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Books : Italian Neighbours: An Englishman in Verona
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Rating: 
- Tries to be realistic, but is sometimes just cynical
Tim Parks has a habit of writing on subjects I'm fascinated by - Italy, football, education - so it's a bit odd that I tend to find his books hard-going and uninspiring. A Season in Verona seemed to me the work of a man who had no real enthusiasm for football, and Italian Neighbours reads like the diatribe of a bitter foreigner against a Veneto suburb and its inhabitants.
I believe Parks is trying to write an antidote to those travel books that come over all misty-eyed about sunsets in Tuscany, and so on - and I'm all for that. But there's no balance here: the book goes into considerable detail (it is 30-40% overlong) about the numerous petty annoyances of life in Italy, but has very little to say about what makes the Veneto, or its people, interesting. As one reviewer says below, Parks can be quite cruel, and often snobbish, about people who seem to be trying to be friendly towards him - this book is about his friends, but you suspect they're not friends with him now. At the same time, he has almost nothing to say about his wife, which is an odd balance, or lack of it.
Finally, there are a few stylistc quirks that make Parks an occasionally annoying read. He has a thing about starting sentences with verbs, such as 'Starts the author sentences with verbs often in this book', though that's a personal gripe. More importantly, he repeats the same observations time and again, particularly when describing people, so that he reduces them to a caricature. I think it's meant to be funny. So he lives opposite a woman who sweeps her patio with a broom every night? Great, but don't tell me 58 times in 200 pages.
There are some interesting chapters, especially those on cemeteries, bribery and the three types of job in Italy. But ultimately this book is what happens when you aim at realism and hit cynicism instead.
Rating:
- Finely observed vignettes of Italian life
This is an incredibly well-written book. Let's state right from the outset that this isn't even remotely a tourist guide, but if you know Italian life off the tourist beat just a little, you'll find yourself recognising characters, situations and attitudes to life you might have come across.
Yes, there are areas that won't appeal to English sensibilities. But it shouldn't come as a surprise to discover that when you cross the Channel, you'll find cultural differences that may disturb or even repel you. And so it is in Italy. The fact that these differences exist and Tim Parks chronicals them without an overlay of sentimentality or sensationalism makes them at the same time more shocking - but also more understandable.
I'm in the process of permanently relocating to Italy and I've come across some of the characters and situations in this book - which I find slightly reassuring, yet slightly worrying too ! Yes, it was written in the early 90s, but some attitudes seem pretty familiar.
I'm grateful to this book for increasing my understanding of Italian life and culture which can only be achieved by living there. And I'm relieved that it's enforced my own view that Italians are essentially a friendly and generous race, happy to accept the newcomer if the newcomer in turn accepts Italian life and traditions. And being non-Italian provides an instant excuse for your innocent - or deliberate - shortcomings.
Having read this book, In can't wait to read its sequels. Tim Parks has that rare ability to tell a story in simple, easy-to-read language, while also providing real insights into a foreign culture. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did
Rating:
- Horrible book
The book offers cruel portraits of the author's neighobours and friends.
It's not funny and the informative bits about Italian lifestyle and habits
are scattered among long tedious trivial chapters.
Rating: - Neighbours AND family
As well as the delightful descriptions of customs that are culturally different, belonging to a different pace of life, there is more. It takes a brave man to tackle the subject of foreign in-laws, and Tim Parks does it with humour and patience. The parents-in-law who arrive and leave with no warning, make promises to their grandchildren that are not kept, who maintain a protective attitude towards grown-up sons, the expectations of loving greetings and being thanked profusely as this is the real reward for small gifts. This is a different culture for Tim Parks, where his children learn to take things for granted that their foreign father finds strange, but by observing and often bridging the gap between the generations he learns to understand, and to accept. A fascinating view of the complicated relationships in a family, where the foreigner always reminds himself that HE is the different element, and adapts. An eye-opening read for the increasing group of people who through intercultural / international marriage find themselves lost in a strange web, and also a good idea for ANY person dealing with in-laws, even if they share the same nationality, because the culture is always different.
Rating: - Living in an Italian town
I thoroughly enjoyed reading his book, it is always nice to know how foreigners see you! Tim Parks is a good observer and gives you plenty of details on his surprise at some of the Italian ways.
Things have changed a bit, though, as the book was written some 15 years ago and we changed a lot in politics and way of living, even if the typical characters are still there (my aunt is obsessed with cleaning the house and keeping it perfect, some people I know are "car worshippers" and so on). Some of the differences may be due to the fact that I live in Piedmont and not in Veneto and there is a big difference, not as big as between the North and the South, but still sensible. I guess this is one of the reasons that made me so curious about the book. I started reading it and couldn't stop, I finished it in 2 days!
It is really a good insight in Italian provincial life and a good read for anyone with an interest in this country.
- Tries to be realistic, but is sometimes just cynicalTim Parks has a habit of writing on subjects I'm fascinated by - Italy, football, education - so it's a bit odd that I tend to find his books hard-going and uninspiring. A Season in Verona seemed to me the work of a man who had no real enthusiasm for football, and Italian Neighbours reads like the diatribe of a bitter foreigner against a Veneto suburb and its inhabitants.
I believe Parks is trying to write an antidote to those travel books that come over all misty-eyed about sunsets in Tuscany, and so on - and I'm all for that. But there's no balance here: the book goes into considerable detail (it is 30-40% overlong) about the numerous petty annoyances of life in Italy, but has very little to say about what makes the Veneto, or its people, interesting. As one reviewer says below, Parks can be quite cruel, and often snobbish, about people who seem to be trying to be friendly towards him - this book is about his friends, but you suspect they're not friends with him now. At the same time, he has almost nothing to say about his wife, which is an odd balance, or lack of it.
Finally, there are a few stylistc quirks that make Parks an occasionally annoying read. He has a thing about starting sentences with verbs, such as 'Starts the author sentences with verbs often in this book', though that's a personal gripe. More importantly, he repeats the same observations time and again, particularly when describing people, so that he reduces them to a caricature. I think it's meant to be funny. So he lives opposite a woman who sweeps her patio with a broom every night? Great, but don't tell me 58 times in 200 pages.
There are some interesting chapters, especially those on cemeteries, bribery and the three types of job in Italy. But ultimately this book is what happens when you aim at realism and hit cynicism instead.
Rating:
- Finely observed vignettes of Italian lifeThis is an incredibly well-written book. Let's state right from the outset that this isn't even remotely a tourist guide, but if you know Italian life off the tourist beat just a little, you'll find yourself recognising characters, situations and attitudes to life you might have come across.
Yes, there are areas that won't appeal to English sensibilities. But it shouldn't come as a surprise to discover that when you cross the Channel, you'll find cultural differences that may disturb or even repel you. And so it is in Italy. The fact that these differences exist and Tim Parks chronicals them without an overlay of sentimentality or sensationalism makes them at the same time more shocking - but also more understandable.
I'm in the process of permanently relocating to Italy and I've come across some of the characters and situations in this book - which I find slightly reassuring, yet slightly worrying too ! Yes, it was written in the early 90s, but some attitudes seem pretty familiar.
I'm grateful to this book for increasing my understanding of Italian life and culture which can only be achieved by living there. And I'm relieved that it's enforced my own view that Italians are essentially a friendly and generous race, happy to accept the newcomer if the newcomer in turn accepts Italian life and traditions. And being non-Italian provides an instant excuse for your innocent - or deliberate - shortcomings.
Having read this book, In can't wait to read its sequels. Tim Parks has that rare ability to tell a story in simple, easy-to-read language, while also providing real insights into a foreign culture. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did
Rating:
- Horrible bookThe book offers cruel portraits of the author's neighobours and friends.
It's not funny and the informative bits about Italian lifestyle and habits
are scattered among long tedious trivial chapters.
Rating:
- Neighbours AND familyAs well as the delightful descriptions of customs that are culturally different, belonging to a different pace of life, there is more. It takes a brave man to tackle the subject of foreign in-laws, and Tim Parks does it with humour and patience. The parents-in-law who arrive and leave with no warning, make promises to their grandchildren that are not kept, who maintain a protective attitude towards grown-up sons, the expectations of loving greetings and being thanked profusely as this is the real reward for small gifts. This is a different culture for Tim Parks, where his children learn to take things for granted that their foreign father finds strange, but by observing and often bridging the gap between the generations he learns to understand, and to accept. A fascinating view of the complicated relationships in a family, where the foreigner always reminds himself that HE is the different element, and adapts. An eye-opening read for the increasing group of people who through intercultural / international marriage find themselves lost in a strange web, and also a good idea for ANY person dealing with in-laws, even if they share the same nationality, because the culture is always different.
Rating:
- Living in an Italian townI thoroughly enjoyed reading his book, it is always nice to know how foreigners see you! Tim Parks is a good observer and gives you plenty of details on his surprise at some of the Italian ways.
Things have changed a bit, though, as the book was written some 15 years ago and we changed a lot in politics and way of living, even if the typical characters are still there (my aunt is obsessed with cleaning the house and keeping it perfect, some people I know are "car worshippers" and so on). Some of the differences may be due to the fact that I live in Piedmont and not in Veneto and there is a big difference, not as big as between the North and the South, but still sensible. I guess this is one of the reasons that made me so curious about the book. I started reading it and couldn't stop, I finished it in 2 days!
It is really a good insight in Italian provincial life and a good read for anyone with an interest in this country.