Rating: 
Summary: An uncommon view into a secret people
Review: Isabel Fonseca does not write as an anthropologist; she has opinions, and is sometimes quite forthright about her negative feeling. She has documented her travels in Bulgaria and Albania, where she visits various Gypsy families in their shantytowns. The impoverishment of Albania is accentuated for the Gypsies, who traditionally shun education and a trade in favor of a nomadic existence. These semi-permanent Gypsies never merge with the people around them, instead staying separate and still abiding by cleanliness laws special to Rom culture. Even the more well-off Rom families live their own special way and stay remote from the world around them.Despite her lack of "objectivity" or perhaps because of it, Fonseca writes a compelling book about the daily live and struggles of Rom in various Eastern European countries. It can perhaps be compared to Oscar Lewis' Five Families, a well-known anthropological look at family life across economic levels in Mexico.
Rating: 
Summary: Good research, but opinions heavily biased
Review: While I have to commend Fonseca for her extensive in-the-field research, I was a bit put off by many of her blanket statements. She presents a fairly one-sided view of the gypsies. Mainly, she seems to be suffering from a severe case of white liberal guilt, which translates in a very skewed basic idea in the book, which is this: gypsies are complete innocents persecuted by blind Eastern European racists. Well, having lived and worked in Romania for over a year, I developed a more objective opinion of the situation. Yes, gypsies are racially targetted. In fact, what the average white Romanian feels about gypsies is along the lines of what the avergae Klansmen feels about blacks in America: they hate them fanatically, without any reservations. Yet . . . what is the underlying reason? It is more than just irrational racism working here--and it is a lot more than the material envy that Fonseca so blithely puts forward in her book. See, instead of dealing honestly with certain self-destructive tendencies within the gypsy community, Fonseca displays typical liberal apologist views, rationalizing away even the worse actions of her subject matters. For example, the self-destructive habits of the gypsies include seeing education as a threat to tradition (95% of gypsies are illiterate), the inability to change or assimilate with changing times, the incredible birthrate (most gypsy women are taught to bare as many children as possible, regardless of the means to supporting them), the patriarchal system that forces girls to marry while in their early teens in arranged marriages, their rampant begging and thieving, etc. These are stereotypes, of course, but stereotypes are often true--so don't condemn them when you've never been here. These actions of the gypsies, more than anything else, are what's keeping them from attaining their potential--it's NOT only racism. Yet, if you were to read Fonseca's book, you'd think it was the ubiquitously evil White Man who's behind everything! So, for potential readers, enjoy the book--but read everything with skepticism. And if you really want to know the "other side" of the gypsies, come to Eastern Europe and see for yourself. Go to the orphanages, the shelters, the huffers, and most pityingly of all, the children who've been mutilated by their parents so they can earn more money begging. (In the book, she dismisses the notion off-handedly; but in my own research while going to the shelters, I have developed a . . . different opinion.) So . . . overall, the book's informative--but don't trust the information wholeheartedly.
Rating: 
Summary: Them Against the World
Review: The present-day struggles of the Gypsies (or Roma, as they call themselves) are the main focus of this book, especially those of Eastern Europe. Fonseca has certainly paid her dues by living among these people who usually are no longer nomadic, despite the stereotypes, but lead lives that are depressingly reminiscent of refugee or squatter camps. This is due to their centuries-old marginalization and ostracization among the societies they inhabit. Fonseca examines the continuing persecution and hatred that the Roma face everywhere they live, due to their centuries of non-conformist existence and refusal to assimilate, as well as their talent for unconventional occupations and livelihoods. (In fact, their plight and lifestyle are quite similar to that of European Jews prior to WWII, or segregation-era African Americans). Unfortunately for this generally interesting subject matter, Fonseca's writing style is very inelegant and unfocused, with a severe lack of organization. Her coverage of her sojourns with various Roma clans around Eastern Europe jumps around haphazardly between locations and time periods. She also tantalizingly mentions Roma in other regions, like the US or Britain, but describes them no further. Meanwhile Fonseca's examinations of Gypsy history and worldwide social issues, from their exodus out of India a millennium ago to their unappreciated suffering in the Holocaust (called "The Devouring" by the Roma), are used merely as background to her sociological study, and hence appear awkward and undeveloped. Thus, the book tries to be a social study of modern Gypsies but only reluctantly veers into history and politics, leaving all these areas unclear and poorly covered.
Rating:
Summary: Good info, writing could've been better
Review: Fonseca certainly did a commendable job researching her subject, and there is interesting and useful information all throughout the book. However, after wading through thousands of unnecessary words (where was her editor?), I still can't decide if the author respects her subjects or not. She decsribes the stringent work ethic of her female hosts -- and in the next breath describes some Gypsies' cars as "pimpmobiles," a phrase which, while conjuring a visual image, certainly doesn't imply a respect towards these people or their culture. There are many other examples of cultural insensitivity in the book (such as her revulsion at two Gypsy men defecating outdoors -- well, if you don't have indoor plumbing or an outhouse, where would *you* go?), which caused me to question many of the opinions she ventures. I'm by no means a fan of "political correctness" for the sake of itself, but language which implies derision or disrespect leaves me feeling a bit sour. If Fonseca (or her editors) had trimmed away the excess verbiage, and used some less prejudicial language, a higher rating would be in order.
Rating:
Summary: Living with the Gypsies
Review: Isabel Fonseca holds no punches when she writes about the gypsies. The author tells it like it is and makes no excuses for the lifestyle the gypsies choose to live with. The layout of the book is pretty good and the limited use of photos actaully enhances the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic book. Detailed stories and insights. Unbiased.
Review: I am married to an American Gypsy who was born and raised in Chicago. His parents, grandparents were also born & raised in America. I feel there is an extreme lack of literature on American Gypsies. These Gypsies have several clans here in America, speak their own launguages (although they dont use a written language). My Gypsy husband and I have 4 children, and we celebrate Gypsy holidays, speak Rom at home and cook a mix of American Gypsy food. My kids have alot of Gypsy relatives all over the country, (they travel alot!). When my kids study family lineage in class or have heritage day at school, my husband begs the kids to say that they are Italian or Romanian. He is afraid of negative repurcussions if the kids proudly admit they are Gypsy. Gypsies r looked on as thieves, fortuntellers and basically just as being scandalous people. It is very hard for me to watch my children observe this racism,and experience this fear. It reminds me of what the Jews must have went through just before the holocust--that feeling of shame & fear. I feel disillusined that in the USA in the year 1999 it is shameful that my American born children (their great-great-great-great-great grandmother is Hannah Lincon, sister of Abe Lincon!!), have to feel shameful of their heritage. Well now that i have voiced my opinion, I am hoping that some scholar/researcher/writer will write some informative non biased books that reflect the positive aspects of American-Gypsy culture and their strong family values.
Rating:
Summary: Focuses on Gypsy plight more than history
Review: Whether the author is unfairly blaming Eurpeans and their racism and excusing Gypsy failings, as suggested by another reviewer, is up to the reader to decide. This debate is the focus of the book, however, and the reader should be aware of it. There is some history of the Gypsies--where they came from, the roots of their language, and interesting data showing that they were originally imported to Europe as slaves. But, this takes up only one chapter in any detail. The rest of the book emphasizes the plight of the Gypsies and how they have been treated by the countries they live in. Whatever you think about how the Gypsies may have brought some of it on themselves, as the reviewer who had been to Romania implied, one can't deny the brazen racism with which the Gypsies have been treated. I will also think of this book the next time a European hypocritically criticizes racism in America.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book!
Review: This book is one of the best modern overviews of gypsies today, dealing with trials and troubles. The author deals with the situation of the Roma in post-Communist Eastern Europe with a slightly biased eye, but if you take some things with a grain of salt, this book is a wonderful read and you might learn something too!
Rating:
Summary: Beyond stereotypes
Review: This book opens with a chapter on the great Romany poet, Papusza (born as Bronislawa Wajs), which appeared earlier in The New Yorker. As Fonseca tells us, Papusza wrote a long autobiographical ballad about hiding in the forests during World War II--"Bloody Tears: What We Went Through Under the Germans in Volhynia in the Years 43 and 44." Discovered by the Polish poet Jerzy Ficowski in 1949, Papusza also wrote of the Jewish experience and "the vague threat of the gadjikane" (non-Gypsy) world." But her 1987 death in Poland, where she had lived most of her life, went unnoticed. That is an appropriate beginning, for this book is not academic anthropology--and it more than admirably explains, from the Roma point of view, what it means to live in a world that remains largely threatening to the Roma. The book is not uniformly complimentary. But Fonseca lived for a period with Roma families, learned their separate and distinct Romany language, traveled across Eastern Europe with them, observed the poverty-stricken ghettos and mud hovels in which the poorest made their beds. And one finds in her closeness to them a sympathy altogether lacking in many other works. Fonseca writes of her own extensive experience, of course, but also refers to more than 140 scholars, including the fine work of Rom professor Ian Hancock and Jan Yoors. The latter likewise lived among Roma, albeit during the pre-war and World War II eras. She recounts the likely path that the Roma traveled from India to Europe, their centuries of enslavement, their high rate of illiteracy (and cultural reasons for it), their experience during the Holocaust, which the Roma appropriately term the Devouring--and the new generation of Rom leaders who hope to lead their people to a more productive and accepted role in European and world society. For anyone who has ever wondered about the Rom--especially those wanting a portrait that moves beyond the stereotypes of literature and music like Carmen--this is a fine place to begin. Alyssa A. Lappen
Rating:
Summary: Bold, highly creative, brilliant, fascinating
Review: Isabel Fonseca has endeavered on a fascinating task requiring mounds of research and spending hundreds of hours with Roma people. She constructs a brilliant, highly creative work documenting the struggles, challenges and life stories of Roma people in Eastern Europe. Fonseca looks beneath stereotypes to get at the truth.
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