughter who could have been created by
Henry James. Beware. You will be up all night to finish. I was.”
—Marie Brenner, author of Apples and Oranges
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