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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
For the first time ever I'm going to say it: The movie was better. It's not that I didn't like the book. I didn't like the writing style. Or all the talk about food. I mean, I get it - It's Italy but still. And I also felt that when she was describing something happening in Italy she'd go back to a past experience or to America or something, which is fine but I got confused and couldn't follow. Some part where way too descriptive and needed to be shorter. I skimmed the final 2 chapters because it was too descriptive and bounced from Italy back to home or past memories back to Italy. Too much. But seriously, the movie was better.
Very pleasant read on themes that extends beyond a fondness for Italy.
adventurous
informative
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
the girl who studied abroad in Europe makes it her whole personality and makes you read her boring ass journal about it
What I Liked:
- Italy
- in the summer
- Italian food
What I Didn’t Like:
- makes you hungry
- immense amount of privilege that just grinds your gears
- I just don’t care??? like, nothing happens. there’s no plot. but it also isn’t like big life lessons or inspiration or anything either.
- how jealous I am that she gets to summer in Italy
will still watch the movie though
What I Liked:
- Italy
- in the summer
- Italian food
What I Didn’t Like:
- makes you hungry
- immense amount of privilege that just grinds your gears
- I just don’t care??? like, nothing happens. there’s no plot. but it also isn’t like big life lessons or inspiration or anything either.
- how jealous I am that she gets to summer in Italy
will still watch the movie though
This book made me want to a) go to Tuscany ASAP and b) learn how to cook like a Tuscan. Other than that though, I think I'll stick with the movie more often than not. It had a plot...this doesn't really. Then again, that isn't really the point so both stand uniquely on their own.
Just boring might finish later just need to be in the right mood
Read the book before the movie. Of course the book is amazingly better.
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
This was much less interesting than I thought it would be, unfortunately. I will say...for once I think the movie was better. She had beautiful descriptions of Tuscany though. Also, she should have gotten someone else to narrate the audiobook. But, it made me want to go to Italy, so mission accomplished.
3 Stars
3 Stars
It was a different economic and political climate in 1997. So perhaps it wasn't a good idea to read, in 2017, a book about a white, cis-hetero happily married female, who teaches creative writing at San Francisco State University and owns a condo by Alamo Square in SF, buy a summer home in Tuscany and leisurely restore it.
Oh yeah, if you're here because you liked the movie because she finds a second life in Italy after her expecting lesbian friend gifts her with a Gay and Away coach tour of Italy because her husband surprises her with a divorce and she's burnt out from the NYC grind.... yeah, that was about a different woman entirely.
Oh yeah, if you're here because you liked the movie because she finds a second life in Italy after her expecting lesbian friend gifts her with a Gay and Away coach tour of Italy because her husband surprises her with a divorce and she's burnt out from the NYC grind.... yeah, that was about a different woman entirely.
I liked the concept of this book but realized if I was skim-reading it just to read it, it probably wasn't for me.