Italian Education by Tim Parks Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $3.80 You Save: $10.15 (73%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Italian Education
Book Review: An accurate view of expatriate fatherhood
Summary: 4 Stars
Parks accurately and eloquently describes the challenges, frustrations, and joys of raising one's children in a foreign culture. Although this is may be too domestic a subject for those not currently challenged by parenthood themselves (as it would have been for me just two years ago), both expats living in Italy and those living elsewhere will be inspired by Parks' diplomacy and philosophy in negotiating his children's upbringing with the entire county, who see things differently.Ultimately, it is just such a study of the Italian household which gives a deeper picture of the Italian culture than any history book or political essay ever could.
Parks narrates his portrait lovingly (I disgree with a previous reader's conclusion that Parks 'doesn't like Italians'), and page after page I found that Parks has the eloquence, humour, and grace to express what I had often observered here in my corner of Italy.
Book Review: BRILLIANT
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm stunned that anyone could not enjoy this book [however, one reviewer previous seems not to]. It's entertaining, laugh-out-loud [pardon the cliche - but it's accurate] anecdotes that span more than eight years of child-rearing in Italy are deadly accurate with regard to Italian society, to the extent to which I can relate, enlightening, and endlessly amusing.I highly recommend this for anyone remotely interested in Italy, having children, living abroad, or for that matter, anyone needing a good page-turner for a long flight.
Book Review: Che spettacolo!
Summary: 5 Stars
What a pleasure to read! I carried it with me constantly for 4 days because I had to read at every red light and every grocery store line. What Tim Parks has accomplished is an honest telling of how different life in Italy must be from his homeland of the U.K. One expate that I met in Positano said that "In Italy nothing is ever quite normal," and therein lies its charm. If you dislike surprises, unexpected twists and turns, you better stick to the Teutonic countries because you will be unhappy in Italy. Parks, despite the occasional culture clash, seems to revel in Italy's lack of normalcy and has made the critical decision to raise his children in it. I will grant you that Parks has to resort to some overgeneralization about Italians, but, in retrospect, I don't see how he could have avoided doing so. The important truth that he reveals to the reader is that Italy is different than anywhere else in the world. As the occasional traveler, we cannot enjoy all the nuances of Italian life as Parks has been lucky enough to experience. One book that also points up these important embedded cultural differences is Italian Day by Barbara Grizzuti-Harrison. ENJOY!Book Review: Disappointing
Summary: 3 Stars
I read "Italian Neighbours" in less than a weekend and couldn't wait for this book to arrive. Unfortunately, I found it a bit disappointing.Like another reviewer, I can't quite put my finger on what it is that I don't like. Maybe TP sounds a little bitter and less ready to concede that there may be advantages to the Italian mindset. He seems to do nothing but whinge about Italy which started to wear on me a bit. Again, like the other reviewer, I also miss his previous neighbours. They were much better observed and more detailed than the current batch.
Furthermore, Park's observations about Italy in general are not as accurate as they were in "Italian Neighbours". He seems to have extrapolated life in Montecchio, a small place in the Veronese to the rest of Italy and sometimes this just doesn't hold water. A small example: contrary to Tim Park's writing, Italian shools DO offer extracurricular activities and they DO offer school sports. Well, at least in Lombardy they do.
As I said, I finished "Italian Neighbours" in under a weekend. I thought the book was so good that I really wanted to MEET Tim Parks. This second book took me over two weeks, and even that was real hard going what with Tim Park's constant whingeing and all. That just about says it all for me.
Book Review: Dissapointing, little in common with his earlier success
Summary: 1 Stars
Just like many other reviewers, I was very impressed with Tim Parks' Italian Neighbors (1992), which I thought was witty and well-written. It did justice to all the things I admire about Italy and, although the author tended to go on a bit, the book was very enjoyable.I bought Italian Education on the strength of this experience and it was so disappointing I struggled to finish it. Boring and repetitive and focused on the author's child in a way that happens to all parents who can go on and on about their offspring - except that most parents know much better than to put their self-centered ramblings on paper.
I understand that after phenomenal success of Italian Neighbors the author had enormous credit of trust from his readers, and I am sorry he abused this trust by putting out this low-quality, underedited and bland book. It is a great virtue of a writer to understand that you haven't got much more meaningful to say and then shut up - but Parks clearly lacks this virtue. Maybe he needs to move to another country - but there is definitely nothing he can reveal about Italy any more. It is a shame he and his publisher do not understand that - or maybe they both were too keen to cash in on the existing reputation? I hope at least the publisher is embarrassed.
In future, I'll stay well clear of anything written by Tim Parks. I would not be surprised if many other readers do the same.