Books : Italian Neighbours: An Englishman in Verona

Rating: - Italian Neighbours
For anyone wanting an insight into true italian characters this is the book for you.

Although he is married to an italian, and therefore his acceptance to the local community is smoother than for someone totally unconnected, he gives a real insight as to how a foreigner is viewed by his neighbours.

It is hilarious, touching and very close to the mark.

A must for anyone considering living in Italy!

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Rating: - Witty and true
Tim Parks gives candid accounts of the Italian people he encounters without being cutting or negative. It is a warm and humourous book, I whole-heartedly recommend it. An Italian Education is also a great read.

This is not a book that is attempting to give you an account of what a holiday would be like in Italy, it is an indepth attempt to understand Italian people and Italian life. Tim Parks' wit is sharp and the book is amusing as well as enlightening. Tim Parks' novels are also excellent, particulary Cara Massimina and Mimi's Ghost.

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Rating: - Real every-day Italian culture unveiled
This book, like "An Italian Education" by the same author, makes a compulsory reading for who really wants to know about Italian culture and I don't mean how they cook, how they dress or how they play football. Tim Parks has lived for twenty years in the town where I was born and I have to admit that it took an Englishman to pinpoint the every-day Italian characteristics and ways of living. For me it was a bit of a revelation because I never thought all the idiosincrasies, manias and madness of Italian society were anything to write about, but then a friend at work told me there was a guy who lived in Verona who wrote a book... and here I am, reviewing it. The book is brillant, thoroughly enjoyable, it is always witty, hilarious and critical at the same time, it makes such an entertaining reading. One breezes through the chapters. I could see myself, my family and friends in them and this is the way we are over there, this is so spot-on! The author got it so right! I think this book is very special because Tim Parks understood the culture of the place where he lives writing a couple of superbly entertaining books about it in the meanwhile.

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Rating: - Accurate, Amusing and Perceptive
After years of despairing over writers who do zero research before setting a book in Italy, over authors that don't even bother to check the spelling of the words they put into their Italian characters' mouths (Mario Puzo is one hilarious example), I have finally come across this terrific book.

Tim Parks has truly lived here. He has had a good look around and understood what he has seen- I have never read such an accurate book on Italian society and mores as seen from a foreigner's point of view.

As the previous reviewer has noted, this is NOT a travel book: the author prefers to describe it as "an arrival book". It is a humourous and charming study of Italian culture by a writer who has chosen to make his home here.

Be warned though. Parks uses a LOT of Italian terms and phrases and this is probably unavoidable. His characters would sound stilted otherwise. The down side is that if you are not quite familiar with the Italian language this book could be a bit trying on your patience as a reader. To be fair though, one must add that it's nothing a good dictionary couldn't fix and that it's well worth persevering.

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Rating: - Excellent book
Tim Parks gives candid accounts of the Italian people he encounters without being cutting or negative. It is a warm and humourous book, I whole-heartedly recommend it. An Italian Education is also a great read.

This is not a book that is attempting to give you an account of what a holiday would be like in Italy, it is an indepth attempt to understand the Italian people and Italian life. Tim Parks' wit is sharp and the book is amusing as well as enlightening. Tim Parks' novels are also excellent, particulary Cara Massimina and Mimi's Ghost.