Rating: 
Summary: Changed my life!
Review: A beautiful tale of fathers and sons woven with the realities of immigration, war, and love.
Rating: 
Summary: Unto the Sons
Review: As an Italian reader I found this book very involving and enjoyable.It's a passionate, well written story of emigration, and it's a story about roots and identity. In my opinion the only fault of this book is that it isn't the story of the whole family, but only of half of it. The Talese saga depicts a world crowded with very interesting and well-portrayed male characters. It's the story of their dreams and their disappointments, of their failures and their achievements and of the risks they dared to take in the struggle for a better life in the old and in the new world throughout a century. It's a story about the troubles of a double loyalty and, to some extent, it's a journey home. And I must say I found very interesting to look at a piece of italian history through the eyes of a second generation Italian-American. In sharp contrast, the female characters are pale ghosts, barely sketched shadows wandering in the narrow space of an old house, of a narrow Southern Italian village, of an American store. Even Ippolita, the grand-grandmother, the only non-conventional woman of the family, remains hidden to us. And I happened to wonder whether Talese is not able to find anything really worthy of attention in these women and in their lives,portrayed as just spent in the shadow of their men (fathers, husbands, sons), or if they live in a world of their own, completely impenetrable to him. Whatever the answer, Talese seems to be aware of this imbalance: the title of the book is "Unto the Sons" and the sons are the male children.
Rating: 
Summary: Historical Perspectives/Politcal Messages
Review: Gay Talese's work on his family's journey from Italy to America is an involved tale that delves into a difficult historical period for both the United States and Italy. Revolution, social upheaval, racism, and war color Talese's story from start to finish. These themes give the tale a characteristically depressing bent which tends to ramble in certain places. In addition, there is a decided social message which the author appears to be trying to put forth during the entire story. These perspectives, and those on Italian history, should be viewed in the context of interpretations of an Italian American writer and not be taken as those of traditional native Italian scholars. Still, the book is in a bold attempt at telling the story of one family's struggle, on both sides of the Atlantic, during the social upheaval of the twentieth century.
Rating:
Summary: Historical Perspectives/Politcal Messages
Review: Gay Talese's work on his family's journey from Italy to America is an involved tale that delves into a difficult historical period for both the United States and Italy. Revolution, social upheaval, racism, and war color Talese's story from start to finish. These themes give the tale a characteristically depressing bent which tends to ramble in certain places. In addition, there is a decided social message which the author appears to be trying to put forth during the entire story. These perspectives, and those on Italian history, should be viewed in the context of interpretations of an Italian American writer and not be taken as those of traditional native Italian scholars. Still, the book is in a bold attempt at telling the story of one family's struggle, on both sides of the Atlantic, during the social upheaval of the twentieth century.
Rating: 
Summary: Nonfiction, or facts based on perspective?
Review: Like most everyone who lives in the United States, our ancestral heritage may contain an assortment of interesting stories of people, places and events that make us who we are today. The heritage of Gay Talese is yet another of those interesting stories. Talese chronicles his family's past . The majority of the tale discusses the effects of World War I and II on both his and his extended family in his former home of southern Italy. Dear reader must be prepared for two major overbearing characteristics of this book. First, the paperback novel is more than six hundred pages of small print. Second, this book is published under the auspices of being questionably "non-fiction." One may find much of the book required a large degree of imagination to recreate actual conversations and events. Like any other person who is affected by world events, we may only surmise how history has influenced our own individual positions. Although the book is in some ways informative, it is as much an opinionated characterization of facts. Sadly, the ending doesn't so much as conclude, as it just runs out of steam. Even with all of these downfalls, it remains an informative and interesting read.
Rating:
Summary: Nonfiction, or facts based on perspective?
Review: Like most everyone who lives in the United States, our ancestral heritage may contain an assortment of interesting stories of people, places and events that make us who we are today. The heritage of Gay Talese is yet another of those interesting stories. Talese chronicles his family's past . The majority of the tale discusses the effects of World War I and II on both his and his extended family in his former home of southern Italy. Dear reader must be prepared for two major overbearing characteristics of this book. First, the paperback novel is more than six hundred pages of small print. Second, this book is published under the auspices of being questionably "non-fiction." One may find much of the book required a large degree of imagination to recreate actual conversations and events. Like any other person who is affected by world events, we may only surmise how history has influenced our own individual positions. Although the book is in some ways informative, it is as much an opinionated characterization of facts. Sadly, the ending doesn't so much as conclude, as it just runs out of steam. Even with all of these downfalls, it remains an informative and interesting read.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Book
Review: This great book is of such a high quality that a short review by a guy like me can not begin to do it justice.It reads like an epic novel,but has so much more power when one remembers its a memoir-not a fictional tale.Talese's writing style is direct and spares the reader any wordiness and over description.Anyone interested in family,immigration or even larger themes like the whole of American life would be well served by reading this book
Rating:
Summary: An epic tale
Review: This is a sweeping epic about an Italian family. Gay Talese has a rich family history and he tell's their story (in a way it is his story) with the voice of a novelist. There are many characters who might appear uniteresting if we were to "meet them on the street," but Talese's ability to get under their skin, as it were, gives them individuality, personality and humanity. And this is the story of the characters: it is not contrived by the author--though, of course, he tailers their stories to fit HIS book. This is not a romanticized tale. Sometimes it is dark, with stern, superstitious ancestors and bleak events. Yet when it was over I felt a warmth for most of the characters in it. This is the epic of many Americans. My own ancestors had many similar experiences. My ancestors are fairly recent German and Swedish immigrants, but much of their story is the story of the Talese family. It is the story of our own individuality striving against our heritage and either coming to terms with it or rejecting it. Gay Talese has helped my understand myself in terms of my own heritage through this excellent book.
Rating:
Summary: An epic tale
Review: This is a sweeping epic about an Italian family. Gay Talese has a rich family history and he tell's their story (in a way it is his story) with the voice of a novelist. There are many characters who might appear uniteresting if we were to "meet them on the street," but Talese's ability to get under their skin, as it were, gives them individuality, personality and humanity. And this is the story of the characters: it is not contrived by the author--though, of course, he tailers their stories to fit HIS book. This is not a romanticized tale. Sometimes it is dark, with stern, superstitious ancestors and bleak events. Yet when it was over I felt a warmth for most of the characters in it. This is the epic of many Americans. My own ancestors had many similar experiences. My ancestors are fairly recent German and Swedish immigrants, but much of their story is the story of the Talese family. It is the story of our own individuality striving against our heritage and either coming to terms with it or rejecting it. Gay Talese has helped my understand myself in terms of my own heritage through this excellent book.
Rating:
Summary: Revealing background to immigration to the USA
Review: This magnificently written portrait of the extraordinary spirit of the Italian people, and the decision of some of them to leave Southern Italy, skillfully portrays the life and customs of small towns in pre war Calabria and New Jersey. It introduces us to many fascinating and industrious people, and their struggle in the two world wars. It also shows us to what it felt like to be an immigrant in the United States before the last war, and what it meant to see your children grow up as citizens of a country that was actively allied against your beloved homeland. It is a superb account of the role Italian people have played in the development of this country, the richness of their culture and the expertise they have brought with them. A definate "Must Read" for anyone interested in Italy and the dynamics of the USA.
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