Michael Rips

Readable, but slight, and about a group of people whom I found far less engaging than did the author, Michael Rips. Eccentricity or quirk aren't inherently interesting. I also found it difficult to empathise with a guy whose major life issue seemed to be that he had too much free time and money to spend on buying over-priced flea market crap to put in his $5k/month Manhattan apartment. Oh to have those kinds of problems and a book deal to write about them.

This is a very, very strange book. I read the entire book trying valiantly to reconcile this book about "Sutri" with the actual town of Sutri (which in fact is accurately pictured on the front cover of my edition). I never succeeded in the attempt, but the cognitive dissonance was interesting. I'll have to look more carefully at Sutri (the town) and see if any of Michael Rips's more bizarre and unbelievable characters are in evidence, but really although they are certainly taciturn people show more and considered strange even by residents of nearby towns, I doubt they are that far out. Especially after reading the Amazon reviews of his book about Omaha, I'm inclined to believe that most of this book is fiction. That the author (who says he doesn't speak Italian) imagined what the townspeople were saying (or would have said, if anyone spoke to him); or that he somehow managed to understand what people told him, but they were all lying to the strange American. ("You told him WHAT? Hahaha, that guy will believe anything! Wait till he hears what I thought up!") show less

Delightful examination of the life and eccentrics of Surti, Italy from the point of view of the American author living there with his family. Funny, charming.

Weird, bizarre - call it what you will - Rips' deadpan delivery is just a tad bit too clinical and impassive. About his family!? Then where is the emotion? I like the form this book takes and the way it is non-linear, but it has way too many characters that just get mentioned in passing - what's the point of bringing in all these tangential characters that just confuse the reader?