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Title: The Stone Boudoir: Travels Through the Hidden Villages of Sicily by Theresa Maggio ISBN: 0-7382-0342-4 Publisher: Perseus Publishing Pub. Date: 05 March, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.25 (12 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Evocative descriptions of life in rural Sicily
Comment: In her book The Stone Boudoir, Theresa Maggio shares with the reader, descriptions of rural culture in the mountain villages and towns on the island of Sicily. Having traveled to Sicily initialy to explore the birthplace of her grandparents while in college in 1973, she returned again and again, at times living with Sicilian friends and absorbing theirs and others stories and experiences.
One of the most striking aspects of this book is to realize that this rural culture exists litttle changed over the centuries, in spite of it's proximity to modern Italian/European culture. The description of the celebration of the Feast of Saint Agatha, celebrated every year in Catania is fascinating and one of the high points in this collection of essays/stories.
Rating: 3
Summary: Pretty but fluffy
Comment: The topic of this book -- the smallest hill towns of Sicily -- was interesting for its obscurity and was a good read, if rather limited. The tone is nicely evocative and the stories of the women the author met were particularly good. That said, it isn't clear what this book wants to be -- it is part autobiography, part tour, part essay, but the focus is muddled. The descriptions of the towns themselves are also unsatisfyingly short -- it is not clear whether the author had no more to say or didn't know how to say it. If space was an issue she could have cut the autobiography down a bit (how many times do we have to hear about her fisherman boyfriend?). What I sensed most was not that she loved these small towns, but rather the portrait of herself in them. Her perspective on place shows neither a strong aesthetic nor historic sense -- one is not able to really visualize the towns or the people, and the lack of pictures/graphs is annoying (particularly as she mentions taking photographs a number of times). Still, I'm glad to know about these towns, and can now go elsewhere if I want to learn more.
Rating: 1
Summary: Category:Fiction
Comment: I am an Italian-American who has visited and enjoyed Italy many times over the last five years. I read this book before I visited Sicily in November 2003. The author and I must have visited different islands. This author and many other travel writers view their subject through rose-colored glasses. The truth, the island was more congested with traffic than Tokyo. Palermo was more grafitt-ridden than Manhattan in the 1970's. A large portion of the population, especially the men, combined arrogance, laziness and stupidity in that order.
If you decide to travel to Sicily, do a guided tour like Lawrence Durrell in "Sicilian Carousel"
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Title: On Persephone's Island : A Sicilian Journal by Mary Taylor Simeti ISBN: 0679764143 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 26 September, 1995 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: About Sicily: Travellers in an Ancient Island by David D. Hume ISBN: 1880158248 Publisher: J N Townsend Pub Pub. Date: October, 1999 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: The Leopard by Guiseppe Di Lampedusa ISBN: 0679731210 Publisher: Pantheon Books Pub. Date: 23 July, 1991 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Midnight in Sicily by Peter Robb ISBN: 0375704582 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 22 February, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Sicily: A Complete Guide to the Island, Its Towns, Monuments, and Incomparable Lan Dscapes by Touring Club of Italy ISBN: 8836527477 Publisher: Touring Club Italiano Pub. Date: April, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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