2022: I loved this memoir!

If you're in the mood for gorgeous descriptions, familial drama, European romance, amazing recipes, wonderful food, and LOTS of love, this is the book for you. Locke takes readers on a journey through her life, navigating across multiple continents and islands, traditions and languages. Whew, I did not know that Sicilian culture was still so stuck in the past.

I loved all of the cultural discoveries that happened when an American visited Sicily for the first time, and especially Locke navigating that newness as the only person of color around. I was devastated when Saro's parents didn't show up for their wedding, but the journey of Locke and Croce eventually bonding was so moving. Locke did a great job incorporating the different languages that everyone around her was speaking, including a lot of Italian and Sicilian, without letting only-English-speakers get lost.

I thought that Locke handled the passages on grief so deftly and did not shy away from expressing her pain. However, I feel like a lot of negative reviews that I saw about this book describe it as "too sad", and that she spends too much time wallowing. I'll put in a caveat that this is a sad book. I mean, you learn on page one that Locke's husband has died. But if it makes you feel better, she has since remarried, and she's currently writing and producing a show for Reese Witherspoon based on her life / this book. So things turn out okay!