This is a love story more than a travel story. And
not all of those thousand days are spent in Venice. I actually read the
sequel to this book "A Thousand Days in Tuscany" before I read this
book. I really don't think it matters what order you read them in
though.
De Blasi was in Venice for a job. With a few friends she
was scoping out some wine bars, working on an article. When she goes
to leave though she's told by the owner that she has a phone call. It
turns out to be a man who has admired her from afar. Many phone calls
later she agrees to meet him, and this stranger becomes a new journey in
life for her.
Peter, I mean Fernando, looks like Peter Sellers.
No really, De Blasi reminds us of this nearly ever chapter. He seems
sullen and moody to me and I'm not sure what the attraction is, but she
seems to like him well enough. De Blasi herself really likes the
physical things in life. Food, fabric, and other such novelties. Which
I can't blame her for. I'm obsessed with the same things myself. And I
think she's brave for leaving most everything behind to live somewhere
else, although I do think it was a little foolhardy. I would have liked
to hear more about the other people they interacted with, but it didn't
get beyond little snippets on anyone else.
So there actually
wasn't much of Venice described. There was some, and a lot of
description about food, but overall this was a love story and the story
of how she met her husband. Not what I was expecting but at least the
small amount of travel and food kept me through it. I did like the
descriptions of the food, De Blasi definitely deserves her spot as a
food writer as she is able to write about food in an evocative way. You
can almost taste it. It's a small book, and the back of it actually
has a bunch of recipes and a section on what to do in Venice. There's
also a reading group section.
Not a book for those looking to
learn about Venice I think, but if you want a little love story with
some food, this is probably going to be up your alley.
A Thousand Days In Venice
Copyright 2002
272 pages
This is a book about food. Really. Ok, well maybe it's a book about Italian culture too. But there's a lot of food in it.
Three
years after marrying her husband in Venice, Marlena is apprehensive
when they sell everything and move to Tuscany. Here they have no job,
are renting a house, but they quickly become adapted to village life and
make a few friends. One of these is a man who used to live in their
house long ago and is a great source of help on projects from making a
bread oven to harvesting grapes. And of course, the entire time that
they're living there, there is a lot of food and cooking going on.
Marlena
describes her husband in favorable terms most of the time. But does
share that he has a quicksilver aspect of his personality which gets him
gloomy. In fact, most of the Italian men Marlena encounters (and one
Russian) seem to have this trait. She herself, while the narrator,
doesn't go beyond describing herself in terms of clothes and the food
she's eating. She is very focused on clothes. In fact, the person who
gets the most description is probably Barlozzo, the man who used to live
in their house. He is kind of a funny character but seems to have a
good heart.
I'm not sure where the thousand days part of this
book came into play. It seems to span only a year. I'm guessing it was
just a naming convention passed on from one of her other books. I
loved all the descriptions of the food (and the recipes included are
mouth watering as well). It was really that part of the book that
shined. She had good material to work with though with all the local
produce and markets. The actual renovation of the house and grounds I
wasn't as interested in. But her stories of the people in the village
were good and you really cared about what happened to the people and how
their lives were going.
A nice book about travel/living in Italy
in the Tuscany region. I'm sure most who enjoy other such books will
take to this one with no problem. It seems to fit that whole genre of
woman moves to Tuscany and finds love and food.
A Thousand Days in Tuscany
Copyright 2004
325 pages
