The Vietri Project

January 4, 2021
A young woman evades her uncertain future by fixating on an elderly man in DeRobertis-Theye’s introspective if meandering debut. Two years after graduating from college, Gabriele works in a Berkeley, Calif., bookstore fulfilling the increasingly arcane mail orders of a Roman man named Giordano Vietri. At 25, anxious about marrying her boyfriend and with dwindling hopes for a “real job,” she flees to Rome, where she spent summers with her mother’s extended family in her early teens, and searches for Vietri. Her inquiries, helped by cousin Andrea and his fellow doctoral student friends, take her through a series of tangents: a painter whose famous memoir recounts time in Vietri’s home village; a widow whose husband served with Vietri during WWII; and a journalist who wrote a story about a pottery company named Vietri. As Gabriele mulls over the purpose of her quest, she frets about her mother’s schizophrenia diagnosis, which she received around the same age Gabriele is now, shortly before Gabriele was born. Gabriele’s gradual drift builds to a tentative conclusion, though the author’s tendency to rush past major details blunts the impact. While gracefully written, this circuitous bildungsroman only skims the surface. Agent: Julie Barer, the Book Group.

February 15, 2021
In her last year at Berkeley, Gabriele begins working at a small bookstore and quickly takes on the charge of sending books to Signor Vietri. Vietri, who lives in Rome, requests all kinds of titles on history, pain, immortality, and more. Gabriele is in ""failure to launch"" mode but bored with her California life, so she gives in to her curiosity about Vietri's diverse reading tastes and heads to Rome to find her mysterious patron. What follows is Gabriele's search for Vietri, but also for herself. As a dual citizen, Gabriele has ignored an entire piece of her past: her Italian cousins, aunts, and even her mother, who suffers from schizophrenia. This is a sprawling, languid book, constructed from rambling, unhurried paragraphs that take many detours into the nooks and crannies of Rome. Readers who are interested in the Italian experience will find themselves immersed in it, even when the protagonist lacks focus. Gabriele shines most brightly when she is on the hunt for a new clue. Recommended for thoughtful readers who appreciate both the interior and exterior journey.

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