Archive · 28 Aug 2026
Villa Coco Offers Lush Charm and Eccentric Excess
Villa Coco is a novel by Andrew Sean Greer.
It tells the story of a young man who goes to Italy for a job.
He is asked to catalogue the belongings of an old aristocratic woman named Coco.
Coco is ninety-two years old and behaves in unusual and surprising ways.
The young man helps her with strange adventures and learns about her world.
He also learns Italian, tends roses, and falls in love.
The story includes a mystery involving Coco’s final plan.
The reviewer likes the book’s beautiful descriptions and lively characters.
However, the reviewer says Coco’s unusual behavior may feel repetitive to some readers.
Andrew Sean Greer’s novel follows a young narrator working at an Italian villa.
He is hired to catalogue the possessions of ninety-two-year-old Baronessa Lisabetta, known as Coco.
The narrator becomes involved in Coco’s eccentric schemes, including stealing an urn containing a friend’s ashes.
Greer uses vivid prose to portray Villa Coco, its possessions, and the surrounding Tuscan countryside.
The review praises the novel’s charm but says its eccentricity can become repetitive and excessive.
- Who
- Andrew Sean Greer, the young narrator, and Lisabetta, the ninety-two-year-old Baronessa known as Coco.
- What
- A young man catalogues Coco’s possessions and becomes involved in her eccentric schemes and final plan.
- When
- The article does not specify when the story takes place.
- Where
- Villa Coco in the Italian countryside, amid the Tuscan region.
- Why
- The narrator goes to Villa Coco after being offered a job cataloguing the Baronessa’s possessions.
Admiring Reading
Critical Reading
Coco’s eccentricity
Admiring Reading
Coco’s whims, shifting moods, and unusual schemes create charm, energy, and entertaining adventures.
Critical Reading
Her eccentric behavior can become excessive and repetitive, especially for readers who are not fully enchanted by her.
The novel’s style
Admiring Reading
Greer’s lush prose vividly captures Villa Coco, its possessions, and the Tuscan countryside.
Critical Reading
The episodic and disjointed narrative may feel overindulgent because Coco’s personality and machinations are its main organizing force.
- Book
- Villa Coco
- Author
- Andrew Sean Greer
- Publisher
- Sceptre
- Price
- Rs 699
- Main setting
- Villa Coco in the Italian countryside
- Central character
- Lisabetta, or Coco, a ninety-two-year-old Baronessa
- Structure
- The novel is divided into three parts without chapters.