Customer comments on this Youngstown Ohio Book
 Pretentious piffle.
What a self-indulgent author. This is possibly the worst book that I have ever read. She is the epitomy of narcissm.
 Going native in Umbria
After having read the author's book, "The Hacienda," I was curious to see where life had lead her, and in this book, she has a new family and they have chosen Italy as their home. Most of the book is concerned with the trials of fixing up a run-down villa, while they manage to live with bats and birds swooping over their heads and weather blowing in through the vacant windows. The author and her husband are obviously eccentrics, and have some peculiar habits, such as referring to her teenaged daughter as "the child," driving a two-seater sportscar when they have a family of four (this involves contortions) and wearing outlandish clothes. There are also a lot of tiresome gardening descriptions, which do make one wonder how the garden eventually must have turned out in later years, but add nothing to the story. The real reason to read this book is that St. Aubin de Teran loves the local people and finds a way to be one of them, living life alongside of them and experiencing their sorrows and joys and annual celebrations as a native. No tourist experience can come close, and most people do not have this ability to "go native" with so much fondness for the local characters and their way of life.
Oh, please............
This is probably the most pretentious, irritating book I have ever encountered. The author's "style" is coy and over the top, and her portrayal of Italians is condescending and patronizing. It was hard to believe anything but the bare bones of this story.
Could not force myself to finish. Life is too short to read bad books.
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