Rating: 
Summary: Un Bel Libro...A Beautiful Book
Review: Frances Mayes delivers for her readers an animated, lyrical, luscious memoir of her decision to purchase and renovate a house in Cortona, Italy.If you are at all interested in Italy or traveling this book will delight you and make you envious of the life she is carving out in Tuscany.
Unfortunately, if you are looking for a gripping drama you will be quite bored with Mayes' descriptions of her meals, shopping excursions, home renovations and the visits to Etruscan tombs.
I found myself wandering at certian points in the book as some of descriptions of the house renovations got just a little too wordy, but I was always pulled back into the story by another description of the townspeople, dinners at the town restaurants, churches or the surrounding towns.
An enjoyable read, where Mayes creates a vivid imagery of the Italian countryside and beautiful prose that let's the reader into her most private thoughts.
Rating:
Summary: Pretension spelled M-A-Y-E-S
Review: Frances Mayes's book made me long to go to Tuscany...but only with the hope of never running into its author. While beautifullly evoking her enviable experience of buying and restoring a house in an unbelievably gorgeous setting, Ms.Mayes's self-importance and pretension, her self-congratulatory tone at being an oh so fabulous cook and connoissuer of Italian culture in general (Ms.Mayes is adamant about eating in "strictly local" trattorias - all activities even hinting of those engaged in by tourists are frowned up and strictly avoided at all costs) is sometimes too much to be believed and you might find yourself thinking "is this woman for real?" However, in all fairness, I must say that the book is an enjoyable read, especiallly for those with an abiding love for Tuscany.
Rating: 
Summary: Dreams realised
Review: There's only one phrase for it: I loved this book! I bought it in a mixed language bookshop in Florence an it took me only a day an a half to read it while I was travelling. I was hooked from the beginning. Frances Mayes has an easy writing style, she invites you into her personal world without betraying any confidences or being too personal.
The nicest thing about the book was the combination of seasons, history and events that took place in those seasons, and the food she cooked at those times of which she supplies recipes.
It comes off as an extremely inviting and personal story of love; love for her family, her partner, and her true home in Tuscany.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent writer - Excellent escapism
Review: I listened to the audio book read by Barbara Caruso (who has a marvellous reading voice). I thoroughly enjoyed the excellent quality of the writing which beautifully brought to life one woman's experience in a foreign country with different lifestyle and customs. I don't think it pretends to portray every aspect of Tuscan life, but rather just her experiences and joys of the place and the people. By chance, on British television there is currently running a series about the 'real Tuscany' (warts and all). But that is not I wanted to read about in a book of this nature - I wanted a well-written bit of escapism, and that's what I got - an excellent read (some of the reviews seem, dare I say, I little jealous of Frances Mayes lifestyle - I say good luck to her and congratulations on a excellent piece of entertaining writing).
Rating: 
Summary: More pretentious than the Medicis without the substance
Review: I have always been skeptical of fancy travelogues, particularly thsoe written by rich anglo-saxons in search of poetry and aesthetic delight in a country that has plenty to offer of both. I think only Goethe captured it properly with his 'Reise nach Italien'. The problem with this sort of style is that it never really shows who the loclas are. They are only a prop to use as leverage for some pretentious story about the diffciulty of doing this transaction or the charm of this hand jesture. This book describes Tuscany (a fraction of Italy) as a paradise. it can be but only if you're rich. Italians live now as most Americans. They have all the 'plagues' of modern life and what would have been interesting is to discover how many of them have compromised the traditional Italian lifestyle with the demands of modern life. For, in genral, despite the difficulties Italians are fun-loving and enjoy aesthetic pursuits at all class levels. this book makes too much of catholic traditions; whereas Italians (especially educated ones) are mostly agnostic and care less about God than most Europeans. Let alone Americans. they also don't care about decoration in a restaurant and food is judged on its own merit. the best loved pizza in Italy is served in a very ugly restaurant called Trianon in a poor central area of Napoli. It's where pizza Margherita was invented. Building or renovating a renaissance villa is no small task and it's a pursuit 99.9% of Italians cannot afford. this book hardly approaches anything close to a description of life in Italy. It's self-absorbed as its writer and pretentious. Ms. Mayes should now complement the package with a rich Italian boyfriend who drives a Ferrari of course. (even though most Ferraris are sold in California, because most Italians can't afford them and if they can they don't wnat to flaunt it). Though Italians do drive as if they are all at the wheel of a red sports car.
Rating:
Summary: Under the Tuscan Sun
Review: The tittle of this book encompasses the essence of the book. It is not a story but more of a biography of the struggles and joys of restoring a farmhouse in Tuscany.If everyone had the wherewithal and the finances to accomplish this then there would be no need for the book. This book gives us dreams, hopes, and recipes. Be aware that reading this book will make you want to eat Italian. And maybe pass a few more cars on the road
Rating:
Summary: Under the Tuscan $un
Review: I just have to echo the reviews of Mike from Abingdon and Cary from San Francisco. I lived in Florence for several months and was given this book as a gift. I found this work rather self-congratulatory and superficial, and her attitudes toward the Italians and their culture at times condescending. It is a book about spending money, lots of it, with little literary value.
Rating:
Summary: Warning
Review: Warning: Do not buy this book unless you are prepared to travel to Italy soon! Once you read it you won't be able to resist the temptation to see Italy (and especially Tuscany) for yourself.
Rating: 
Summary: This month's Glamour issue: vacation in Tuscany
Review: Like many before me, I was at first seduced by the sensuality of the prose. The mouthwatering descriptions of lavish feasts sent me running to the kitchen in an attempt to reproduce the dishes using our sad and pale supermarket produce. Best results were eventually obtained with the farmer's market veggies.
After 50 pages or so a feeling creeps up that I am viewing an expertly photographed food advertisement or reading an article in Glamour magazine. This is how Tuscany would be represented to a consumer, rustic and quirky, brightly colored and pungently scented. I am guessing Tuscany is in fact all these tasty things. But with a powerful prism of all-American consumerism (of which Frances Mayes is a fine example), the living glow of Tuscany is concentrated and marketed like an exclusively priced piece of merchandise. Recently I saw the film Stealing Beauty that would go along perfectly with the book as a commercialized, soulless but very attractive representation of the region.
It only gets worse. With the completion of Bramasole's restoration the commercial feast for the senses gives way to guidebook monotony. I am keeping the recipes, which are simple and delicious. The rest is going to the paper recycling bin.
Bottomline: Under the Tuscan Sun has definite aesthetic appeal, but so does a beautifully photographed pair of Prada shoes.
I am now reading A Year In Provence by Peter Mayle. What a vastly superior yet humble writer!
Rating:
Summary: Frances shops, eats, pays people to fix farmhouse
Review: Well, the cover of the book is wonderful.... But then you start reading... It seems that the writer of this book is a typical self absorbed professor who has lost touch with those of us who work. She (daringly!!) spends big money on an old farm house in italy and then hires people to fix it up. Somehow this is supposed to inspire others to see the simplicity and beauty of Tuscany? She then describes every detail of her vast shopping trips and dining experiences around the region. Living simply shouldn't require such an enormous bank account... I bought the book used, so I'm happy that I am only partially financing another of her excursions. Some of her reflections on the age and beauty of the Italian country side are inspiring. Her understanding of the Roman Catholic religious culture is superficial and at several points insulting. If you REALLY have 3 months a year to vacation and six weeks at Christmas time and lots of money, and a boyfriend with lots of money, and you want to go to Tuscany and buy a farmhouse, this is your book. If not, I recommend reading something else, anything else.
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