Something great and beautiful : a novel of love, Wall street, and focaccia

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Title:

Something great and beautiful : a novel of love, Wall street, and focaccia

Author:

Pellegrini, Enrico, 1971- author.

ISBN:

9781590519738

Physical Description:

307 pages ; 21 cm

Subject Term:

Bakeries -- Fiction.

Man-woman relationships -- Fiction.

Geographic Term:

New York (N.Y.) -- Fiction.

Summary:

"Rosso Fiorentino, a charming loser who dreams of becoming a writer, falls in love with Chloé, a brilliant young woman with a troubled past. They meet in India, where famous Italian novelist the Maestro has decided to spend his last days. They cross paths again in the coastal town of Portofino, and Rosso, following the Maestro's injunction to finally do something worthwhile with his life, enlists the help of his friends, a baker and a champion street seller, to follow Chloé to America and sell focaccia on the streets of New York. While he first struggles to make a living with odd jobs, Chloé, now armed with a law degree from Chicago, gets hired by a top Wall Street firm. Rosso is eventually able to achieve his dream, opening a little bakery in Queens, followed by a second one on Broadway. The business is an instant success. The banks start throwing money at him, and in the blink of an eye the company undergoes the largest IPO in US history. Until the bubble bursts and all gets played out in a New York courtroom. This modern fairy tale about ambition, hubris, and love exposes with scintillating wit the absurdity of the 2008 global meltdown, and foreshadows the future in which we now live"--

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Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Stillwater Public Library	FICTION PEL	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Rosso Fiorentino, a charming loser who dreams of becoming a writer, falls in love with Chloe, a brilliant young woman with a troubled past. Wanting to do something worthwhile, Rosso follows Chloe to America and plans to open a bakery. While he struggles to make a living, Chloe, armed with a law degree, gets hired by a top Wall Street firm. Rosso is eventually able to achieve his dream, opening a bakery in Queens. The business is an instant success. The banks start throwing money at him, and the company undergoes the largest IPO in U.S. history. Until the bubble bursts.

Author Notes

Enrico Pellegrini was born in Turin, Italy, in 1971. While pursuing a successful career as a lawyer, he made his literary debut at the age of nineteen with the novel Cuor di Panna , and his second novel, La Negligenza , won the prestigious Premio Selezione Campiello. His third novel, Something Great and Beautiful , first written in English, was recently published in Italy to wide critical acclaim under the title Ai nostri desideri .

Reviews (2)

Booklist Review

Rosso Fiorentino's glories seemed to be only in the past. A 24-year-old with vague ideas of becoming a writer, he is haunted by the death of his girlfriend in a crash. But when the famed writer he is working for grants an unforgettable interview to a young journalist named Chloé at a wedding in India, Rosso is instantly smitten. Chloé moves to America to earn her law degree, landing at a prestigious Wall Street firm where she is given menial, pointless tasks. Rosso, meanwhile, after selling his once-noble family's crest on the street to unsuspecting American tourists, leaves Italy and also moves to America, where he quickly builds a focaccia-shop empire. When Rosso and Chloé's paths cross again, it will be at the intersection of romance and commerce, in a hurricane of Wall Street bluster that will eventually lead to a courtroom during the height of the 2008 economic crisis. Both a love story and a witty indictment of the boom-or-bust cycles of the financial world, Something Great and Beautiful is an enjoyable, almost mythical tale written with flair and searing insight.--Bridget Copyright 2018 Booklist

Library Journal Review

This delightfully preposterous send-up of the 2008 economic crash doesn't disappoint. Rosso Fiorentino, an aspiring Italian writer (and something of a con man), is hired by a famous writer simply known as "Maestro" to accompany him to India, there commanding him to do "something great and beautiful." In India, Rosso meets Chloé, a journalist and future lawyer, who will eventually become his employee and sometimes girlfriend. Back home, Rosso has the idea of opening a focaccia shop, and with renowned focaccia baker Don Otto and street peddler Sachin, heads to New York to find Chloé and open the store. The concept quickly takes off, the company expands rapidly, and Rosso gains financially, all the while relying on the advice of a "bum-economist" who lives beneath a New York sewer grate. Yet despite undergoing the largest IPO in American history, the company becomes overleveraged, relying increasingly on debt to grow. And then the crash comes. -VERDICT Italian author Pellegrini's first novel written in English skewers the absurdities of Wall Street, combining the comic with the trenchant to create a winning recipe.-Lawrence Rungren, Andover, MA © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Summary

Author Notes

Reviews (2)

Booklist Review

Library Journal Review

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