Italië Op Het Spoor. Een Hilarisch Portret Van Een Land In Beweging (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
After relating a story about my encounter with a train inspector en route from Roma to Firenze while a student in 1975 my neighbor loaned me this book. "You're gonna love this book then". I did! Tim Parks nailed it. The characters, places, smells , and best of all the sayings of the Italians as they travel on the commuter line with the "living dead". Or the apt description of waiting interminably, " Mi sto sacrificando!" meaning "I am a matyr!". I may have to reread "Italian Neighbors" again after this one. If you love Italy and love trains you'll appreciate this book. I've not read any of Tim Parks' books before, but his Englishman's perspective on Italy is enjoyable and his rail journeys are full of interesting and often funny encounters that illuminate his subject. This (his subject) is Italy and Italians, not railways. The latter are Parks' ways of exploring the former. Perhaps he does go on a bit about Italian bureaucracy and the perverse behaviour of officials, but visitors to Italy have experienced these things and have still managed to find the country endearing. This isn't really a 'travel book' either, except in the sense that someone lives in a country that (initially) isn't his own and reveals their reactions to it through their writing. In one sense it's almost a history book, since he explains how both the railways and Italy itself have changed in recent decades - although his trip to the south also makes clear that much has stayed the same.
What do You think about Italië Op Het Spoor. Een Hilarisch Portret Van Een Land In Beweging (2013)?
I let this one go. Very well written but not of enough interest to sustain me to the end.
—nish
some interesting culture information but did not move along as much of a story
—mariapatricia
