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Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World Posters
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Rating:  -
If you know next to nothing about Italy, are never planning to visit, and are perfectly content to allow your impressions of the country to be informed by *Under the Tuscan Sun*-like romanticism and shameless, treacly sentimentality, then *Four Seasons in Rome* is the travel book for you. Otherwise, Doerr's constant doses of high-sugar, low-fiber commentary about his and his family's year in Rome are only going to have you reaching for your insulin pen. Are we really (I mean, are we REALLY??) still at the stage where someone can publish a book about Italy in which his entire contribution to the genre is to rehearse postcard stereotypes and Merchant-Ivory clichés? Call me simple, but I'd truly have thought the market was completely glutted with sixteenth-of-an-inch thick observations on how "wonderful" and "beautiful" Italy is--made by people who don't speak the language, who never stop being tourists, and whose apparently unlimited financial and other resources insulate them entirely from the realities of Italian life. Being a casual visitor is a fine and respectable pastime, but it doesn't qualify you to write a book. Doerr, however, is undaunted, awhirl in whimsy and wide-eyed wonder. From his innocent astonishment that tomatoes actually taste good (he does live in Boise, Idaho, after all) to his tired (and tiring) insistence that he and his wife never saw a badly dressed Italian--or a fat one--to his second-rate tour-guide rhapsodies over the Pantheon, Doerr never lets a bromide or a platitude get away from him. When a Roman waiter makes him and his wife wait 90 minutes for their dinner check, Doerr's only reaction is to go all dewy-eyed over how "relaxed" and "laid back" people are in Italy. Please, Anthony. The waiter was rude. There's no great mystery to it. It happens all the time in Italy, especially to tourists, especially in Rome, and especially to people who are willing, as the Italians say, to fare il fesso--that is, let someone else make an a** of them. Gird your loins as well, Gentle Reader, for page after darling, cooing page about the marvel of Doerr's one-year-old twins and for detailed descriptions of just how darn difficult it was to try to wheel them around Rome in a double-stroller that I can only imagine was a special treat for all the people who had to contend with it on buses, down sidewalks, and in museums. But let's give credit where credit is due: Doerr's prose is pretty, even poetic. The trouble is, that's often all it is: a Fabergé egg, a festoon, the rich-and-creamy icing on a cardboard cake. In his 220-plus pages on Rome, there's almost no there there. (Don't be misled, either, by the subtitle's promise of information about "the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World"; Doerr didn't actually attend, and most of what he knows about it he saw on television.) In more than a few passages, he gets so carried away making perfect little netsuke sentences that he forgets he's supposed to be transmitting actual meaning in the process. Yes; I admit it. I have a bone to pick: Doerr has nothing particularly interesting, profound, insightful, or new to say about Italy. That sure didn't keep him from getting a book contract, however, which suggests that attending the right cocktail parties is a sure shot to success. Merit, while appreciated, is not required. And *Four Seasons in Rome* is yet more evidence that, when it comes to anything with the word "Italy" stamped on it, the American public is all too willing to fare il fesso.
Rating:  -
I thought it would be a tale of The Great Man writing about being the father of twins whilst the drudgery of actually caring for the babies is in the background. But, being a tragic Italophile, I knew I had to read it eventually. Am so glad I did. The author is a truly devoted parent, yet still possesses a sweet innocence himself towards this beautiful, new-to-him world of Rome. Just as one of the boys is wide-eyed over a taste of chocolate, the author seems reborn at the sight of the glorious skies Rome (apparently) has, the food, the poetry of the language. The writing is gorgeous but not in the artificial MFA manner (maybe he has one, I don't know)--it's genuine and vivid and...tangible. It reawakened in me a desire to not just read more American fiction, but to pull my old drafts off the shelves and see if I, too, could conjure up some similar magic. In one sense my prejudice was correct, though--with his love of family and openness and sense of humor about the world and himself, Four Seasons in Rome did turn out to be the tale of what seems to be a [lower case] great man. (One commentator "denounced" the author as "liberal"; what Doerr seems to be, of course, is humane.)
Rating:  -
4 Season's in Rome, is essentially a story within a story. Doerr struggles day in and day out with trying to write his next novel, while living in a foreign land, and raising his first TWO children (they're fraternal twins). Throw in the death of one of the greatest religious figures of the 20th century and it makes for a very interesting time spent abroad. In the end, his next novel, becomes this story about trying to to write his next novel.
I think if you've been to Rome and lived there, this book will invoke those memories of a magnificent place. You can sympathize with what he has gone through.
Rating: -
As an American who moved to Rome to have a baby, I can relate to this book. My experience is different. I live with an Italian and all my friends are Roman, but I still found Doerr's observations lyrical and prescient. As a new father, I actually enjoyed how he was learning the city as he became a parent, an experience I know and grok completely. It was useful to see how someone had to endure a lot of the same difficulties that I have experience. How often do you get to read something parallel to your own life? I also enjoyed his descriptions. For me they came quite close to my own observations, as distant as they may be (a fact that he acknowledges). I read the book on a the train from Rome to Turin, so it's something that is quite fast and easy on the mind. Additionally I enjoyed his sense of impermanence and how that is a character of Rome. Bravo!
Rating:  -
In "Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World," Anthony Doerr accepted a fellowship with the American Academy of Arts and Letters in Rome, Italy and together with his wife, Shauna, and their newborn twins, they moved to Rome. The author wrote about his experience in Rome, trying to adjust to the way of life there as well as having to manage two babies. He also spent some time talking about Rome in a more unconventional sense (different from a travelogue) focusing on the history and literature.
This was an okay read for me as I had hoped the author would focus more about the culture and people in Rome. It almost felt like he was writing about his own experience as a new father having to deal with both work and that Rome was just the backdrop of all that was happening. He spent a considerable time talking about authors and literatures which were not very interesting for me. The most fascinating part of "Four Seasons in Rome" was his coverage of the Pope's funeral and his observation of the people who adored and loved the Pope. It was just an average read for me - if you are looking for a travelogue type read, this would definitely not be in. This is more of a part memoir, part travel type book.
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