Villa Coco by Andrew Sean GreerMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Our main character, “Giovedi”, lives in Washington, D.C., has a new degree in Archives and Records Management, and is looking for a job. He accepts a 4-month position in Tuscany working for a 92 year-old Baroness, Lisabetta also known as Coco, cataloging her art, artifacts and possessions. She is full of wild stories of her life and there are constant visitors to her villa. Giovedi spends more of his time being her assistant than actually cataloging her collection.
The reader is immersed in the Tuscan countryside, the food, the culture, the people and the language. Life there is slow and pleasant. The focus of this book is on the characters and the place itself, rather than the plot. We slowly learn more about Giovedi and Coco, as they slowly learn more about each other. There are some surprises, along with humor and loss. Due to the buzz and hype around this book in the four months since it was published, I was expecting a little more. But who can complain about spending the fall in Tuscany?
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