Review: I Love You Like a Tomato

I Love You Like a Tomato by Marie Giordano
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

An interesting book. The narrator, Chi Chi, tells us about her childhood and adolescence, starting with her earliest memories of life in Italy and then immigrating to St. Paul Minnesota with her brother, mother, and grandmother. Her memories are both clear and hazy, at the same time. As is true of all children many of the things she hears and sees are misconstrued or misunderstood. In addition she has a vivid imagination. Born at the end of WWII, Chi Chi is raised by women. Her father, an American soldier, is absent, and when Chi Chi is told he has died, she cherishes his wooden leg. Her family is poor and it takes them a very long time to acclimate both to Minnesotan winters and the new American culture. I liked this book although it was also at times, quite depressing. The writer is also a poet, and her prose leaves a lot of space for the reader to fill in. I did find myself wishing for a little less "work" sometimes; I'm not sure that I always made the intended inference!


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