Reviews for When in Rome

The average rating for When in Rome based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-08-16 00:00:00 Rory Kingerley A delightful. lighthearted story with an even narrative, a very relate-able main character and which is a lot of fun to read. The story told by Penelope, is about how at the age of 28, despite having a perfect job and an enviable life in Sydney and ditched her life in order to pursue a lifelong dream and move to Italy! Wow, is that guts or what? The story of how she moved there (without speaking Italian), joined an Italian course, worked at small jobs to survive, found housemates, learnt Italian and learnt to love Rome... Well, it is often lovely, cheerful reading. It is the day to day adventures and fails that make it the most fun: Finding the perfect 'bar' to have your morning coffee at, one that does nice cornetto pastries, realising that you live within visual range of the Colosseum - even if the hot water does not work! All the small excitements and raptures of traveling as well as the downsides. I fell in love with Italy right along with Pene, and now I want to go there. It seems to me that Pene is a natural vagabond, only Italy is here destination, not the whole world. Because of this wonderful wide open attitude to the world and because of the honesty in her experiences that Pene writes with, she can come across as ditzy, young, or even at times a bit annoying. There is a beguuiling upfront honesty in the telling, and Pene can be increadibly juvenile at times, which has the potential to grate upon the reader. She can also be moody, mercurial and is merciless in betraying some of her poor decision making. Nevertheless, this is a lovely, fresh enjoyable book to read, that I would recommend to anyone who has an interest in traveling to Italy, or travel in general, or just a curiosity about the county.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-10-15 00:00:00 Mike Sanders Although I love to read aboutmy treasured Italy,and always glean nuggets to explore on a later visit,this author spoiled the read for me with her judgemental constant comments about body types and characteristics in people she picked on constantly like a mean schoolyard bully. Every chapter had more of it,and I was amazed how she could find so many ways to insult physical attributes or just plain humanity. In our world right now we need to be kinder in our observations of others. I left the book feeling sadder for us all, and that is difficult to do in the age we find ourselves living currently. Just not fun.