Ma Speaks Up, Marianne Leone
Ma Speaks Up, Marianne Leone
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Ma Speaks Up
And a First-Generation Daughter Talks Back

Author: Marianne Leone

Narrator: Marianne Leone

Abridged: 5 hr 6 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Beacon Press

Published: 04/25/2017

Synopsis

The acclaimed actress and author of Jesse: A Mother’s Story tells the "entertaining and moving" story of her outspoken, frequently outrageous Italian immigrant mother (Tom Perrotta)

Marianne Leone’s Ma is in many senses a larger-than-life character, one who might be capable, even from the afterlife, of shattering expectations. Born on a farm in Italy, Linda finds her way to the United States under dark circumstances, having escaped a forced marriage to a much older man, and marries a good Italian boy. She never has full command of English—especially when questioned by authorities—and when she is suddenly widowed with three young children, she has few options. To her daughter’s horror and misery, she becomes the school lunch lady.

Ma Speaks Up is a record of growing up on the wrong side of the tracks, with the wrong family, in the wrong religion. Though Marianne’s girlhood is flooded with shame, it’s equally packed with adventure, love, great cooking, and, above all, humor. The extremely premature birth of Marianne’s beloved son, Jesse, bonds mother and daughter in ways she couldn’t have imagined. The stories she tells will speak to anyone who has struggled with outsider status in any form and, of course, to mothers and their blemished, cherished girls.

About The Author

Marianne Leone is an actress, screenwriter, and essayist. Her essays have appeared in the Boston Globe, Post Road, Bark, Coastal Living, and WBUR’s Cognoscenti blog. Her memoir, Jesse: A Mother’s Story of Grief, Grace, and Everyday Bliss, was published by Simon & Schuster in 2010. She had a recurring role on HBO’s hit show The Sopranos as Joanne Moltisanti.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Sia on July 16, 2017

I listened to this, having heard the author read from it at an event. She did the audio book as well. I love her voice and style. This is a story lovingly and artfully told. It's very honest, often funny, often moving. Very glad to have had this glimpse of the complicated relationship between two re......more

Goodreads review by SundayAtDusk on March 02, 2017

This is a unique memoir, but don’t ask me specifically why it’s so unique. For days, I’ve been trying to figure that out. It must simply be Marianne Leone's own voice that makes it so special, particularly as contemporary memoirs go. I also wonder if a reader might need to be of a “certain age” to t......more

Goodreads review by Elyza on July 19, 2017

This was an interesting read for me because I don't think I've read a mother-daughter memoir that was so honest as Ma Speaks Up. Marianne Leone is an entertaining writer and I enjoyed her book, her relationship with her mother was kind of sad though. I'm really close to my Mom so parts of this book......more

Goodreads review by Dianne on April 26, 2017

This book actually made me angry. When I chose to read this I figured this was going to be right up my alley. Nope. I was never as spoiled and selfish as this woman was. I would never have thought to talk to my mother or any of my family in this manner. I am a daughter of a first generation Italian......more

Goodreads review by Robin on February 03, 2018

As the title indicates, the author writes about her mother, who fled Italy to avoid marriage to a much older man, and lands in Massachusetts where some relatives of her mother's lived. Leone, one of 3 children, grew up in Nonantum, the Italian section of Newton (aka "the lake"), where her father own......more

Quotes

“I can think of few writers, alive or dead, who can make us laugh out loud in one sentence only to wipe the tears off our cheeks in the next. Marianne Leone achieves this brilliantly in this enduring love song to her Italian mother, illuminating themes as wide ranging as social class, immigrant life, the Catholic Church, the agony of adolescence, marital and maternal and paternal love, and far more. And like all of the best memoirs, Ma Speaks Up carries us back to the fragmented and sometimes elusive beauty of our own lives. This is an exquisitely rendered book by an immensely gifted writer, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.”
—Andre Dubus III

“In this entertaining and moving memoir, Marianne Leone has crafted an indelible portrait of her immigrant mother. Like her daughter, Ma is a formidable person—salty, tough-minded, funny, and full of unexpected wisdom.”
—Tom Perrotta, author of The Leftovers

“Equal parts funny, brash, poignant, insightful, sarcastic, joyful, hopeful, and tender, this book will make you laugh and cry. It will make you hungry for Ma’s lentil soup. It will make you want to hug your own mother and Marianne and Ma.”
—Ann Hood, author of The Knitting Circle

“I read with enormous pleasure Marianne Leone’s book about her mother, Linda, envying the richness and mystery of the family history, at times frightening, infuriating, but also very funny. I finished it in one sitting. Thank you, Marianne Leone, for letting me live with you and your mother. I loved every moment, every word.”
—Abigail Thomas, author of A Three Dog Life

“By turns tender and trenchant, this is an indispensable mother-daughter story, a blisteringly honest account of the thorns and brambles that divided an immigrant Italian mama from her talented, truculent actress daughter. Written with wit and verve, Marianne Leone’s memoir brings her Ma back to full, vivid life in what becomes, in the end, a belated love poem to this enraging, engaging, passionate spitfire of a woman.”
—Geraldine Brooks

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