Playing Away [Paperback]

Michael Mewshaw (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Mewshaw ( Short Circuit , Year of the Gun , etc.) here gives the reader a hodgepodge tour of his life as an American expatriate resident in Rome. Although falling under the category of travel literaturevignettes of Marrakech, the French Rivera and other locales are scattered throughoutthe book is more an exploration of the rewards and frustrations of living abroad. The reader comes to understand why, despite incredibly complex laws governing foreign nationals and a bureaucracy as blank-faced and obtuse as any in the world, Rome, for example, is in many ways a haven for creativity. And Mewshaw presents portraits of well-known writers (Graham Greene and Gore Vidal, for example) who have chosen to make their homes in other than their native countries. While somewhat lacking in focus, this is an energetic and intelligent work.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (October 6, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743213076
• ISBN-13: 978-0743213073
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,477,956 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting nonfiction, August 14, 2007

By 

Himri "Himri" (Tempe, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Playing Away (Paperback)

Michael Mewshaw's 'Playing Away' is mostly about an American author's living experiences in Rome. It has the 'to the point' nonfiction approach and brings out hilarious effect like only fiction could.

Mewshaw travelled a lot. He says, "in some inchoate way, I equated curiosity with creativity, mileage covered with imagination improved". Despite whatever he believes, the mileage does reflect in his writing.

Mewshaw has written well on what works in Rome and what doesnt, how effective the rules are. He catches the spirit of the place in the celebration around. When he talks about how much of logic and moral suspension you have to do to live in Rome, it is one place where you can easily make the decision of going there to just visit or stay.

In a very effective way he says how 'name dropping' changes to 'difficult-to-visit place' dropping.

The essay revealing drastic steps of feeding poisonous substances to pigeons to control their population made me wonder if someday humans would be exterminated too.

Expatriates would find a voice for their confusion of 'To stay or not' in his writing.

I like the essays on his interaction with Graham Greene and Gore Vidal best, even better than Greene's work.

7/25/2010

I had a chance to read 'the Great Railway Bazaar' by Paul Theroux cited in this book. Rereading the essay and looking at the output of Theroux's books, Theroux took to travelling big time.