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Loading... The Reluctant Tuscanby Phil Doran
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. This book belongs to the category of "non-local finds charming rustic run-down house and while fixing up meets locals who redeem their frustrating behavior with charm and insight into what's really important about life (see Peter Mayle, etc.). However, this is a very good version and Doran keeps a good balance between the warmth and charm of the locals with the exasperation of dealing with them. He also gives his wife full credit for compensating for his failings and his affection for her carries the book a long way. The man can write (he is a burned-out Hollywood TV script writer and producer), and you won't waste your time with this book. (  )ChefLindsay | Jun 14, 2009 |   The story of a couple who buys a run down, ancient building in the hills and renovates it is not unique. The appeal when I picked up this book was the claim by Doran, a former Hollywood screenwriter, that he was telling the story of how he came to love Italy after he and his wife renovated a house near Pisa. I don't believe him. From the beginning, when he reluctantly joined his wife after she bought the house, to the end, when they are living in the house, his tone is sarcastic and his description of the culture and people is derogatory. He is the classic "Ugly American" at the outset; in the end he is only slightly less ugly. The book might have been redeemed had he related the stories of the local people in a believable way. All of them, however, are caricatures. Every odd characteristic is exaggerated. In the end, Doran could not overcome his screenwriter training and mentality. (  )LisaCurcio | Apr 4, 2009 | 0.027 seconds to build listing
Amazon.com Book Description (ISBN 159240118X, Hardcover)In the witty tone that made Phil Doran a success as a writer in Hollywood, The Reluctant Tuscan will captivate a wide audience, from those who simply love a captivating travel narrative to anyone who loves the quirky humor of Bill Bryson, Dave Barry, and Jerry Seinfeld.After years of working on a string of successful sitcoms, Doran found that just as he and his peers had replaced the older guys when he was coming up, it was now happening to him. And it was freaking him out. He came home every night burned-out, angry, and exhausted. But even if he hadn’t had enough, his wife, Nancy, had. After twenty-five years of losing her husband to Hollywood, Doran’s wife decided it was finally time for a change—so on one of her many solo trips to Italy she surprised her husband by purchasing a broken-down three-hundred-year-old farmhouse for them to restore. The Reluctant Tuscan is the author’s transition from a successful but overworked writer-producer in Hollywood to someone rediscovering himself and his wife while in Italy, finding happiness in the last place he expected to. Doran finds himself navigating through the maddening labyrinth of Italian bureaucracy just to get a road paved to their house; dealing with the foibles of their neighbors and the tangled drama of the family who sold them the home; coming to accept that the Italians live with a million laws and no rules—all while he becomes slowly seduced by the inexhaustible beauty and tactile pleasures of Tuscany. (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:17 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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