Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World

Subtitle: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World

This is Doerr’s memoir of a year he spent as a fellow at the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The award came with a studio in which to write, an apartment, and a stipend. And, of course, the experience of a year in Rome. It also came at a time when his wife had recently given birth to twins. Undeterred, Anthony and Shauna set off for Rome with four-month-old twin boys, who were not yet sleeping through the night.

I was completely delighted by this memoir. I have no children, but have witnessed the absolute exhaustion brought on in new parents by days (weeks? Months?) without adequate sleep as they try to care for a newborn. Caring for two show more simultaneously? And yet …

Doerr and his wife managed to find some time for themselves (thanks to a great babysitter), to explore some of Rome’s less-well-known treasures and even to venture in the Umbrian countryside for some “alone time.” He recounts his efforts to write, his explorations of the city and surrounding area, his neighbors, his struggles to learn and speak serviceable Italian (asking for “grapefruit sauce” was a highlight!), and the experience of all new parents as these small bundles slowly become independently mobile and show signs of the individuals they will become. show less

Imagine coming home from the hospital after your wife has just given birth to twins and discovering you have won an award that will send you to Rome for a year, an award you didn't ask for or even know about. So, six months later you pack up aforementioned wife and boys and off to Rome you go. Doerr spends the next year reading Pliny, exploring the ancient city and marveling at life BT (before twins) and AT (after twins). He is observant and witty on all accounts but by his own admission is too busy staring at Italy to write anything constructive. Until Four Seasons is born. If you are to read just one page of Four Seasons in Rome I strongly recommend reading page 141, starting with "What is Rome".

Sometimes you read the right book in the right place and that makes all the difference. That was true of Hemingway's Moveable Feast when I was in Paris and now applies to Doerr's book about Rome which I read while in Italy. This memoir recounts a year he spent there on a "fellowship" in 2004 while his twins were in their first year of life. It is about being a "stranger in a strange land" both literally as applied to Italy and metaphorically as it applies to parenthood. On both counts he had a huge learning curve. But what makes this book so magical is his ability to pay attention. He finds the wonder both in the dominating force of the past in Rome's BC history and in the fleeting moments of the present while his boys master milestones show more in their first year of life. His writing is as beautiful as ever, and he is actually working on All the Light We Cannot See during this time. His thoughts and observations on life and art are as breathtaking as some of the sites he visits in Rome: "Not-knowing is always more thrilling than knowing. Not-knowing is where hope and art and possibility and invention come from. It is not-knowing, that old, old thing that allows everything to be renewed." (154) Perfect for an eternal city of miracles of faith, architecture, engineering, art, and humanity. show less

I read this because I've loved the Doerr novels that I've read so far and wanted to see how his non-fiction was. I was not disappointed. This book is really just a writing exercise in description for Doerr - Rome in particular, and Italy in general is presented as a menagerie of sound, smell, sight, and occasional steps back to appreciate the historical wonder of it all. It reads like a very well-written travel journal-cum-personal essay reflecting on his feelings about writing, fatherhood (he has baby twins) travel, and a little bit about privilege of being a fellow, paid to live free in Rome for a year. He was trying to write All the Light We Cannot See there, and although he did little of that, he did write some short fiction - which show more I have yet to read. This would be an especially great book to read if you're headed to Rome for vacation. Thoughtful, insightful, evocative, and beautifully written. show less

What an excellent memoir of a year in the life of an amazing author! Doerr won the Rome Prize, an expense paid year in Rome to write and for his family to live there with him. He’s clearly working on All the Light We Cannot See while there, but this memoir is also a result. He writes about his four seasons in Rome. I only spent a week there, but I was able to picture most everything he described and it was absolutely wonderful “re-living” it. But it’s more than that. He relates his wife’s and his experience with newborn twins. And their experiences as new parents are so very real, with the added twist of being in a country where they don’t speak the language. He describes being so close to the Vatican when Pope John Paul show more died and witnessing the grief and then the joy of a new pope. I loved living vicariously through Doerr. An excellent read. Five stars. show less

What a book ! Sensual, Captivating and beautifully written. Anthony Doerr finds himself in the heart of Rome shortly after his twin boys were born. Having received the Rome Prize, an award that gave him a year-long stipend and studio in Rome he embraces the adventure and moves his family to the Eternal City.

I loved so much about this book, the writing is poetic, lyrical and so vivid, the author's descriptions of Rome through the seasons are breathtaking. This is a short read at 205 pages but Doerr never wastes a word as we walk through the streets of Rome with him and his enviable stroller containing two delightful and demanding babies. We see life in a small apartment with his wife and children and how they try to adapt to the show more language and customs of a foreign city where life takes on a new meaning as well as challenges. I loved the snippets of history of Rome sprinkled throughout the book and I spent almost every chapter googling places and buildings and really enjoyed this eloquent and witty little book. His descriptions of people he met on the streets on a daily basis was so vivid and real. All in all a suprisingly uplifting and delightful read and a lovely little escape to a city full of life and history and intrigue. show less

Four Seasons in Rome - Doerr
4 stars

This memoir could be correctly labeled a survival tale. I could sympathize with the difficulties of learning to live in a foreign city with inadequate language skills. I did that for a year, when I was very young. I was young and not yet a parent. I remember the insomnia that came with the wakeful nights of a sleepless infant. One sleepless infant, not two. I am not surprised that at one point, Doerr’s wife was hospitalized with exhaustion.

This was an enjoyable book. So much easier to read about the struggles of international travel and expatriate living than to be doing it. I enjoyed Doerr’s descriptions of Rome, the random historical factoids, and his philosophical meandering. It’s amazing to show more think of what was happening in his life while he was beginning to explore the ideas that became All the Light We Cannot See. I’ll be that much happier to read anything else that he writes in the future. show less