My 5-Star review in entirety published at Amazon for Anna Casamento Arrigo's compelling Memoir, 'Weeds Beneath the Open Meadows'.

I surmised from the very first page that I would read this entire memoir wearing my heart on my sleeve. Misty-eyed, and at times, weepy, I savored every word, up to and including, Anna’s poem in the epilogue.

I liken the author to those weeds beneath the open meadows she so coveted when she lived in Sorrentini, Sicily before immigrating to America at the age of seven. The span of her candid memoir covers the life of a “wayward” girl from seven to twelve years of age. Although she cites the molestation and abuse of those who stole her innocence, the tedious piece work of sewing linings in collars, and her father’s brutal beatings from his boxer’s hands—the author’s optimism prevails.

“Everything, I believed had a beauty if you looked, believed deeply enough.”

As she reflects upon her father at his funeral, she lovingly recalls those same boxer’s hands that nurtured her when she was ill, along with her trips with him to Jamestown and Fisk Park.

Like persistent weeds beneath an open meadow, the author survives and thrives, excelling in school and going to college as her father had wished.
Her poetic storytelling deftly weaves a beauty of its own, leaving an indelible impression on the reader, while offering inspiration to persevere.