Christina the Astonishing [electronic resource]
Leone, Marianne2025
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A coming-of-age novel told from the perspective of the irrepressible Christina, whose encounters with Catholic school nuns, Italian mothers, and small-town Massachusetts will have readers laughing out loud, even when Christina isn't . . .
CHRISTINA FALCONE IS A THIRTEEN-YEAR-OLD EIGHTH GRADER at Precious Blood Junior High. She is growing up pazza according to her Italian immigrant mother, Rita, who curses a country that poisons children with chocolate milk and singing mice on television. The nuns at Precious Blood are giving Christina nightmares and facial tics with their daily descriptions of torture and martyrdom. All she'd wanted as a fourth-grader was to become a saint so she could be God's best friend and go straight to heaven and avoid burning in hell for all eternity.
At thirteen, though, Christina's nightmares about eyeless martyrs have become dreams of escaping this place where she can see the entire trajectory of her life looming before her in a never-ending hamster loop that goes from Precious Blood to La Sposa Bridal Shoppe and eventually across the street to Carmello's Funeral Home without ever leaving her neighborhood only seven miles from Boston.
But Harvard Square beckons and Christina's window to the world cracks open, along with the entire American culture of the 1960s, as she grows from girl to woman. Christina the Astonishing is an endearing look at an unforgettable character that will ring true to all readers regardless of the time or place they happened to take the roller-coaster ride to adulthood.
Main title:
Christina the Astonishing [electronic resource] / Marianne Leone
Author:
Leone, Marianne, Author
Imprint:
[Place of publication not identified] : Akashic Books, Ltd., 2025
Collation:
1 online resource (1 text file)
System details:
Mode of access: Internet
Biography/History:
MARIANNE LEONE is an actress, essayist, and screenwriter. Her essays have appeared in the Boston Globe, Lit Hub, Ploughshares, Post Road, Bark Magazine, Coastal Living, Solstice, and other places. She is the author of three memoirs: Jesse, Ma Speaks Up, and, most recently, Five-Dog Epiphany. She had a recurring role on HBO's The Sopranos as Joanne Moltisanti, Christopher's mother. She has also appeared in films by David O. Russell, Larry David, John Sayles, Nancy Savoca, and Martin Scorsese. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband, actor Chris Cooper, and their two dogs.
ISBN:
9781636142623
Language:
English
Subject:
BRN:
4359398
Electronic access:
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