a fascinating, wonderful, and deeply human story

Italian Neighbors by Tim Parks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Italian Neighbors is a brilliantly written book about Tim Parks' initiation to life in Italy, and it becoming his home. The author details the wide variety of people and events over the course of a year, after setting up residence at Via Colombare, 10, Montecchia. The small town, the people, the customs, the religion and politics, the personalities, are always interesting and often eclectic and outrageous. Unlike many travelogues i've read, this book is about digging in and making a new place into a home. As the author says in his Afterword:

"If this book is anything, I hope it suggests how I passed that point of no return. Which is a process of immersion in details, whether they be pleasant or unpleasant. For details are sticky as spider's silk; you are very soon caught. And rather than a travel book, perhaps if there were such a category in the libraries I should call this an arrival book. For by the end, this small square handkerchief of Italy I live in has become home for me. I hope that for just a moment the reader will have been able to feel at home here too."

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it was a fascinating, wonderful, and deeply human story. Highly recommended!



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