Falling Palace: A Romance of Naples
by Dan Hofstadter
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Book Summary Information
Author: Dan HofstadterEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-12-05
ISBN: 0375714286
Number of pages: 272
Publisher: Vintage
Book Reviews of Falling Palace: A Romance of Naples
Book Review: A Rare and Marvelous Memoir
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is absorbing and fascinating in content, in addition to being extremely well written. It's full of insights into problematical personal relationships, and also into perhaps the ultimate, complicated personal relationship: that between a foreigner and the city with which (and in which) he falls in love.
Naples is my least favorite among Italian cities, and this author didn't convince me to go there, but he presents Naples and its inhabitants most vividly, in all their complexity and ambiguity. While many foreign memoirists, and even ex-pats like the insufferable Frances Mayes, remain on the surface of the societies where they take up residence, confining their contacts mainly to other foreigners and treating most Italians as servants, Hofstadter lives and loves among the ordinary people of Naples, sharing their discomforts as well as their pleasures. His title is understandable, too--the "falling palace" that appears in one of his dreams is a metaphor of Naples itself-- always falling apart and yet never destroyed.
Summary of Falling Palace: A Romance of Naples
A portrait of the sun-drenched volcanic city from an American who has lost his heart to the place and to a beguiling Neapolitan woman.In Falling Palace Dan Hofstadter brilliantly reveals Naples, from the dilapidated architectural beauty to the irrepressible theater of everyday life. We witness the centuries-old festivals that regularly crowd the city?s jumbled streets, and eavesdrop on conversations that continue deep into the night. We browse the countless curio shops where treasures mingle with kitsch, and meet the locals he befriends. In and out of these encounters slips Benedetta, the object of the author?s affections, at once inviting and unfathomable. Weaving the tale of an elusive love together with a vivid portrayal of a legendary metropolis, this is a startling evocation of a magical place.
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