Rating: 
Summary: BRILLIANT
Review: I'm stunned that anyone could not enjoy this book [however, one reviewer previous seems not to]. It's entertaining, laugh-out-loud [pardon the cliche - but it's accurate] anecdotes that span more than eight years of child-rearing in Italy are deadly accurate with regard to Italian society, to the extent to which I can relate, enlightening, and endlessly amusing.I highly recommend this for anyone remotely interested in Italy, having children, living abroad, or for that matter, anyone needing a good page-turner for a long flight.
Rating:
Summary: A delightful read
Review: In a very readable and delightful book, Tim Parks manages to capture to quintessential family life surrounding children growing up in Italy - trust me I was one of them !! Life at home, at school and at the summer seaside, are all affectionately captured by the author, as are the personal relationships with family, friends and neighbours. This is a book that everybody will enjoy, particularly touching and bringing back memories to those of us that grew up in Italy.
Rating: 
Summary: Dissapointing, little in common with his earlier success
Review: Just like many other reviewers, I was very impressed with Tim Parks' Italian Neighbors (1992), which I thought was witty and well-written. It did justice to all the things I admire about Italy and, although the author tended to go on a bit, the book was very enjoyable. I bought Italian Education on the strength of this experience and it was so disappointing I struggled to finish it. Boring and repetitive and focused on the author's child in a way that happens to all parents who can go on and on about their offspring - except that most parents know much better than to put their self-centered ramblings on paper. I understand that after phenomenal success of Italian Neighbors the author had enormous credit of trust from his readers, and I am sorry he abused this trust by putting out this low-quality, underedited and bland book. It is a great virtue of a writer to understand that you haven't got much more meaningful to say and then shut up - but Parks clearly lacks this virtue. Maybe he needs to move to another country - but there is definitely nothing he can reveal about Italy any more. It is a shame he and his publisher do not understand that - or maybe they both were too keen to cash in on the existing reputation? I hope at least the publisher is embarrassed. In future, I'll stay well clear of anything written by Tim Parks. I would not be surprised if many other readers do the same.
Rating:
Summary: Poor
Review: One can't help but feel for Mr. Parks. He is miserable in Italy. For starters, Italians are conniving tax-evaders themselves who moreover "have a way of assuming that one's planning to cheat". They, let's dispel some stereotypes, "may be a sentimental people but rarely romantic". And that purported closeness of the Italian family? Well, now we know that is just for show: even though during family reunions Italians are exceedingly festive with each other in private, of course, they curse out all the vices of every relative in turn. Have you heard about the Italian grandparents? They come unannounced, and as the result of their care, the grandchildren are "spoilt and over protected and stuffed full of caramelle and sat in front of the television all day..." He "hates it when they come". Don't get him started on raising kids in this country: his children oftentimes seek their mother's help rather than his own and this, naturally, is entirely due to the cult of mother in the Italian society. An Italian house is full of sharp angles, hard floors and other objects harmful for children. Whereas "the English domestic world is a soft, soft place". The list goes on... At the beginning of the chapter "Santa Patata", some 170 pages in, the author suddenly stops and asks if possibly the picture of Italy he is painting is too grim. No, he reassures, there is one good aspect of living in Italy: "Aunt Natalina", his babysitter's mother, who is wonderful with his kids. But the 12 pages of this chapter (of the 455 total), plus maybe a few pages at the very end of the book in the chapter about a beach, are the only somewhat positive ones. Then we are back to annoyances of all things Italian. Mediterranean weather? Please. While at times it might seem pleasant inevitably your wife would spoil the experience by complaining "miserable weather, non e' vero?" And when we see a boat named "Santa Monica" the author is sure that it was so named not out of devotion but because "no-one can yet imagine any other way to name a fishing boat". Even football (soccer), the national obsession, is of course taught completely wrong at school... Italy is a horribly foreign place indeed. The grumpy tone and often colorless description of minutia make the book rather difficult to read. I tried hard to think of some positive aspects of the book. The experiences described are real, and although they do not translate necessarily to other parts of Italy or other families the book might give one a taste for some aspects of Italian life. It does bring home struggles of a man foreigner in a country and foreigner in his own family (with an Italian wife and his children growing Italian). It is very different from all other books that I know about one's experiences in a foreign place if only for the amount of resentfulness it contains.
Rating: 
Summary: An accurate view of expatriate fatherhood
Review: Parks accurately and eloquently describes the challenges, frustrations, and joys of raising one's children in a foreign culture. Although this is may be too domestic a subject for those not currently challenged by parenthood themselves (as it would have been for me just two years ago), both expats living in Italy and those living elsewhere will be inspired by Parks' diplomacy and philosophy in negotiating his children's upbringing with the entire county, who see things differently. Ultimately, it is just such a study of the Italian household which gives a deeper picture of the Italian culture than any history book or political essay ever could. Parks narrates his portrait lovingly (I disgree with a previous reader's conclusion that Parks 'doesn't like Italians'), and page after page I found that Parks has the eloquence, humour, and grace to express what I had often observered here in my corner of Italy.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining and down-to-Earth
Review: The author has a wonderful sense of humor. Reading about Italy from the perspective of a parent raising his children was very amusing and interesting. I found this book to be a fast and enjoyable (sometimes hilarious) read!
Rating: 
Summary: Snide and condescending
Review: The author really doesn't like Italy or the Italians. His first book on Italy was wonderful.
Buy that and read it instead. The outlook on the
first book was one of bemusement and an attempt
at understanding; here, he just fears for his
children (rightfully so). I wish I hadn't read it
because now I don't like the author as much.
Rating: 
Summary: Edgier Sequel to Italian Neighbors
Review: This is a difficult review for me to write since my problems with Tim Parks's book have a can't-quite-put-my-finger-on-it-quality. There's much to enjoy about the book, of course--the descriptions of the beach culture in Italy are particularly wonderful. As an American who's lived in both Italy and England I really enjoyed the comparisons with child rearing, particularly the Italian obsessive floor moping culture with the English slightly more casual approach. I was glad, too, that Parks was open about his wife's Italian identity-- his coyness about her "nonforeignness" was irritating in "Italian Neighbors". Something, however, was lacking in this book for me. I missed the group of neighbors that he described with such detail--I missed their dramas, and their life stories. Mr. Parks seemed to exist in a vacuum with his family. (Now it could be that Mr. Parks ran into some trouble with being so free with other people's lives and decided to be more discreet; I don't know.) I do feel that this book was more disjointed and could have been compressed into a span of a year, or at least put into a more coherent framework, as he did with "Italian Neighbors". These aren't my main problems with the book. There is a bit of a sourness in the tone; it is as if Parks has made his Italian bed and must lie in it. He must also raise his children as Italian, for good or bad, and it is this dominant theme that he wrestles with throughout the book. Without a doubt this in an expatriot's main dilemma--to raise your children successfully in a different culture, you must raise them as foreign to yourself. I'm not sure, deep down, the Mr. Parks is entirely happy with this realization, and a bit of his disillusionment leaks out into the book. Gone is his tone of ironic detachment, and yes, there is often more warmth and feeling, but at what price? (I will mention, though, that the scene when he explodes near the German border after dealing with his beyond-colicky daughter was priceless and the best scene of either book for me) I guess what I'm trying to say is that I often pick up "Italian Neighbors" to reread bits of it, and I don't do that with this book. And that, ultimately, is the final review of all.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining, with a warm and perceptive view of Italy
Review: This wonderful book is a moving and informative account of the author's trials and tribulations raising his children in Italy, and the discoveries he makes about Italian culture during the process. His occasional tendency to simplistically analyze the reasons behind the actions of his relatives, neighbors and friends might grate on the nerves of some readers (particularly those who dislike any criticism of organized religion), but nonetheless his love and respect for Italy and Italians is clearly visible throughout the book. In particular, his charming anecdotes describing his vacations with his children while on the Adriatic coast of Italy struck a strong chord with me. His description of the Italian beach scene made me realize why I enjoyed my vacations on the coast of Italy so much. Throughout the rest of the book, some of his other observations and anecdotes brought me to a deeper awareness of what I both love and dislike about Italy, and further gave me a greater insight into the motivations, joys and aspirations of my Italian friends. I don't know how this book will read if you haven't lived or travelled in Italy, but I would hope that it will give you an appreciation of the wonderful people and culture that I have found here. I read it in one sitting, and afterwards found myself moved to plan yet another expedition into the small beach towns along the coast near my home. In all, this was certainly a wonderful, perceptive and inspiring book, underscored throughout by the author's wit. His earlier book about his Italian experience was certainly funny, but it didn't amuse nearly as much as this one, perhaps because much of his first book was so clearly intended to amuse. This book is witty, warm and loving at the same time and stood head and shoulders above his previous effort.
Rating:
Summary: An Italian education. going to Italy? read this book!
Review: Tim Parks does a great job of describing his life
with his kids and wife and wife's family in Italy.
His problems would be your problems, and the things
that frustrate him to death will frustrate you too!
Must read. I laughed all the way through it, and interrupted
what my husband was reading many times to read him
excerpts of THIS book
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