Love and War in the Apennines

Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary
Review: During World War II, the rural citizens of northern Italy vowed to assist Allied soldiers on the run in their mountainous region. They were operating on an informed heart, on the Golden Rule, wanting to give aid to those who opposed the hated Fascists and Nazis as they would hope someone would help their own sons. And while the Allies were protected by the Geneva Convention should they be captured, the citizens were not and they were subject to less humane punishment, sometimes torture and death, if their actions were found out. But they did it anyway. It is these people, who otherwise lived a pastoral, ancient way of life, whom travel writer extraordinaire Eric Newby profiles in his memoir, LOVE AND WAR IN THE APENNINES.

Those familiar with Newby's other books will find his signature wit, self-deprecating humor and descriptive powers at work here, but his curiosity and appreciation of other people and cultures is in highest gear. He comes to meet the peasantry of northern Italy after fleeing a prison during the chaos following the ouster of Mussolini in September 1943. He is helped by a succession of individuals and families, including the woman who would become his wife and companion in later adventures, the estimable Wanda. The book ends with his unfortunate recapture by the Germans and in an epilogue he revisits the people who took him in ten years after.

Newby is a hugely gifted writer, his sentences are knowing and clear as a bell. He orders information rhythmically, always knows when less is more and more is more. He never bows to sentimentality, never sells anyone out. He does a remarkable job of expressing the fear and dispiritedness that politics and war heave on a people, at the same time revealing their resilience. There is much to admire in this book.

Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary
Review: During World War II, the rural citizens of northern Italy vowed to assist Allied soldiers on the run in their mountainous region. They were operating on an informed heart, on the Golden Rule, wanting to give aid to those who opposed the hated Fascists and Nazis as they would hope someone would help their own sons. And while the Allies were protected by the Geneva Convention should they be captured, the citizens were not and they were subject to less humane punishment, sometimes torture and death, if their actions were found out. But they did it anyway. It is these people, who otherwise lived a pastoral, ancient way of life, whom travel writer extraordinaire Eric Newby profiles in his memoir, LOVE AND WAR IN THE APENNINES.

Those familiar with Newby's other books will find his signature wit, self-deprecating humor and descriptive powers at work here, but his curiosity and appreciation of other people and cultures is in highest gear. He comes to meet the peasantry of northern Italy after fleeing a prison during the chaos following the ouster of Mussolini in September 1943. He is helped by a succession of individuals and families, including the woman who would become his wife and companion in later adventures, the estimable Wanda. The book ends with his unfortunate recapture by the Germans and in an epilogue he revisits the people who took him in ten years after.

Newby is a hugely gifted writer, his sentences are knowing and clear as a bell. He orders information rhythmically, always knows when less is more and more is more. He never bows to sentimentality, never sells anyone out. He does a remarkable job of expressing the fear and dispiritedness that politics and war heave on a people, at the same time revealing their resilience. There is much to admire in this book.

Rating:
Summary: Buy it
Review: I just love Eric newby's writing, and this autobiographical account of his experiences in Italy during WW2 is beautifully realised. This is worth reading at the same time as Carlo Levi's 'Christ Stopped At Eboli' , which I have also reviewed. The warmth and generosity shown Newby, an English POW soldier on the run by the mountain people is touching and bitter-sweet. This is a fitting testament to them.

Rating:
Summary: A comic, colorful true adventure
Review: I totally agree with the "Paris reviewer's" comments, although I did not read the book -- I listened to it on audio tape. What a treat! Mr. Newby is a delightful writer, and so far my wife and I have enjoyed 4 of his books on tapes. They are wonderful companions on long drives. His adventures (and later with Mrs. Newby -- Wanda) are akin to the "Thin Man on a Walkabout" -- except they are fact not fiction! Like the Paris reviewer I can't see why someone has not made movies of several of his books!

Rating:
Summary: Love is hope
Review: It is no hyperbole to say that Eric Newby's pitch-perfect recounting of his wartime experiences in Italy captures both the struggle for, and in many ways the meaning of, life. While the first two chapters cover wartime operations and captivity respectively, the body of the book, including the heart, concern his time `on the run' after the armistice in Mid-1943. While he has his share of near death experiences, this thoughtful book is distinguished by the descriptions of the people and places he encounters along the way.

Another reason to read this book is that the author is so likeable. His great sense of humor (under stressful circumstances, to say the least) is genuinely self-deprecating. When he does point out the humor his intentions never seem mean-spirited. Rather, he seems to cherish whatever quirk he chooses to embellish.

But this book was written for a serious purpose. Newby is totally believable when he says that he wrote this book when he did primarily because he felt that too few of the multitudes writing their post-war memoirs were paying proper respect to the assistance provided by Italians. Clearly he never forgot the enormous risks that so many Italians took, as well as the generosity they showed during a time of extreme hardship.

Newby for one successfully conveys the gravity of the times without overemphasizing his place in what was after all a global disaster. While on the one hand he paints a vivid portrait of a bygone era in a specific place, he somehow simultaneously is able to bring to light one of war's universal and tragic paradoxes-namely, how rapidly even the most seemingly familiar and secure people and places can be plunged into the insanity and depravity of war.

I don't know a lot about Newby (having only read this book and a Short Walk), but I find myself wondering if this experience did not somehow stoke the fires of adventure in him. Some may find my idea distasteful given the contrast between the epic morbidity, evil and senseless suffering of WWII on the one hand and the relative ease and triviality of leisure travel on the other. It is speculation on my part, but perhaps the high stakes of his Italian adventure (no matter how unwittingly embarked upon) made him feel alive in a way he sought to partially replicate later in life by pushing himself to other frontiers.

If you enjoyed this book you might also consider The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz, and Newby's own A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush.

Rating:
Summary: Love is hope
Review: It is no hyperbole to say that Eric Newby's pitch-perfect recounting of his wartime experiences in Italy captures both the struggle for, and in many ways the meaning of, life. While the first two chapters cover wartime operations and captivity respectively, the body of the book, including the heart, concern his time 'on the run' after the armistice in Mid-1943. While he has his share of near death experiences, this thoughtful book is distinguished by the descriptions of the people and places he encounters along the way.

Another reason to read this book is that the author is so likeable. His great sense of humor (under stressful circumstances, to say the least) is genuinely self-deprecating. When he does point out the humor his intentions never seem mean-spirited. Rather, he seems to cherish whatever quirk he chooses to embellish.

But this book was written for a serious purpose. Newby is totally believable when he says that he wrote this book when he did primarily because he felt that too few of the multitudes writing their post-war memoirs were paying proper respect to the assistance provided by Italians. Clearly he never forgot the enormous risks that so many Italians took, as well as the generosity they showed during a time of extreme hardship.

Newby for one successfully conveys the gravity of the times without overemphasizing his place in what was after all a global disaster. While on the one hand he paints a vivid portrait of a bygone era in a specific place, he somehow simultaneously is able to bring to light one of war's universal and tragic paradoxes-namely, how rapidly even the most seemingly familiar and secure people and places can be plunged into the insanity and depravity of war.

I don't know a lot about Newby (having only read this book and a Short Walk), but I find myself wondering if this experience did not somehow stoke the fires of adventure in him. Some may find my idea distasteful given the contrast between the epic morbidity, evil and senseless suffering of WWII on the one hand and the relative ease and triviality of leisure travel on the other. It is speculation on my part, but perhaps the high stakes of his Italian adventure (no matter how unwittingly embarked upon) made him feel alive in a way he sought to partially replicate later in life by pushing himself to other frontiers.

If you enjoyed this book you might also consider The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz, and Newby's own A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush.

Rating:
Summary: endurance and inspiration
Review: Newby's writing can be rather dry, but in this recounting of his escape from the Germans in WWII Italy, he strikes a fine balance between mawkish sentimentalism and tough-guy posturing. An engrossing narration about the extraordinary measures ordinary people can and will resort to, to stay alive and to do what they think is right. Encouraging, inspiring, and highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: One of Newby's best
Review: The Italians Newby depicts in this memoir (and also in his "A Small Place in Italy") are often funny, but never buffoonish. Newby's warm admiration for country folk is always evident, as in this passage where a retired stonemason helps remove an enormous boulder from the hideout the locals are making for him:

"He went over it with his hands, very slowly, almost lovingly. It must have weighed half a ton. Then, when he had finished caressing it, he called for a sledgehammer and hit it deliberately but not particularly hard and it broke into two almost equal halves. It was like magic and I would not have been surprised if a toad had emerged from it and turned into a princess who had been asleep for a million years."

Readers familiar with Newby's travel writing will find all his strengths here: his eye for detail, his warmth of character, his humor (mostly self-deprecating). They will also find a love story -- one made all the more poignant by Newby's craftsmanlike selection of few but telling scenes.

Rating:
Summary: One of Newby's best
Review: The Italians Newby depicts in this memoir (and also in his "A Small Place in Italy") are often funny, but never buffoonish. Newby's warm admiration for country folk is always evident, as in this passage where a retired stonemason helps remove an enormous boulder from the hideout the locals are making for him:

"He went over it with his hands, very slowly, almost lovingly. It must have weighed half a ton. Then, when he had finished caressing it, he called for a sledgehammer and hit it deliberately but not particularly hard and it broke into two almost equal halves. It was like magic and I would not have been surprised if a toad had emerged from it and turned into a princess who had been asleep for a million years."

Readers familiar with Newby's travel writing will find all his strengths here: his eye for detail, his warmth of character, his humor (mostly self-deprecating). They will also find a love story -- one made all the more poignant by Newby's craftsmanlike selection of few but telling scenes.