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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
perfect union of writer and subject, June 29, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Stolen Figs: And Other Adventures in Calabria (Hardcover)
In a perfect union of writer and subject, Publisher's Weekly editor, Mark Rotella, returns to his grandparents' homeland of Calabria. "Spurred" by Gay Talese's book, "Unto the Sons", to explore his southern Italian heritage, the author, an unabashedly, and self-admitted "romantic", provides an excellent introduction to this often overlooked region, conveying his own passion for familiarizing himself with it in the process. Largely untouched by tourism, and writers, for that matter, Calabria is both financially depressed and culturally rich, with large emigrant populations in Niagara Falls, New York, Toronto, Canada, and Danbury, Connecticut (though Rotella grew up primarily in Saint Petersburg, Florida). Whether traveling solo, with his father, wife, or postcard salesman, Guiseppe, Rotella captures the unique personality of each village he visits, with a superb eye for atmosphere, setting, and aesthetically outstanding visuals. Political and historical background, including foreign influences on the region, and effects of the Mafia, provide a framework and understanding to current situations. Rotella intersperses snippets of other writers' experiences, local legends, folktales, proverbs, customs, and traditions, lending an uncommonly expansive insight to Calabria. Combining past and present also lends a certain fascination for the reader, and includes the author's reunions with relatives, relationships formed over his several trips there, his dad's poignant remininsces, a visit to the church his grandparents were married in, and the elaborate Easter celebrations he attended. Though not without a sense of humor, Rotella's writing is most impressive for its unaffected style. Descriptions of the rugged, yet beautiful landscape, and harsh geography have a cinematic quality, and his writing becomes completely poetic over the mouthwatering cuisine he abundantly partakes of. In the end, and seeming to mirror the author himself, what emerges is an enticing picture of a gracious, highly social, and charmingly "masculine" society. Woman reader from New York
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Explore Family Roots in Calabria: Taste and Feel Old Italy, April 24, 2004
This review is from: Stolen Figs: And Other Adventures in Calabria (Hardcover)
Hear the sounds, taste the food, kiss the relatives, explore the terrain, climb the mountains, visit the castles, learn the history (Greeks, Bruttians, Romans, Visigoth conquests) ... experience the adventure of exploring one's family roots in a small village in southern Italy. The village, Gimigilano, is located in Calabria, the region that looks like the foot on a map of Italy, which everyone knows resembles a boot. The author, Mark Rotella, describes his *very* first visit to this village with his father and later subsequent visits either alone or with his wife, who is of English and Dutch heritage. He captivates the reader with descriptions of nostalgia and heart-felt longing when he emotionally connects to the traditions, customs and life of the village. He is befriended by Giuseppe, a photographer, who produces postcards that he sells to regional shops and businesses. Giuseppe becomes his personal driver and tour guide to Calabria ...
The author intersperses memories of growing up, recalling how his grandfather made wine in New Jersey, which he traded with a Portuguese farmer, who raised pigs ... his grandfather slaughtered the pig in the old-fashion way and provided the family with the same cuts of meat that the author saw on his visit to the village. The author includes memories and discussions with his father. One of which is the family story when his grandfather returned to the village to find himself a suitable wife. He married her in the village and took his bride to live in America. Since his grandmother and grandfather practiced old world ways, the author was able to trace many of the family traditons back to the village and culture of the region. Favorite dishes, foods, spices and their preparation, Italian hospitality, the importance of family and the sense of belonging, are all aspects of the Italian culture of which the author is proud.
The continuation of customs and traditions in Calabria persist ... kneading and baking bread in communal fashion, making wine, eating rabbit stew, tending an olive grove, stealing figs from a neighbor's tree. The author wished to be viewed and accepted as the "returning son of the village" ... even sought Italian citizenship. He was disappointed to discover he was seen as "the American visitor". He found out ...one had to be *born* in Calabria, to be viewed as Calabrese. While Calabria has a depressed economy compared to Rome, Venice and Naples, all northern cities ... it has a proud and resilient people who continue to live in the region helping the area to develop. This author recreates the feelings and lifestyle of the village and surrounding towns and cities so well that the reader wants to experience it first hand. The imagination of the reader is captured by the sights, sounds, tastes and smells of Calabria ... one feels and senses this part of Italy is unspoiled in its splendor and beauty. You want to go there before the modern world intrudes and destroys it. Erika Borsos (erikab93)
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointed, October 1, 2009
Having grown up in that area (a few miles as the crow flies), I'm familiar with most of the locales and customs the author describes. I was excited to finally buy this book (it was on my Wish List for a very long time). I admit, I stayed up late to read it! in retrospect, I realize that I was hooked because I wish to relive some of the good times I enjoyed in Calabria ('60s and '70s), but the author did a rather poor and disappointing job.
The narration is repetitive and tedious with far too many typos in the text. Aside from factual errors regarding historical events (mentioned in other comments), the author mispelled several of the local dialect expressions which pepper the text. If you're going to use local idiom, please have enough respect to spell it correctly! For example, it's "culu" not "cullu" (trans: ass). And there are many more ... as in "Giallorosso" instead of "Giallorossa" (wtf!). And, if the author returned in July with family, how could he have witnessed a procession of screaming soccer fans following a tie match of the Catanzaro team? There is no Serie (A, B, C) soccer in July!!!!!! I guess it must have been a [pathetic] artistic license. Was this meant to be a novel or a documentary? It succeeded as neither.
When writing about Capo Colonna, he focused on the lone standing greek column (which is impressive enough); but how could he not highlight the fact that just a few feet away there are ruins of a roman villa and a byzantine church!? Within the space of an acre you can 'witness' layers of culture and history spanning 2500+ years!! Talk about an opportunity to illustrate the concept of a land at the center of [ancient and medieval] universal greed and aggression!
I am disappointed. It's like eating a cannolo made without sugar!
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