Rating: 
Summary: A Super Read. It Sings!
Review: "Dances with Luigi" is a super read. It sings. It transported me to Rome--into the coffee bar in a side street, to a jazz club after hours, along the ancient stones of the Appian Way. It took me up into the Abruzzii mountains whose medieval villages hid ageless secrets. And most of all, it told me a heart warming story of an American's discovery of his family's past.
Rating:
Summary: Vivid, colorful journey
Review: "Dances" took me on a rich and colorful journey through Italy revealing the author's intimate, personal emotions about his family and heritage. The author's vivid descriptions of the landscape and his relatives made me feel as if I had accompanied him on this soul-searching trip. For anyone who's ever been curious about their background, ethnicity and cultural heritage, this is a must-read and will inspire you to learn more about your own family lineage.
Rating:
Summary: Sharing the Legacy
Review: Even for someone who usually does not like non-fiction, this book is a treasure. Mr. Paolicelli combines the flavor of both Rome and Southern Italy with the elements of a mystery, finding one's roots. For anyone who has shared the experience of growing up Italian-American or anyone who is in the process of growing up as an Italian-American now, this book will provide a wonderful link to your background. For those of any nationality it is a charming, warm look at the quest for links to one's heritage. I plan on giving a copy of this book to both my sons and my sister so they can share with me the knowledge this book gave me and the pride it reawakened
Rating: 
Summary: Nice story, although.....
Review: I am an Italophile with southern italian roots. This book grabbed me by the throat. I couldn't put it down. He trudged through the northern Italian stereotypes of southerners, but then colorfully decribed wonderful, vital people, as he finds friends, countrymen, and then, finally family in the Southern Italian towns that his ancestors left so many years before. His story describes a combination of hard work, diligence and good fortune. A great read for anyone trying to find their roots, or who is interested in things Italian.
Rating:
Summary: Dances with Luigi, really, dance along with Paolo!
Review: I am an Italophile with southern italian roots. This book grabbed me by the throat. I couldn't put it down. He trudged through the northern Italian stereotypes of southerners, but then colorfully decribed wonderful, vital people, as he finds friends, countrymen, and then, finally family in the Southern Italian towns that his ancestors left so many years before. His story describes a combination of hard work, diligence and good fortune. A great read for anyone trying to find their roots, or who is interested in things Italian.
Rating: 
Summary: Hokey and Contrived
Review: I expected a lot from this book but it was filled with soppy sentimentality. It was amazing how many times tears were brought to his eyes and how situations came alive at the most prophetic moment. And the most amazing of all the "just-in-time" epiphany. Give it a break!
Rating:
Summary: An adventure with the past
Review: I found this book difficult to put down after I started it. For anyone who has pondered their ancestry and wondered what it would uncover this is an adventure worth reading. Full of fun and very informative about Italian-American heritage.
Rating:
Summary: A promising story with too many loose ends
Review: I was really pulling for this book because I'm going through the same experience, although more at my family's behest, of tracing my Italian ancestry. The first chapter or two show promise, and Paolicelli has a readible style. When his Italian friends insist he detour off the highway into a town whose name he suddenly remembers from his childhood, the resulting episode at the town hall is fascinating. But in the end the book just doesn't hang together very well. The story wanders off into too many dead ends. We read at first about his landlord and guide Luigi, who the book is named after, but that really isn't the focus of the story. And when it appears that the common thread between the author and his ancestors may be music, that theme doesn't get developed either. I could live with that, but the main problem with the lack of focus is with the ancestors themselves. No sooner do you begin to get a picture of one relative from the old country than he jumps to another of the dozen or so aunts, uncles, grandparents and great grandparents on both sides of his family that he's tracing. You'll need to chart his family tree to keep up.
Rating:
Summary: A pleasure.
Review: I've been doing the same type of work to trace my mother's family, and was encouraged and delighted by Mr. Paolicelli's story--it's amazing how many similarities there are in our experiences. But I was disappointed in the end of the adventure, and the drama of the narrative: the book draws you into the relationship the author has with Luigi (it's all in the title!), and he's forgotten in the end. What was it like to leave Italy? Is he still in touch with Luigi, Sebash, etc.? Also, I was surprised at several editorial inconsistencies and incidents of sloppiness in the book. For example, at one point the narrator translates roman numerals for us, but the numerals do not add up to "1801" as way he reveals. Several sentences were unclear and confusing, and a better editor wouldn't have let this happen.
Rating:
Summary: A pleasure.
Review: I've been doing the same type of work to trace my mother's family, and was encouraged and delighted by Mr. Paolicelli's story--it's amazing how many similarities there are in our experiences. But I was disappointed in the end of the adventure, and the drama of the narrative: the book draws you into the relationship the author has with Luigi (it's all in the title!), and he's forgotten in the end. What was it like to leave Italy? Is he still in touch with Luigi, Sebash, etc.? Also, I was surprised at several editorial inconsistencies and incidents of sloppiness in the book. For example, at one point the narrator translates roman numerals for us, but the numerals do not add up to "1801" as way he reveals. Several sentences were unclear and confusing, and a better editor wouldn't have let this happen.
|
