Ristorante Paradiso cover image is courtesy of barnesandnoble.com.

Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”

Ristorante Paradiso is a single-volume manga from Natsume Ono, the author of not simple.  Like not simple, Ristorante Paradiso seems more like an American indie graphic novel than it does a manga.  In fact, if not for the publisher’s name (VIZ Media), few would guess that Ristorante Paradiso is manga.  Set in Rome, Italy, the story focuses on a young woman reuniting with her estranged mother.

At the age of 21, Nicoletta travels to Rome to find Olga, the mother who abandoned her.  Olga has a new life and is married to Lorenzo, the owner of Casetta dell’Orso, a popular restaurant.  Olga never told her husband about Nicoletta and insists that he never know.  Seeking to reconnect with her daughter, Olga helps Nicoletta find a place to live and gets her a job as a kitchen apprentice at Casetta dell’Orso.

Nicoletta surprisingly fits in with the bespectacled gentlemen who work at the restaurant, where wearing glasses is a requirement for the waiters and chefs.  Nicoletta finds herself attracted to Claudio, the kind and warm-hearted head waiter, but Claudio is much older and divorced.  He is also still wearing his wedding ring from his marriage to Gabriella, a friend of Olga’s.  Olga befriends her daughter, but the pressures of keeping their secret may be too much for either of them to bear.

Every element about Ristorante Paradiso makes it a good read.  The setting:  Rome, its quaint neighborhoods, and a popular little ristorante, is the kind of place you’d want to be.  Ristorante Paradiso doesn’t offer scratch-n-sniff cards or “Ordorama,” but we can guess that the food is good and the smells are enchanting.  The characters, however, are the best things about this manga.  Their interpersonal relationships can be a bit tart at time, but like favorite meal, they are worth seeing again and again.

Ono does her best work in this manga with Nicoletta and Olga.  There are a lot of layers to both the characters’ personalities and to their relationship.  Readers may find themselves reading between the lines or panels, as it is in this case, to find out more about the two.  Both of Nicoletta and Olga and this manga are worth the extra effort.  Ristorante Paradiso is a charming read that captures the often bittersweet relationship between mother and daughter.

A-