 | | |
| Seasons in Basilicata: A Year in a Southern Italian Hill Village | 
 enlarge | Author: David Yeadon
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $3.40
You Save: $11.55 (77%)
Buy New/Used from $2.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  (8 reviews)
Sales Rank: 841309
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 480
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.2 x 1.2
ISBN: 0060531118
Dewey Decimal Number: 910
EAN: 9780060531119
ASIN: 0060531118
Publication Date: July 1, 2005
Release Date: July 5, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Award-winning travel writer and illustrator, David Yeadon embarks with his wife, Anne on an exploration of the "lost word" of Basilicata, in the arch of Italy's boot. What is intended as a brief sojourn turns into an intriguing residency in the ancient hill village of Aliano, where Carlo Levi, author of the world-renowned memoir Christ Stopped at Eboli, was imprisoned by Mussolini for anti-Fascist activities. As the Yeadons become immersed in Aliano's rich tapestry of people, traditions, and festivals, reveling in the rituals and rhythms of the grape and olive harvests, the culinary delights, and other peculiarities of place, they discover that much of the pagan strangeness that Carlo Levi and other notable authors revealed still lurks beneath the beguiling surface of Basilicata.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
Maybe his wife should have written it. June 21, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Actually 2.5 stars. I was given the book by a friend. The two of us went to Italy in 2000, and having family roots in nearby Calabria, I looked forward to reading the work. Unfortunately that desire was short-lived. Now the author, Mr. Yeadon is a good artist. His sketchings of the land of Basilicata were fantastic. They made his descriptive words about the region come to life.
But his words were less than what I hoped for, in the work. I feel that quite often his descriptions of Basilicatans come from his looking down his nose at the people. I believe that he was quick to point out their foibles and brokenness. That is fine if there is a concomitant description of their giftedness. He spent too much time writing on the dark side of "these Italians", and the "Italian way of life". It sure could make one look elsewhere for a vacation. I believe that Carlo Levi was more sympathetic.
I feel that Mr. Levi was quoted way too often. His name was dropped here, there and everywhere. One gets the feeling that Basilicata is worthwhile only because Carlo Levi stopped by.
There is a tendency in the modern work--fiction or non-fiction--to denigrate the Catholic Church. Mr. Yeadon is no different. Why is that? While Mr. Levi was held up as a model, and the "pagani" ways supported, the Church was ridiculed. I don't think that is fair, because the Church does a lot of good for people, despite her foibles.
There is just a little too much of Mr. Yeadon in the book, he plays too large a role, and seems to be unable to be objective in his account. I don't know if I will read another of his works. Maybe.
 Seasons in Basilicata : A Year in a Southern Italian Hill Village, David Yeadon August 7, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
My sister and I are going to Italy in September of this year and I have been doing research with regards to my Grandmother's village in Missonella, Basilicata, Southern Italy, and I had found nothing at all regarding her village until David Yeadon's wonderful book and sketches, he had sketched two pictures of my grandmother's village. I love his book and I have to admit his descriptions of the food and people were fantastic. He made you want the food so bad you could almost smell it cooking. David should think of writing a cooking book. From David's description of my grandmother's village it is a goat trail on the side of a mountain. And my sister and I are not that adventerous, we are going with Perillo Tours, because we have never left the United States and need our hand held....maybe another time, the closest we will be is Naples and that is where she left from, so we are happy and so pleased with his book, I bought copies for all my sisters, brothers and children, 8 copies so far.... thank you so much for the sketches, I would have loved to see his photographs of the region so I would know some of my heritage. Denise Philley
 Interesting topic, but what awful writing! October 17, 2005
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
I picked up this book because I haven't read much about travel in southern Italy. The snippets I read in the bookstore seemed promising. Unfortunately, Yeadon's run-on sentences, excessive use of adjectives, and spelling & punctuation mistakes quickly turned me off. Yeadon is in love with heavily ornamented writing, but does not have the skill needed to make his literary curlicues interesting. The book was at the same level as an amateur's travel blog.
The firm hand of a skillful editor would have made all the difference. The book's topic, many (but not all) of the drawings, and the people and places he describes all have merit. In spite of these things, the book was so bad that I didn't finish it.
Missed opportunity . . . October 2, 2005
3 out of 7 found this review helpful
I was attracted to this book because of my recent trips to this region. I commend the author for some of his encounters and descriptions, but I had the constant feeling when he talked about situations without involving himself. I guess this comes from not having a good command of the language. For example, he talks often of the men that gather daily in the square, yet he never seeks them out to discover their histories or conversations. I wanted to push him of his balcony. Forse troppo caffe corretto . . .
Somewhat disappointing December 25, 2004
18 out of 19 found this review helpful
I bought this book with high hopes...my husband loves the book "Christ Stopped at Eboli", we've lived in southern Italy for over five years when you add it up (thank you, U. S. Navy!), and the reviews were promising. I have to admit that I was disappointed, and my husband couldn't even bring himself to finish the book. What bothered me most was that the author, who is a veteran travel writer, took himself off to Italy for an extended stay and didn't bother to try to learn more than tourist Italian before he got there, and then didn't manage to improve his language skills once he was settled. Most of the interviews and conversations he describes in the book were translated for him by someone else. Now, I am the first to admit that Italian is a fairly complex language, especially when it comes to verbs. However, I can attest to the fact that it's possible to learn basic Italian by living in Italy and trying very, very hard to speak with everyone, read newspapers, watch TV, etc. The author's failure to do this results in some assessments of southern Italian life that are a little off kilter. For example, his reference to "colpo grosso" in the section about Italian eroticism and TV shows misses the fact that the game show he was watching was a well-known game show with that phrase as its name. (It's now syndicated.) It isn't a genre of TV shows at all.
I did love the author's sketches of the Basilicata region. I wish he'd sketched more and written less, because I would have liked the book a great deal more. Basilicata is indeed a wonderful and under-rated region of Italy. It has much to offer; it's mysterious, beautiful, remote and unique. It's nice to see that publishers are interested in bringing out books that reveal the secrets of the "untouristed" Italy.
In summary, I got the feeling that Mr. Yeadon would have loved his time in Italy even more than he did had he been able to understand more of what people were saying around him, and the fact that he didn't appear to try (based on what he wrote in the book) to learn Italian, or even to get a tutor, really bothered me. He missed out on a lot of the subtleties of Italian life by not learning more of the rich, musical Italian language. Living in Italy is a complicated, rewarding and frustrating experience, but it can be life-changing. The author would have experienced more of the true Italy had he been able to talk more with the people he saw each day.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| | |