The smells of boiling sauce, pasta, garlic, and nutmeg, rosemary, and oregano and other herbs permeate the air in a little restaurant on Folsom Boulevard in Sacramento. Welcome to Ragazzi (in English, the boys), the restaurant Matteo Bianco inherited from his uncle, and “the ticket out of Italy” for Matteo and his husband, Diego Bellei. But there are only three customers… and only two more for the night.
So begins The River City Chronicles, by J. Scott Coatsworth, and I couldn’t put it down.
Diego and Matteo are not sure they are going to make it, and are afraid they will have to go back to Italy, their tales between their legs. But Diego has an idea, una scuola di cucina, an Italian cooking school. And so, this novel of love and family, and cooking and secrets and a little magic, begins, when “a group of strangers meet at Ragazzi… for a cooking lesson that will change them all.” These strangers will find connections to each other and their lives will intertwine as “a bit of magic touches each of them” (back cover), and none of them will be the same.
These strangers make up an intriguing cast of characters. Besides Matteo and Diego, there is Dave, a human resources consultant, who has lost his partner; Carmelina, recently widowed; Marcos, a web designer who is getting too old for hook ups; Ben, a trans writer working on the Great American Novel; Marissa, a teenager kicked for being bisexual; and Sam and Brad, a May-September couple. Brad runs the local LGBT center, and Sam seven years older, writes suspense novels. With this motley crew, Coatsworth creates complex characters, all too human, with flaws and foibles, contradictions and ambiguities, and secrets, both small and large. And secrets have a way of being found out. Some secrets are burdens of pain, some when exposed, will bring pain and heartache, and some need to be known.
River City is told in short chapters, an admitted influence of the “amazing Armistead Maupin” and his Tales of the City, which are, in part, a love song to San Francisco. So it is here, River City is Coatsworth’s love song to Sacramento. In both novels, the city itself becomes a character, and these urban geographies are shaped by, and shape the lives of, the characters and who they love and how and when. Is it just a coincidence this person came into one’s life at this time and place? If we have lived elsewhere—if the River City group of strangers had not seen the flyers, and didn’t go to the class, then their lives would be quite different. The connections they make in this class become the bonds that make a found family, even as the no-longer strangers negotiate the families into which they were born.
In addition to being a family novel, River City is also a love story, or rather, interconnected love stories: between the various couples, between friends, between parents and children, and sometimes this love is rejected or pushed away. Love is changed and challenged by the past and its secrets. River City is also a fairy tale, in both senses of the word, as one focus of the novel is on its gay characters and their relationships, and such gay issues and themes as the often complicated and tense relationships between LGBT teenagers and their parents, transgender acceptance and transphobia, and gay foster parenting. There is also fairy magic, described by Coatsworth in the introduction as magic realism. The green flyer announcing the cooking school sparkles when left on a table on the restaurant and this flyer appears and reappears, as it seems to find the strangers who come to the first cooking class. The sparkles appear and reappear, as well, as perhaps conduits of energy, of connection, of love waiting to be discovered. Other magic is alluded to, as when Brad remembers his job before director of the LGBT center, working for a Republican state senator, when he “came upon a strange medallion that allowed him to see what other people around him really thought and it wasn’t pretty” (26). Magic is a both a connecting and a revealing force and it is a metaphor for connecting, for knowing.
Some initially might find this large group of characters a little confusing, but Coatsworth provides an annotated list, which explains who they are and how these people are connected. Also, this is the nature of the novel—as these people find and come to know each other, in the cooking classes, in conversations in bed, over coffee, at dinner, so does the reader, as we all come to know the people in our lives. Cooking itself is a controlling metaphor, as a creative act, of various ingredients coming together to make a new whole, a new thing. Here, for these people who are strangers in that first class, they become a family.
For me, River City was a page turner and I was captivated by these people, their ups and downs, their connections and disconnections, their reconnections, and how they love each other. I was crying at the end, but not all tears come from sadness. I also want to note that while this is a queer-themed novel, I would argue it is accessible to those outside the queer community: love and family are human themes.
The recipes at the end are a bonus! I can just smell that chicken cacciatore cooking.
Recommended.
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Scattered Thoughts Review"Like visiting that restaurant you have picked out as yours and visit over and over because the food is perfect, the atmosphere warm and welcoming, the people inside familiar and everything about the place makes you anticipate an evening that will fill your heart with love and memories. That’s how The River City Chronicles makes me feel as well. I hope that J. Scott Coatsworth feels that there’s more tales to tell here. I certainly hope so. Ragazzi is doing so well, so are the cooking classes. Who knows who will show up next? Scott, are you listening? Trust me, this book is magical." -Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words |
Amazon Review"This fantastic story is a magical, mystical, marvelous, and myriad melange of characters who are so vivid, complex, and three dimensional they almost leap off the page. I was pulled in from the very first page, and only put it down when I absolutely HAD to. I ended up with a massive book hangover, but this fascinating, poignant, compelling, and beautiful tale was more than worth it. Thank you, J. Scott Coatsworth, for giving me one hell of an awesome read." -Patricia Nelson, Amazon |
Rainbow Awards Review"I absolutely loved The River City Chronicles. The author acknowledges Armistead Maupin in the Foreword, but truthfully, I loved this book way more than Maupin. I figured out fairly early on where some of the plot points were headed, but it didn't matter. It was just lovely to be immersed in this world. If only this was 'book 1' then I could visit again and again." -Rainbow Awards, on Amazon |
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Cassandra Arnold
Wonderful affirmation of life and love
Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on April 22, 2019
