5 comments about Mother Tongue: An American Life in Italy.

1. If ranked on the scale of self-indulgence, this book beats "Under the Tuscan Sun" hands down, and this is not praise for Frances Mayes. On the strength of the too-kind-by-half editorial and customer reviews on this page, I bought this book hoping for an unromanticized picture of living in Italy. I got instead a maundering exercise in microscopic navel contemplation. Worse, every time a promising detail appears it somehow turns into an unwelcome sermon. This unpleasantly disjointed book veers off into irrelevancy so often and so distractedly one wonders if the author wouldn't benefit from a course of Ritalin therapy. It's true that there are scattered here and there tiny passages of insight into being in Italy as something other than a tourist, but they are too few, and frequently so obscure that I had to read passages three times to wring any meaning at all out of them. Three-quarters of the way through, the conviction that I was searching for pennies in a pigsty overcame my determination to slog through somehow: it just wasn't worth the effort. I'm not proposing this should have been something so prosaic as a travelogue; I was looking for the inner voice as well as practical knowledge. As someone who has studied in and traveled to Italy many times, I've warily considered moving there, and have sought out books that can provide real insight into living in Italy from an expatriate's perspective. "Tuscan Sun" wasn't it, because it really wasn't about living in Italy at all, and despite its relentless charm it was superficial and unconvincing. Equally unwelcome, though, are the dime-store philosophizing, the fractured polemics and the arty but artless syntactical histrionics of this work, particularly since there's so little real information contained in it.



2. This book examines related and ramifying themes: a complex accomodation to the writer's life abroad in her second marriage to a gifted Italian scientist, the life of her late Italian mother-in-law, the rewards and challenges of raising an American-born daughter in Italy, and the history of Parma as an expatriate discovers it. through an idiosyncratic and utterly charming progression of chapters. The gifted poet and essayist behind these reflections emerges in a self-portrait unobtrusively yet indelibly. Life and death challenge her, an adopted country both welcomes and resists her: a sensibility of great depth and nuance undergoes reshaping in the event. Wallis Wilde-Menozzi's subsequent book of lyrics, BEES AND OTHER POEMS (2001), carries this sensibility into free verse of distinction and agile grace. The prose here, like the poems printed subsequently, manifest an integral stylist, who inquires with sharp eye and open heart, and makes the connections that want to be made, both the elusive and the penetrating ones. A distinguished and inventive book.

   John Peck




3. The style is very disappointing, heavy and full of redundant notes. There are three main -and disconnected- threads: the city of Parma, her experiences in Italy and her "lectures" about Italian/American lifestyle.
   1) PARMA: all the well known information about the history of Parma and its famous citizens (from the middle ages to Attilio Bertolucci)spread every three pages made the reading unbearable;
   2)PERSONAL EXPERIENCES: probably the most interesting subject, but, unfortunately, she gets lost in the narration of too many details without focusing on and the impact and the understanding of the Italian reality;
   3)HER LECTURES: here is the most disapponting point because of her superficial judgments about italian culture, traditions and institutions. Instead of describing the "how" and "why" she indulges in old stereotypes and boring lectures on American liberalism and individualism. What a pity...



4. As someone who has, for the last five years, tried to balance my life in the States and my life in Italy, this book has had a lasting impact on the way I view myself as an American, a foreigner, a writer, and an adopted Italian. The book is heavy - it isn't a light travelogue by any means - but anyone with patience and a true desire to dig a little deeper will be rewarded. I carry it with me every time I travel and I re-read passages that seem to speak to me in that moment - the chapter on bread is a favorite.



5. It's difficult to describe this book as simply a memoir when the writing is at times as eloquent as poetry and the themes range from Italian history and politics to individualism and family all the way down to violets outside the window and bread on the table. Above all is the issue of identity- of speaking with an American voice in another landscape- and the struggle that arises when someone gifted, youthful and inquisitive lands in an inward-looking place stiffly rooted in tradition and sameness.
   
   Among the rules and formalities of Italian life, Wilde-Menozzi exhibits a fierce determination to explore and understand both the limits and depths of her new country while trying to maintain the largely American ideals of optimism, free will and self-actualization. What I appreciate about this book is the sincerity and scope of her search for a sense of belonging and connection. With a tone that is rebellious at times, she looks to politics, women in history, Italian behavior, food and culture for answers and comfort and ultimately finds solace in her own powers of observation, analysis and invention. The result is an insightful and daring book rich with beautifully observed elements of modern Italy which also manages to be a deeply moving and personal work.

No comments about Florence Pocket Map and Guide (Eyewitness Pocket Maps & Guides).

2 comments about Timeless Venice: Discovering Today's City in a Map 500 Years Old.

1. Fascinating little book and the best version of the Barberi map that I have come across, and I have many.



2. The idea is a nice one -- pictures of places in Venice as they are today, coupled with their representations on the famous Barbari map. But the catch -- and it is a big one -- is that you have to view each pair accompanied by the somewhat self-satisfied narrator. He schoolmarms a history of each place at very great length before we see the pairing, and you have to go thru the process every time you wish to look, or look again, at any of the many places available. Not at all for reference or browsing: one would not want to go thru all that more than once.
   And when you wish to exit the program, there is an interminably long list of credits before it closes.

No comments about Italy Spiral Guide (Aaa Spiral Guides).

No comments about Lonely Planet Best Of Turin (Lonely Planet Encounter Series).

No comments about Fast Talk Audio - Italian (Fast Talk).

2 comments about Lonely Planet Cycling Italy (Lonely Planet Cycling Guides).

1. My decidedly American husband was able feed his bicycle addition into the Alps of Italy with this book. He bonded with the local bicylists, didn't wreck and managed to find his way back to the appartementi by dark. This book has the basic phrases and a maps that will allow you to enjoy a little adventure off the beaten track. You might even ride with a fleet of people that share a love of life, filled with riding into the anoxic elevations and descending with gusto to a glass of wine. He saw a magical bit of Italy that most tourists never see.



2. Lonely Planet - Cycling Italy by Ethan Gelber it is a very useful guide even for an italian like me. The guide it is also a good introduction to the general world of "cycle touring".
   The limit is, for a long distance rider as me, the guide does not suggests a complete uninterrupted tour of italy. This guide in Amazon costs less than in the italian book market(importation tax included). Bye.

5 comments about Amalfi: Italy's Divine Coast.

1. An amazing collection of the most remarkably beautiful spots in the region. A must-have. The best pictures I have seen on the Costiera Amalfitana.



2. This book was not as good as the other review made it out to be. Some good pictures of towns and views of the sea, but far too many pictures of festivals and people for my taste. Picture quality is only good-not excellent.



3. In my opinion, Italy's Amalfi coast is one of the best kept travel secrets in the world. This gorgeous region rivals any in the world with its blue sky, crystalline water and beautiful backdrop of mountains. The region has its own unique character and charm, well captured in this book. Amalfi is someplace truly special, reserved only for those who appreciate beauty in its most full-blown form. If you're one of those who loves a treat, you simply can't go wrong with this book.



4. There is nothing like the Amalfi coast. Hidden from most of the world, the only accessible route is one road that travels high in the jagged cliffs. Amalfi is unique unto itself. Much like Provence, France, only different. Both are special. My sister and I love flying over Amalfi, in fact, we are the only identical twins to ever do so. I have been flying for nearly 15 years, so don't worry, we're safe! Of course, if you do go to the Amalfi Coast, stay in Sorrento, and then come see our beautiful Isle of Capri. Almafi is gorgeous; Capri is magical, but not quite our Provence, which we always retreat to, because we are French. -------------------------Presented by Summer!



5. The pictures were beautiful but I guess I wanted something that was going to give me the same feelings I had when I first saw the Amalfi Coast, I wanted the book to take my breath away. I enjoyed the book but I wanted something with more landscape views of Positano and of the surrounding areas.

No comments about Naples and Pompeii Pocket Map and Guide (Eyewitness Travel - Pocket Maps & Guides).

No comments about Italy South (Michelin Regional Maps).