I have clicked four stars, but to me, this final book in The Lives of the Saints trilogy deserves 3 ½ stars. Where She Has Gone is better than In a Glass House, but not as good as the first, Lives of the Saints. It took me a long time to read this book, especially during the sagging middle, where, once again, Nino Ricci resorted to repetitive usage of words or phrases. Worse, many of these were the very same as the ones I felt inundated with when reading In a Glass House. And the narrator was tentative about ‘seemingly’ (one of ‘those’ words) everything, except perhaps, for his obsession with his half-sister, Rita. And then Ricci chooses to take Rita out of the action for a while, which only served to drain the story of its energy, its momentum. I began to lose interest, to put the book down; considered skipping to the end to find out what happens instead of reading all 997 pages. But I persevered. As I continued to read, it occurred to me that Ricci could have incorporated the content of In a Glass House into the final book, making Where She Has Gone a sequel to Lives of the Saints. The content of In a Glass House is integral to the story, but the narrative is far too long. Nino Ricci does have a story to tell, and I have great appreciation for his descriptive writing – especially of place, but also characterization, and the introspection that at times shone through the passive and depressed personality of Vittorio (now Victor). In Where She Has Gone, Victor at one point returns to Italy, to the village where he was born. He meets up with Rita; attempts to discover the identity of Rita’s biological father; and he has a relationship with Luisa, who lives in the village. This latter inclusion came across as being contrived, to me; I felt ‘as if’ the author decided his story was lagging, needed padding with ‘something’ to give it more mystery. But this isn’t a mystery story. It’s a story about an Italian-Canadian with identity issues, who manages to find his way out of ‘a sense of’ hopelessness towards ‘a sort of’ reconciliation with himself and his place in the world. That Nino Ricci is a talented writer is indisputable. That you will want to read all three books in this trilogy is debatable. I would suggest that if you have the time, give it a go. If not, read the Lives of the Saints, then a synopsis of In a Glass House, and then read Where She Has Gone. But start with Lives of the Saints, for sure.
