THE GOOD LEFT UNDONE by Adriana Trigiani

My favorite thing about this novel is the title.  For me, it refers to good deeds that could have been performed but were not—sins of omission.  Also, if one purpose of reading is learning, then mission accomplished.  Apparently, the Blitz was not the only darkness that fell on Great Britain during WWII, and this novel educated me about their deportation of Italian men.  My high opinion of Winston Churchill just went down a notch, as he was responsible for this inhumane policy.   Unfortunately, I am not a fan of this author’s writing style.  I would describe it as short on adjectives and adverbs and long on clichés, such as cats being in command of their people rather than vice versa.  I also felt that the prose could have benefitted from a well-place metaphor or two.  The plot itself, except for the history lesson, is not particularly original, as it tells the story of several generations of women via a jagged timeline.  Domenica’s early adult life is the main adventure here, the gist of which is revealed at the beginning, thus squelching any possibility of suspense, and the rest of the storyline sort of all runs together.  I found it particularly difficult to keep track of Domenica’s son, son-in-law, grandson(s), etc., and finally gave up on that task, since the women are the focus anyway.  However, the fact that Domenica had a son puzzled me, as he shows up in the narrative long after Domenica has died.  Is there a gap in her story, or did I miss something?  Despite its length, this book is a fast read, and, for me, quickly forgotten.