Villa Coco - Large Print by Andrew Sean Greer (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Pulitzer Prize winner Andrew Sean Greer ("A great chronicler of our times." -San Francisco Chronicle) showcases his wit, sophistication and deep knowledge of focaccia in this magical and madcap tale of a young man who takes an unspecified job with a charismatic elderly Baronessa at her crumbling villa in the Tuscan hills

Broke and directionless, our young man (the chosen moniker of Villa Coco's narrator) takes a job in the Italian countryside as the all-purpose assistant (technically, the employment ad asked for "adjutant") to Lisabetta, known to her friends as Coco, a strong-willed, wealthy widow of great local renown. Technically, our young man is an archivist, charged with cataloguing Coco's extensive and eclectic collection of art and artifacts, but what are his actual duties? He is charged with ridding the house of a marten, whatever that is, locating the antediluvian septic system, entertaining an endless carousel of guests (from bohemian painters to elderly princesses to handsome nephews), attending a funeral in order to make off with the urn, and not inadvertently sabotaging Coco's great and final plan--to locate the lost love of her life and be reunited before it's too late.

Told with the signature wit, insight, and deeply felt humanity that made Less an international phenomenon, Villa Coco is a dazzling, sun-soaked ode to life itself--a romp through a youthfully self-constructed emotional obstacle course, a meditation on what we give and take from others, and a bawdy Mediterranean ballad about becoming who you've always wanted to be.

Review Quotes

"[Greer] captures the allure of la dolce vita--Renaissance paintings and books, bottles of Lambrusco wine and gelato--all bathed in a buttery Tuscan light."
--TIME

"Feel[s] like a vacation."
--Vogue

"Witty [and] stylish . . . Villa Coco is all but frescoed with figurative language, and Greer's seemingly effortless storytelling belies the careful craft of his metaphors and similes. . . . This is a fundamentally pleasant book for unpleasant times, the kind of novel in which a car breaks down and that turns out to be exactly what should have happened. As Greer ultimately suggests, true charm is something you have to try on as you might a dead man's suit, until what feels counterfeit becomes truly your own. It often begins in fraud and grows into a funny story--sometimes passing, fleetingly, through sorrow on the way. In that regard, the relentlessly charming Villa Coco is its own proof of concept."
--The Atlantic

"[Villa Coco is] packed with warmth, wit, and charm [and a] steady supply of humor. . . . [A] perfect summer cocktail [of a novel]."
--The Boston Globe

"What a strange thing. A smart, fizzy novel about how right life can be. In Tuscany! With olive groves! . . . [Villa Coco's] easygoing warmth gathers into a smile of a coming-of-age tale."
--Chicago Tribune

"[A] charming escape . . . The luminous setting and message about living life to the fullest make this story read like a balm for the soul."
--Real Simple

"Maximalist in prose, setting and plot, Villa Coco is a completely enveloping read. Andrew Sean Greer imbues his pages with humor, vulnerability, and rich character growth. A true summer novel, you might find yourself reaching for this in winter months when you need a little warmth."
--Marie Claire

"Andrew Sean Greer's Villa Coco will bring the flavor of an Italian idyll to your summer reading."
--Vogue.com

"A most delightful and unlikely romantic comedy . . . If you think 'charming' is a dismissive, diminutive compliment, wait till you see that term restored to its original enchantment. Villa Coco isn't mere ice cream; it's stracciatella gelato served in one of the most beautiful places on earth. . . . A faint aroma of Alice in Wonderland wafts through these pages, reinforced by Greer's elegant felicity with non sequiturs. . . . In addition to the gorgeous setting, there's also a delicious cast of quirky servants, relatives, and neighbors who must be making Masterpiece Theatre producers salivate."
--Ron Charles

"A smart, sweetly wistful comedy . . . Goes down like fine olive oil."
--NPR

"Villa Coco has the summery, entertaining feel of someone writing whatever he feels like writing. [Pulitzer Prize winner Greer has] earned the right to have fun. . . . 266 pages of pure pleasure . . . Greer has such a light, nimble touch -- the color of a dress or the studied messiness of a room conveys a lot -- that Villa Coco reads like a grand adventure, not a lesson. Long story short: I have no notes, other than that I wish it were longer."
--Minnesota Star Tribune

"[Greer says he] intended to write a 'charm novel, ' and he has succeeded, con sprezzatura."
--Los Angeles Times

"Travel to Italy without leaving your reading chair with the Pulitzer Prize winner's latest."
--People

"Greer's latest hilarious, heartwarming novel is a sun-soaked coming-of-age story."
--Marie Claire

"[A] warm, witty escape, this time with olive oil and mild chaos."
--Oprah Daily

"A bawdy, sun-soaked romp about finding your true self at any age."
--The Boston Globe

"If you take one book to the beach with you this summer, let it be Villa Coco. . . . As charming as Greer's Pulitzer-prize winning Less . . . Villa Coco, laced with wistful, playful nostalgia, reads like youth itself."
--Electric Lit

"As honest, hilarious and heartbreaking as life itself."
--NPR

"About as close as you can get to the Italian countryside without booking a flight. . . . It's witty, a little soapy, and positively sun-soaked - all qualities you look for [in] a beach read."
--Them

"Inspiring . . . Think The Devil Wears Prada meets Call Me by Your Name."
--Air Mail

"This charming coming-of-age novel is like a little vacation to Italy."
--Southern Living

"A breezy confection of fish-out-of-water wit, insecurity and self-discovery set in an Italian paradise . . . [Greer] deliver[s] an enchantment threaded through with hope."
--The Guardian

"Charming . . . Feels like a vacation that'll leave you certain of what it really means to live la dolce vita."
--Los Angeles Magazine

"A madcap adventure . . . John Waters should adapt this immediately."
--People

"No one understands the summer reads assignment better than Andrew Sean Greer. . . . A sun-drenched romp . . . It's the ultimate reading escape, the perfect balance between charming and substantial."
--theSkimm

"[Villa Coco] is funny and the perfect story to get lost in this summer."
--Nantucket Magazine

"No one writing in English is funnier or more charming than Andrew Greer. Every sentence in this novel sings."
--David Sedaris, author of Happy-Go-Lucky

"Not only [is Greer] the funniest of writers, but he has a wonderful way with conjuring an image. . . . Villa Coco is such a sunny book."
--Kate Atkinson, author of Shrines of Gaiety

"An absolute delight."
--Elif Batuman, author of Either/Or

"What, at first, appears to be a gloriously bonkers escapade amidst the Tuscan landscape gradually transforms into the most beautiful paean to youth, to age and to the fulfilment of love. Absolute joy."
--Sarah Winman, author of Still Life

"Eccentric, funny, touching: I adored it."
--Nina Stibbe, author of Love, Nina

"In prose as expert and precise as the steps of a Balinese dancer, Andrew Sean Greer has written a tale of a young American man who spends a season in Tuscany working as an archivist for an endlessly demanding, supremely disorganized, and very charismatic Baronessa. It's a lyrical and witty reminder that the most meaningful life--and certainly the one with the best stories--can emerge from the deepest chaos. Villa Coco, the Baronessa's crumbling mansion, is referred to by all as 'a great treasure.' Villa Coco, the novel, is one, too."
--Katherine Heiny, author of Games and Rituals

"What a beautiful book: an absolutely engrossing world full of golden sunlight and strange little secrets and anchovies and art. I feel like I'd recognize its glorious haphazard villa and determined Baronessa on sight."
--Holly Gramazio, author of The Husbands

"Outrageously good fun. The intricacies unspool, the characters fizz, the chaos ensures. Sheer, riotous, unmitigated joy."
--Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of The Mercies and Almost Life

"This book is absolute magic. It is so rare to find a novel today that is both so sophisticated and warm-hearted, so erudite and yet absolutely unpretentious, so terrifically page-by-page funny and yet so full of hidden sadnesses. Also, it features one of the greatest characters in modern fiction, the unflappable and unforgettable Baronessa. Get ready for the literary treat of the year!"
--Gary Shteyngart, author of Vera, or Faith

"From the first delightful sentence of this novel to its unconventional and satisfying conclusion, Greer takes readers on a charming Italian sojourn in which nothing is precisely what it seems. . . . While the twists and turns of the plot will keep readers smiling, a deeper theme emerges about finding one's place in the world. . . . Disguised as a frothy, farcical romp, Greer's novel is a heartfelt and poignant tribute to the mysterious process of growing up."
--Library Journal (starred review)

"A [charming] love letter to Italy . . . Greer breathes life into the Baronessa and her world and captures its appeal to [the narrator], fashioning the novel into a box of treasures. This light and airy bildungsroman is great fun."
--Publishers Weekly

"Part caper, part coming-of-age story, Greer's latest comic examination of life entertains and edifies--not an easy balancing act. . . . [Told] in Greer's trademark style of observational humor, keen descriptions, and affectionate exposition of his characters' foibles . . . A delightful distraction from the mundane."
--Kirkus Reviews

"Richly descriptive, wonderfully written . . . Greer's meditative, beautiful prose brings the gleaming olive groves and superb characters to life in uproarious detail, while the many silly capers are fantastically entertaining. Splendidly paced, this bildungsroman is, in keeping with Greer's signature qualities, funny, moving, and quietly profound from start to finish."
--Booklist

"Greer has created a delightfully eccentric tale filled with colorful characters and unusual developments. . . . To catalog the items in a villa is one thing. To classify the mysteries of the human heart requires a completely different inventory system, as Greer demonstrates in this seductive work."
--Shelf Awareness

"Charming from start to finish . . . Seductively entertaining . . . [Villa Coco] feels itself like a proverbial box of chocolates--a treasure chest of surprises waiting to be sampled. . . . Greer's novel is a Tuscan romp that overflows with sunshine and surprises while providing a deep meditation on growing up, growing old and navigating the many crossroads in between."
--BookPage (starred review)

"Reads like a long, delightful afternoon you never want to end."
--Prof Off Duty

"[Villa Coco's] quiet significance sings in stereo. . . . [A] sneakily profound exploration of aging, war, and the complexities of love. . . . [This] charm novel oscillates between that genre's light, farcical comedy and the atonal, disharmony found in life's weighty events."
--48 Hills

"With its Italian countryside setting, memorable characters, and Greer's effortless humor, Villa Coco is the kind of novel that feels like a vacation in book form. Beneath the romance and beauty is a thoughtful exploration of aging, desire, memory, and the possibility of beginning again. A little mysterious, a little glamorous, and completely charming, it's the literary equivalent of an Aperol spritz at golden hour--the perfect addition to a summer beach bag."
--Goop

"The perfect escapist Summer novel. . . . A coming-of-age romp and elegy to the messiness and joy of being alive, Greer's novel is filled to the brim with everything you could want in a Summer book: eccentric houseguests, ill-advised side quests, Mediterranean warmth, and Greer's signature bittersweet humor."
--Young Hollywood

"Villa Coco is filled with one charming vignette after another. . . Greer seamlessly knits together two completely winning lives, one at its start, one at its end. To watch Giovedì come of age -- and, really, to watch the Baronessa help him do so -- is to be touched by the grand good humor and the genuinely poignant worldview of a writer whose creations evolve from who they insist they must be into who they were always intended to be."
--The Anniston Star

"Easy-breezy funny and charming . . . [Greer] has confected an airy champagne bubble of a book. . . . The characters in this novel are loveable enough to live in your head for days afterward."
--Vox

"Another bonbon of beach reading, and a prime example of what Kaitlin Phillips calls a lifestyle book-- 'lots of ideas for living tucked into it.' . . . I'm pleased to announce that the Molly Young Committee has recently awarded Villa Coco a price for First Rate Opportunity to Luxuriate in a Caper (F.R.O.L.I.C.). [Read if you like] Marzipan, Diane Johnson's Le Divorce, Walter Pater, Lambrusco."
--The Life and Errors of Molly Young

"[Villa Coco's] diversions are where the charm lies. . . . The book follows the tempo of the Italian countryside, where answers are revealed in time, and life is about savoring each moment as it comes."
--What's Our Next Book

"An utter delight . . . The remarkable thing is Greer doesn't use humor to disguise or distort the very real confusion and despair that comes with coming of age. Instead, he proves that the funniest way of telling a story is often the most honest."
--NPR, Weekend Edition Sunday

"A dreamy, coming-of-age novel set in the hills of Tuscany . . . A story of friendship."
--Woman's World

About the Author

ANDREW SEAN GREER is the bestselling author of seven works of fiction, including Pulitzer Prize winner Less and its companion Less is Lost. He is the recipient of the Northern California Book Award, the California Book Award, the New York Public Library Young Lions Award, the O Henry award for short fiction and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Public Library. Greer lives in Venice.