The Last Cannoli is a work of fiction inspired by my growing up in a large Sicilian American family – ten kids, two parents, a few pets here and there (very few survived for long with us, I don’t know why exactly . . . something to explore later). If you are looking for a strongly plot-driven novel, don’t bother with this one. If you like character-driven literature and a dash of the potent spice, magical realism, read this book. Especially fun to read if you grew up in New Jersey/New York area and know places like Rahway, Jersey Shore . . . which you thought would never be uttered in the same breath as literature.
The book, wrote former San Francisco Poet Laureate Lawrence Ferlinghetti, “attests to the power of storytelling to hold life together through all its diasporas.”