Rating: 
Summary: like a mini italian vacation
Review: Since I am not lucky enough to be going to Italy myself, this book was like a trip through this region from my very own home. I have run out and bought some of the delicious foods mentioned in the book to at least get more of a taste of Calabria (even if not authentic.) I also am inspired to talk to my own older Italian relatives so I can have some stories to pass down to my kids. It is a great summer read.
Rating: 
Summary: Some Inaccuracies and Less Than Fluid Writing
Review: STOLEN FIGS reads almost as much a paean to food as it does to Calabria, the southernmost tip of Italy and the author's ancestral home. Rotella doesn't pass up any chance to tell us about the meals he indulges in and how those meals relate to life in Calabria. This doesn't mean the book is bad...it isn't...it just means that any reader who picks it up thinking he is going to read a travelogue of southern Italy had better think again.
Rotella tells us how he was on holiday with his father and persuaded the older man to visit the tiny village of Gimigliano, his ancestral home. Although his father was against going, he finally conceded and Rotella encountered a vast array of aunts, uncles and cousins he didn't even know he had as well as a huge, seemingly neverending meal. Although Rotella's father could only manage one more visit, Rotella has journeyed back to Calabria every other year...to see his relatives, to make new friends, and, most of all, to explore the wonderful region of Calabria.
Rotella's guide and companion on his journeys through Calabria is a man named Giuseppe Chiarella, a local postcard photographer and map maker. Giuseppe proves invaluable to Rotella (and to readers) as he and Rotella make their way from village to village and market to market.
There are way too many "travel" books out there, but STOLEN FIGS is a little different from the rest. For one thing, Rotella didn't move to Calabria. For another, this is no whimsical, light-hearted romp a la Peter Mayle (who is extremely good, by the way) or Frances Mayes. Calabria is one of the harshest regions of Italy; people don't keep returning there unless something they love pulls them to the region. Calabria is also one of the poorest regions of Italy and one of the ethnically most diverse, being made up of Albanians, Greeks, Saracens and more. The harsh dialect bears little resemblance to the limpid and beautiful Tuscan dialect that has evolved into "standard" Italian, thanks to Dante Alighieri. Much of the rest of Italy, especially the residents of the north, look down on Calabria and go out of their way to avoid it. This is definitely not a tourist mecca, something that can't be said for Mayes' Tuscany and Mayle's Provence and, for that reason alone, it might interest many readers who are simply tired of the more "touristy" places of the world.
The landscape of Calabria is also quite different from that of Tuscany or of Provence. The gentle, rolling hills, the greenness, the fertile valleys, the bounty of fruit and flowers have been replaced by sun-baked rock, harsh and unyielding, dizzying plunges into the sea below, the rocky outcrops that shelter hikers from the sun and plenty of sand.
STOLEN FIGS is not nearly as well-written as are Mayes' books about Tuscany or Mayle's books about Provence. Rotella doesn't seem to be a natural storyteller and many of his metaphors are clumsy and cause the reader to grimace. His love for Calabria shines through his narrative, however, but it doesn't quite make up for the quality of the writing.
I'm planning an extended stay (possibly a move) to Italy in the near future, so I've been reading quite a few Italian "travel" books. I would have to say that STOLEN FIGS falls somewhere in the middle of the ones I've read. It is, however, the one that concentrates most on Calabria, but any reader should be aware that the writing is not fluid throughout and that there are several historical errors in the book. Recommended only to those who can't get their fill of Calabria.
Rating: 
Summary: A Gift for Italians and Non-Italians Alike
Review: This book makes me wish I were Italian. Mark Rotella has successfully immersed a WASP into his beautifully written yet honest account of a people who have (refreshingly) not yet caught up with the rest of the too fast, too conflicted world. His observations make it effortless to join him on his journey, and I was pleasantly surprised at how easily I could identify with the people in a place of which I knew so little. This book is a gift to Italians and non-Italians alike.
Rating: 
Summary: Tedious reading
Review: This could have been an interesting book. It's not. Stick to Paul Theroux if you want good travel writing.
Rating:
Summary: Calabrian Connection
Review: Those who descend from this "Glorious Land" will disagree with anyone who found this book trying to decide to be a personal journey or a travel log. The land and personal journey are intimately tied to each other. Mark Rotella helps me see again the land of my family which I have visited four times and continue to visit. Go to Calabria and then read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Learned a lot from this book
Review: When you look, you can find priceless information in any travel book and "Stolen Figs" is no exception. It was nice to finally find out the origin of the word Calabria: From the Greek "kalos-bruo." Mark went into great detail about the various tribes that conquered Calabria throughout the ages and he detailed how the Spanish Bourbons were the ones who stunted Calabria's growth. Truth be told, this was not the best piece of travel writing I have ever read but Mark did a great job in laying out present day Calabria and the way its people operate. I felt fear when Giuseppe and Mark were driving to Roccaforte del Greco, Reggio di Calabria and encountered a man with a gun who told Giuseppe to pull over, cut the engine, and wait until someone came along to give further instructions. Only three hours later did they realize that they had probably came upon a robbery (or other crime) and the guy just didn't want them to see what was going on. Same thing goes for when they encountered the blank stares of the natives. The book paid for itself on page 132 when Giuseppe and Mark were in the Arberesh village of Spezzano Albanese and heard some guys in the store speaking in dialect. When Mark asked them if they were speaking Albanian, one of the guys said, "If you want to hear real old-style Albanian, you have to go to Lungro." One line of my family is from Lungro and, upon reading that, I was so happy. That's the best part about this book: How Mark went into detail about the rich cultural history of the Calabrese, a cultural history that is celebrated and revisited even when the young move to the north for work. I share Mark's cultural dilemna in that I am also a "half breed": An Italian father and a non-Italian mother (though mine's isn't French Canadian). I, like him identify with the Italian side more than the "other" side. Some people may not like this book (especially those who claim to be "award winning writers" yet have no books to their credit), but if they can do a better job, let's see it.
Rating:
Summary: Learned a lot from this book
Review: When you look, you can find priceless information in any travel book and "Stolen Figs" is no exception. It was nice to finally find out the origin of the word Calabria: From the Greek "kalos-bruo." Mark went into great detail about the various tribes that conquered Calabria throughout the ages and he detailed how the Spanish Bourbons were the ones who stunted Calabria's growth. Truth be told, this was not the best piece of travel writing I have ever read but Mark did a great job in laying out present day Calabria and the way its people operate. I felt fear when Giuseppe and Mark were driving to Roccaforte del Greco, Reggio di Calabria and encountered a man with a gun who told Giuseppe to pull over, cut the engine, and wait until someone came along to give further instructions. Only three hours later did they realize that they had probably came upon a robbery (or other crime) and the guy just didn't want them to see what was going on. Same thing goes for when they encountered the blank stares of the natives. The book paid for itself on page 132 when Giuseppe and Mark were in the Arberesh village of Spezzano Albanese and heard some guys in the store speaking in dialect. When Mark asked them if they were speaking Albanian, one of the guys said, "If you want to hear real old-style Albanian, you have to go to Lungro." One line of my family is from Lungro and, upon reading that, I was so happy. That's the best part about this book: How Mark went into detail about the rich cultural history of the Calabrese, a cultural history that is celebrated and revisited even when the young move to the north for work. I share Mark's cultural dilemna in that I am also a "half breed": An Italian father and a non-Italian mother (though mine's isn't French Canadian). I, like him identify with the Italian side more than the "other" side. Some people may not like this book (especially those who claim to be "award winning writers" yet have no books to their credit), but if they can do a better job, let's see it.
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