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As the Romans Do: An American Family's Italian Odyssey |
List Price: $13.00
Your Price: $9.75 |
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Product Info |
Reviews |
Rating: Summary: Don't waste your time Review: This book is an infuriating collection of stereoypes, errors and prejudices.
The author gives no sense of place and consistantly compares apples to oranges by using the example of affluent Romans in juxtaposition to suburbanite Americans, who have as much in common with his Italian neighbors as they do with their fellow countrymen living in New York City.
He spouts facts, without having done the research to confirm the information and is too often wrong. I resent having wasted my time on this one.
Rating: Summary: Limited and tedious Review: This book is not an American family's odyssey but pompous blather about a very limited slice of Roman life. Having lived in Rome, I don't agree at all with much of the author's perspective (one example: he brags that Roman women dress fairly formally, to the max -- but observation on the streets, restaurants, theater etc. shows that as in other European cities, some dress up, most don't. A small point perhaps, but revealing of a limited vantage point) Much of the book seems mostly about his ego.
Rating: Summary: Rambling Essays Review: This book, unfortunately, seems to be trying to cash in on the lucrative trend for travel essays and tales of temporary ex-patriots. The author presents un-connected chapters, each containing musings about some aspect of Rome, but none has much of an idea, theme, or point. Reading this book reminded me of why I don't like to be invited to a slide show of somebody else's trip-- you had to be there. Amateur photography and amateur writing just do not convey the essence of a place very well. The writing in this book is undisciplined and the author makes the mistaken assumption that one's stream of consciousness without intellectual rigor will be interesting to someone outside his circle of family and friends. Not recommended.
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