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Summary: A Wonderfully Honest Glimpse into Modern Italy
Review: I've lost count of the times I've revisited Tim Parks' adopted home village of Montecchio and enjoyed his highly entertaining prose describing everyday life among his Italian neighbors. This little book is an absolute treasure, indispensable reading for everyone who loves Italy and Italian culture, warts and all. His observations on Italians and their ways are intuitive and honest, infused with the author's obvious affection for his subjects. One of my all-time favorites.
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Summary: Best Account I Know of being an Expat in Italy
Review: In a series of chapters that can almost stand on their own but are strung together to form the chain of one year, Tim Parks explains what it is really like to live in Italy. He devotes space to the joys of fresh peaches, the Christmas bonus, Italian funeral customs,and a myriad of other subjects, using beautiful prose as he explains the intricacies of Italian life.(I lived in Italy for a few years and I know that I could never approach his knowledge on the subject.) His tone is mostly of ironic detachment, an outsider not quite a full member of his village until the very end of the book, and he usually doesn't depict his neighbors as a bunch of hand-flapping stereotypes. So, why not 5 stars if I enjoyed this book so much? Well, he does play coy with the identity of his wife. (I suppose he hides the fact that she's Italian to make himself seem more adventurous and foreign, though some might say that anyone who would know marching songs of the Italian Alpine Troops would have to be a native.) And there is a subtle anti-catholicism which is most irritating, and out of place in a book that usually deals with its exploration of Italian life with sensitivity. It is still, however, the best book on the subject.
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Summary: Nice Flavors but Disconnected
Review: Parks gives the reader a series of vignettes with a slim narrative connection but his stories never seem to come alive with a true appreciation for Italy. Although I found bits and pieces to be very good -- choosing a cafe, for example, or first sampling his neighbor's prosecco wine -- on the whole the book left me with absolutely no desire to visit the Italy of his experiences, and no interest in reading any of Parks' other books.
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Summary: A brilliant account of life in Italy
Review: Parks is able to do what so few people (even those of us who are Italian) can: understand Italy and the people who live there. This is a marvelous account of life in Italy which can be appreciated by every armchair traveler. He is funny and insightful, and in describing those around him, he allows his reader to understand the not so subtle aspects of Italian behavior. I highly recommend AN ITALIAN EDUCATION, which picks up where this leaves off. This book might be preferable for those who appreciate a more straight forward account, rather than the books by Frances Mayes, which employ more figurative language.
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Summary: If you don't the Italians, you will!
Review: Sparing sentimentality, Tim Parks uncovers the Italian way of life. With a witty, poignant style, he zeroes in on the ups and downs of expatriate living, exposing the humor in Italian culture while ultimately revering it. Though I lived in Italy 11 years, this book gave me a new perspective on Italians.
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Summary: Dog lovers won't like this book
Review: This book may be a realistic portrayal of Italy and it 's people, though I really couldn't get past the author's hatred of animals. He is English and I was under the impression that the English people loved dogs-I guess Tim Parks is the exception. In one of the earlier chapters-he and his wife contemplate poisioning a dog in a country where they are a guest. In this country-the ASPCA would be after him. He also indicates that Italians don't seem to like dogs as a whole. Well-one of my favorite memories of Italy was going through a street in Genoa and seeing a little old Italian man with a Chihuahua in his pocket. I took a picture of it, and that is my sense of Italians and their animals. The writing is very descriptive and gives you a good sense of how the Italian people live day-to-day, but I probabaly would have enjoyed it more if I didn't know the darker side of the author's personality.
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Summary: Dog lovers won't like this book
Review: This book may be a realistic portrayal of Italy and it 's people, though I really couldn't get past the author's hatred of animals. He is English and I was under the impression that the English people loved dogs-I guess Tim Parks is the exception. In one of the earlier chapters-he and his wife contemplate poisioning a dog in a country where they are a guest. In this country-the ASPCA would be after him. He also indicates that Italians don't seem to like dogs as a whole. Well-one of my favorite memories of Italy was going through a street in Genoa and seeing a little old Italian man with a Chihuahua in his pocket. I took a picture of it, and that is my sense of Italians and their animals. The writing is very descriptive and gives you a good sense of how the Italian people live day-to-day, but I probabaly would have enjoyed it more if I didn't know the darker side of the author's personality.
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Summary: Capuccino e espresso
Review: This is a good book. It's so nice to hear about real people and, in this case, about a different culture, as well. Being an expatriate in Germany I recognized a lot of situations and could really empathize with his view of a completely new home. I think I would have liked to hear much earlier in the book that his wife is Italian. I felt a bit cheated when I thought both of them were "foreign" through most of the book - we were led to believe that they were helpless in many situations, when it simply must have been easier.After you read this book. Buy the next. And I hope the next, and the next, and ....
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Summary: Italian Neighbors Or, a Lapsed Anglo-Saxon in Verona
Review: This is the best book I have read about life as an expat in Italy (or anywhere in europe for that matter.) I first read Frances Mayes' books, which I found to portray a bit of a fantasyland in Tuscany. She never tells you what it's REALLY like to live there, day in day out. It wasn't until I read Park's book did I fully understand all the stories and comments from my italian husband. I look forward to the day we move back so I can live out the scenes in each chapter! An excellent read, highly recommended.
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