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Reviews of: The Xenophobe's Guide to the Italians (Xenophobe's Guides)by Martin Solly
Reviews Jarmila: About these guides These quides are very good entertiment. They do not aspire to analyse deeply or to be sophisticated. They just capture some funny features about various nations. It is a good reading to plane or whilst in bath. Enjoy! Jarmila 2009-11-06 Update As an Italian myself I find this book quite funny. The guide is accurate most of the time but tend to refer to stereotypes or to Italians as they were 50 or more years ago! I think this guide needs a little update as do others of the same series I have read (English and French. 2008-06-13 On the button! When we moved to Italy someone bought us this book. What a gem! I lent it to my new-found Italian friend who speaks a little English. He made many comments in the margins saying 'This isn't true!' or 'This can't be right!'. We had a hilarious conversation where he admitted that everything was in fact true, or nearly. He just couldn't admit it! Very Italian! 2006-04-17 Concise and Informative The Xenophobes guide to the Italians is a concise, humorous and informative look at the Italian people and their way of life. Among the topics that are mentioned are the importance of regional identities, the North/South divide, and the importance of the family in Italian life, as well as many other things. The book uses stereotypes and generalizations to describe the people, so it cannot, and should not, account for all Italians. An example of this is in the section writing about how the rest of the world sees Italy - "The typical stereotype of the Italians is that of a noisy, passionate, scheming Mediterranean people, whose brilliance and inventiveness are unfortunately marred by laziness and unreliability". Another interesting point noted in the book is how the national identity of Italian immigrants is stonger than in other nations, and as a result people such as Robert De Niro, Frank Sinatra, and Diego Maradona are considered to be as much Italian as their newly adopted country. 2004-12-17 Excellent summary of a crazy nation Haven't tried any of the other xenophobe's guides yet, but this one really hits the mark - in most amusing fashion - in describing the eccentricities of my Italian girlfriend and her family. Allegria, campanilismo, la mamma: it's all here. 2001-01-14 |
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