Customer Reviews

The Seasons of Rome: A Journal

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3 star:		(1)
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The author prefaces his diary of day-to-day life in Rome with the comment that some of his journalist friends wished that they lived in Rome. It struck me that his object then was to show that Rome was really just a dull, hodunk kind of town, not really worth pining for, and that the romantic perceptions of the tourist were all in their heads. (which is probably true)

So perhaps for this it is useful for those of us tourists who thought it would be nice to live in Rome. This book seems to say we are just as well off staying in whatever dull place we already inhabit.

The selections from the reviews overstate his writing. The writing most often reminded me of the musings of a columnist in some small town paper (it's definitely journalistic prose). His ability to express complexities seems limited. Lots of exclamation points in the first half of the book! (He tends to be bemused by certain aspects of life in Rome, but often resorts to expressing this bemusement with exclamation points.) At worst it struck me as pedestrian and irritatingly banal (but perhaps this is because he chose to write of the banal aspects of life in Rome).

The book is generally very topical, that is, current as of the late '90s. Some recurring content are reports on the pope's health and the days of Mussolini. The latter I found interesting, the former I did not. He also discusses the Etruscans here and there in a way that is insightful and knowledgeable.

On the whole, the book has a nice, low-key, meandering style, which I found readable and pleasant enough to finish. However, I don't think the author put a great deal of effort or thought into its content and design--it just follows the calendar year, like a diary.

I compare Hoffman's travel writing to that of Mathew Spender's Within Tuscany, which is lighter, richer, with more content, and which shows a remarkable facility with English that Hoffman's prose lacks.

As usual, before a trip to other country, I searched for a book that would give me a feel for the cities I visit, rather than a tour guide. This book excelled in this task and made my visit to Rome even fuller and more enjoyable. If you are looking for a book about Rome, its people, their habbits and a little glimpse into their rich history, this book is a rare find. The pace is calm, the subjects are simple, but the experience is great.

This is old-school journalism at its best. Hofmann takes the year as it comes, and, journal style, writes a few sketches every month. Having lived in Rome for thirty years, he knows a lot about it, and he draws on his wealth of information, memory, impressions, and connections to give vivid pictures of the holidays that roll around or reflections prompted by chance events. His range is delightful -- from the pope to Vespa-riding robbers, from diplomats to gypsies, from horse shows to opera, from the mafia to the gattare [stray cat feeders]. If he needs statistics, he knows how to get them and unobtrusively adds them. He is not coy about using addresses, so I read with a map. I knew little about Rome when I began this book, but by the end I felt I knew where things were, what the flavor of the city is. It's not a travel guide, it's deep background for a visit.

Paul Hofmann writes about his hometown the way any native would, with equal parts admiration and frustration. Sure, he describes the great trattorie, touches on the sordid histories of Rome's luxury hotels, and is continually mesmerized by the city's ancient ruins. But, anecdotes about such topics as the irregularity of the postman's visits, motorino pollution, municipal strikes, and lousy restaurant service, make the book come alive. Thank god this isn't another tired, old, tourist piece about how great it is to live abroad ("A Year in Provence," anyone?) Hofmann's grouping of chapters by month is also innovative and helpful to travelers who want to know what goes on in the city the REST of the year. The book tends to be a bit dull in some places, owing probably to the fact that Hofmann wrote this book in his 70s or 80s. He knows little about hip, modern Rome. Nevertheless, his "diary" makes for a good read and a good history lesson.

The word "journal" is part of this book's title, and it doesn't pretend to be anything else. After all, Paul Hoffman is a journalist. I've had the great good fortune to visit the Eternal City a few times, and reading Seasons is like taking another stroll along back streets and famous venues. It brought back happy memories and also reminders that Rome is a huge, noisy metropolis that is difficult to traverse. Hoffman also highlights that fact that Rome is populated by, well, Romans, as well as millions of other Italians, and conveys a sense of what it is like to live an ordinary life in an extraordinary place. The city described by this author is modern and genuine, and Hoffman's essays are devoid of the self-congratulatory tone of many other travel writers. This book is real.