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Hardhead |
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H ardhead byBarbara Quinn Xlibris 229 pages, 2000 ISBN 0738823821 Reviewed by Julie Failla Earhart Rosanna Sweeney has always wondered what brought her Italian born and raised father, Tino Domenico, to America. The only information she was able to learn was that he immigrated after the Testa Duna (Italian for hardhead) contest in Calabria shortly before her birth. No matter how hard she pestered, cajoled or pleaded, Tino refused to elaborate. She can feel a huge secret waiting to be uncovered. Now her father is dead and it is up to Rosanna to discover for herself her ethnic heritage. Barbara Quinn’s fourth novel Hardhead begins with Tino’s death and his forbiddance of Rosanna to travel to Italy. At first, Rosanna obeys her father’s directive. The last two years have been hard. The love of her life, her husband Mike, perished in TWA’s Flight 800 crash. Her daughter Becky has taken up tomahawk throwing, spitting, and a passion for body piercing. Rosanna seeks refuge in her childhood home, a lake house in upstate New York. But she also finds that an old high school sweetheart Eric is also back to do a little soul-searching of his own. Unbeknown to her, Rosanna is being trailed by two hit men who can’t wait to have their way with the handsome forty-one-year-old widow. Impervious to their goal of protecting Tino’s sworn enemy, Rosanna is determined to find out all she can about her father’s life in Italy. Hardheaded, she sets out on a quest to discover where she came from, who she is, and why she speaks English instead of Italian. She makes an abrupt departure for Rome just as the spark between her and Eric begins to rekindle. The journey to Italy is somewhat disjointed. Both Rosanna and Becky go off with men they barely know too easily and it’s odd that Rosanna seems so lenient with Becky. The setup in Italy somehow doesn’t ring true; it’s just not something that a woman of the late 20th century would do in a foreign country. There should be some shroud of suspense and danger lurking. As the hit men get closer and Tino’s secret is about to be revealed, the story’s pace picks up and the tension begins to build. The novel’s blemishes are noticeable: key scenes missing, lack of clarity in the characters' actions and lack of exposition. However, interesting plot twists make Hardhead worth reading, if for no other reason than to admire the author’s imagination. |
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