The Ice-Cream Makers by Ernest van der Kwast
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
This is really a 2.5 rating. I’m not sure what I expected when I signed up for an advanced copy of The Ice-Cream Makers but what I got wasn’t it. Though Italian culture and the history of the Northern Italian Ice-Cream makers are subjects which should have interested me, I had a difficult time getting into the story of the Talamini family (or is it Calamine? The translator probably changed that for the novel’s U.S. release thanks to the well-known anti-itching lotion.). I don’t know how much of the heart of the story was lost in translation but the form was sort of anecdotal which doesn’t flow well and often confused me since characters from the past and present share the same names.
I did eventually get into the central story of the consequences of the oldest son’s decision not to inherit the ice-cream business leaving his aging parents and younger brother to pick up the slack. The result is a thought-provoking look at evolving family dynamics and the weight of obligation. Every time, though, that I found myself really getting absorbed in the story I was jolted out of it when the narrative jumped back or forward in time or, in one instance, went on a chapter-long discussion of hotels around the world. Most frustratingly, one of these jolts happens at the end of the novel, leaving the reader guessing.
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