Utterly enchanting. A deeply human novel that sings the song of life itself. What a brilliant feat of empathy, style, and transcendent beauty—Lodato has created a true original in Honey.” — Mona Awad, author of Bunny
“Rarely in literature—rarely in our lives—do we encounter someone like Honey Fasinga: fierce, complicated, and out-of-this-world sharp both inside and out. I cried, laughed, and screamed while reading this novel. Weeks after finishing, I am still looking for Honey everywhere. Victor Lodato’s Honey belongs in the halls of other legendary, unforgettable characters. This novel can rightfully be called a masterpiece.” — Javier Zamora, New York Times bestselling author of Solito
"Ilaria “Honey” Fasinga is free-spirited, fashion-conscious, vain, and wounded; through her story of returning to the hometown she fled as a teenager, Lodato deftly explores such themes as the value and cost of artifice, the toxicity of keeping family secrets, and the ways in which even an elegant, independent woman must negotiate the indignities and shrinking options of old age. I’ll not soon forget Lodato’s extraordinary heroine or her captivating life story." — Wally Lamb, New York Times #1 Bestselling author of I'll Take You There
"Every woman is free to invent her own apocalypse,” says Honey Fasinga, the stylish heroine of Victor Lodato’s new novel. Honey knows where the bodies are buried—she helped bury some of them—and at eighty-two she is still figuring out how to defend herself and those she loves against the dangerous bullies of this world. This novel is a wonder of strange kindnesses, unthinkable cruelties, and familial fracture. A sharply funny, searingly wise story about the way that a life lived on its own terms is the ultimate art form. Irrepressible and romantic, empathetic but refreshingly unsentimental, and ultimately unforgettable—like its heroine, Honey is a true original" — Bonnie Jo Campbell, National Book Award Finalist and NYT Bestselling author of Once Upon A River
“Lodato skillfully brings to life a haunting and irresistible character who is as complex as she is charming.” — Washington Post, "10 Noteworthy Books"
“Honey isn’t one of these frail wraiths who sip tea and shuffle in worn slippers. Honey subsists on Viognier and Valium and slips on Louboutins just to run to the grocery store.…a feisty heroine readers will embrace as an octogenarian with attitude to spare.” — Booklist
"Lodato exhibits a gift for excitement in his stimulating tale" — Publishers Weekly
"Lodato has written a stunning novel that begs for readers." — Library Journal (starred review)
"[An] entertaining, Sopranos-esque mix….this tough/tender saga of homecoming exudes warmth and brio.” — Kirkus Reviews
/// Praise for Edgar and Lucy —
"On every page Lodato's prose sings with a robust, openhearted wit, making Edgar & Lucy a delight to read...Lodato keeps us in his thrall because his grip on the tiller stays reassuringly firm. Not to mention the supporting cast he's gathered, a group so eclectic and beguiling that many of them could carry an entire novel of their own. A riveting and exuberant ride." — Cynthia D'Aprix-Sweeney, New York Times Book Review, on Edgar and Lucy
"Wonder-filled and magisterial...Lodato's skill as a poet manifests itself on every page, delighting with such elegant similes and incisive descriptions…His skill as a playwright shines in every piece of dialogue…And his skill as a fiction writer displays itself in his virtuoso command of point of view. The book pushes the boundaries of beauty." — Chicago Tribune on Edgar and Lucy
"Edgar isn't like other boys and Lucy isn't like other moms, but grandma Florence keeps them tied to reality. And then their lives take a sharp turn...This otherworldly tale will haunt you." — People on Edgar and Lucy
"A stunningly rendered novel" — Entertainment Weekly on Edgar and Lucy
"A quirky coming-of-age novel that deepens into something dark and strange without losing its heart or its sense of wonder." — Tom Perrotta, bestselling author of The Leftovers, on Edgar and Lucy
"This tale gradually exerts a fiendish grip on the reader." — Helen Simonson, author of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, on Edgar and Lucy
"I tore through the luminous pages of Edgar and Lucy as if possessed…What this book has to say about love and truth will stay with me for a very, very long time." — Sophie McManus, author of The Unfortunates
"I love this book. Profoundly spiritual and hilariously specific...an unusual and intimate epic that manages to capture the wonder and terror of both child and parenthood with an uncanny clarity." — Lena Dunham, bestselling author of Not That Kind of Girl
"Victor Lodato may be our bard of the sadness, humor, and confusion of loss. He senses the absurdities and elation of mourning and childhood with a capacious precision that brings to mind J.D. Salinger, Lorrie Moore, Karen Russell, even James Joyce. Edgar and Lucy will make you feel things you haven't felt in ages." — Daniel Torday, author of The Last Flight of Poxl West
“Step aside, Olive Kitteridge. There’s a new woman in town who’s difficult but loveable, complex and, in this case, fabulous. It’s Honey Fasinga.” — Minnesota Public Radio's "Ask a Bookseller"
★ 03/01/2024
At 11, Honey saw her father strangle a man in their backyard. Her brother helped bury the man's body. At 15, when Richie Verona raped her, her father found out and made her ride with them to an isolated New Jersey beach where he killed and disposed of Richie. Honey didn't know it then, but she was pregnant. After college, she left her family, never looking back. Subsequent decades in the art auction business gave her culture, a spell as mistress to a much older man, and a lot of money. Eighty-two now but not looking or feeling her age, she has returned home to sort out her life. She doesn't need them, but complications come anyway. With them also comes reassessment, especially regarding how she feels about her still toxic family. Unintended attachments come too: a love affair with a young painter; a neighbor who's needy for love and can't leave her abusive boyfriend; a hunt for a lost great-nephew who's transitioning and has been roughed up by his father and kicked out of the family. At the tail end of a life spent hiding from commitment, Honey finally lets love in. VERDICT Lodato (Mathilda Savitch) has written a stunning novel that begs for readers.—David Keymer
2024-02-03
A mobster’s daughter has finally returned, in her 80s, to the family’s New Jersey home, and she knows where the bodies are buried—literally.
Honey Fasinga, originally Ilaria Fazzinga, has spent a lifetime distancing herself from her Italian roots. To dodge expectations and bury memories of the brutalities she witnessed while living under the roof of her father, the Great Pietro—whom she loved, hated, and feared—she went to college, studied art, and spent decades living in Los Angeles, working at a prestigious auction house. But now she’s back with a sense of unfinished business, reconnecting, remembering, and trying to resolve the gap between her assured adult self and her violent childhood. Lodato’s new novel circles Honey ceaselessly, resurrecting people and events (some horrible) from her past while introducing new characters to challenge who she is now. Irrepressible neighbor Joss is grappling with Lee, a rough boyfriend. Gentle artist Nathan is attracted to Honey despite their half-century age difference. And what about Honey herself? Feisty, finely dressed, and fond of a drink, she is also suicidal and prone to panic attacks, an uneasy, unlikely meld of arrogance and uncertainty. As she swings between opinions and options, death visits the narrative repeatedly, and so do beatings, notably of Lee and also of Honey’s grandnephew Michael, whose exploration of gender sits badly with the Fazzingas’ “traditional” values, furthering Honey’s sense of distaste and alienation. This nature/nurture debate is the central feature of a story that is long and loose, driven less by plot than by the tireless recording of Honey’s ups and downs involving fine art, elderly indulgences, relationship choices, and a gun. This entertaining, Sopranos-esque mix doesn’t entirely gel, but for all the vacillating, the book does establish one inescapable fact: Honey is family.
Something of a jumble, this leisurely, tough/tender saga of homecoming exudes warmth and brio.
Carrington McDuffie affects a hard-edged tone as she portrays romantic, irascible, intractable 82-year-old Honey Fasinga, the daughter of a New Jersey gangster. Now a dowager living in L.A., Honey is mourning the death of her most recent lover. McDuffie increases the pace of her delivery as Honey returns home to New Jersey and falls in love again, and she softens her tone as Honey realizes her mistakes and tries to right some wrongs. Lodato introduces a troubled teenage grandnephew whom Honey tries to rescue, deepening the listener's emotional connection to the story. This new novel from the PEN America Literary Award-winning Lodato adds to his list of masterful stories. It is amply aided by McDuffie's splendid portrayal of an unforgettable character. R.O. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
