As the Romans Do: An American Family's Italian Odyssey

Paperback - 05 June, 2001 - Harper Perennial
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By: Alan Epstein
ISBN: 006093395X

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Reviews by readers

This book helps me appreciate Roma

Alan Epstein's As the Romas Do is a terrific book for a reader interested in Rome, since As the Romans Do makes accurate observations concerning the quirks and personalities of the citizens, streets, bars and traffic of Rome.

Epstein has the skill to write clearly about observations we all make, such as: Rome has more "beauty, sensuality and creativity" than most other cities (p. 4); to visit Rome is to be surrounded by "Bernini, Borromini, and Brmanete" along with "Michelangelo, Raphael and Caravaggio" (p. 33); and Rome is a city of "anarchy", always was and always will be, "that nevertheless functions" (p. 54).

I agree with Mr. Epstein that "St. Peter's is the grandest, most majestic building in Rome and perhaps in the world" (p. 60). Cardinal Ratzinger used to take daily walks around St. Peter's and I wonder if he does so now that he is the pope.

Epstein's comparisons between Americans and Romans are insightful. He writes that "Americans devote energy to the accumulation and management of money" while the Romans "devote energy to looking well, eating well, [and] loving well" (p. 67). I miss Rome and Mr. Epstein reminds me why.

It is so true that Roman people are funny. They prefer the activity of ironing to using a dryer (p. 151), detest dishwashers, hate to give out change from the cash registers at the stores (p. 68), and the Romans "cannot decorate a Christmas tree to save their lives" (p. 145).

The scene of the humorous interactions in chapter 1 that take place in Piazza Santa Maria Liberatrice is worth the price of the book alone. And Esptein reveals some of the secrets on how Roman ladies stay so beautiful up to the age of 80 in several chapters (pp. 9, 75, 76, and 131).

I notice that several reviews here are negative which is curious since Epstein's book on Rome is one of many wonderful books that help the reader appreciate the ancient city. My hunch is that the negative reviewers are probably people who love Rome and are upset that they did write a book about their views of Rome.

Because Epstein is a Jew (p. 17) he misses some of the finer points of Catholic Rome, such as a lack of appreciation of the universities in Rome. The University of Rome has 40,000 students and there are 10 other universities in town. Thus, to say that Rome has "very little here in the way of new thinking" (p. 184) is an honest mistake.

As the Romans Do is a delightful book that plan to read and re-read regularly since I miss Rome and appreciate Esptein's ability to highlight the uniqueness of the Eternal City.

POO as the ROMANS POOPOO BOOK REVIEW

He insults his reader by assuming they have never stepped out of their trailer park long enough to now what "mozzarella" is. In short;
I don't know how to describe how incredibly inane this book is, so I'll give you the description on inane, which explains this book better than I can...BECAUSE I KNOW I'M NOT A WRITER!
Main Entry:inane
Function:adjective
1 : EMPTY, INSUBSTANTIAL
2 : lacking significance, meaning, or point : SILLY
synonym see INSIPID

Not the Rome I know

Who IS this guy? Was he sent to Rome by an evil alien power to ruin it for everyone else?

I'd have preferred to give it ZERO stars, but that was not an option. Not interesting, not captivating, not educational, not sympathetic. Just more in the "Tawdry Tuscan Sun" vein: pretentious, condescending, badly-written pap. Not by any means an Odyssey, just a collection of superficial and uninteresting vignettes about nothing.

What more can I say? You've been adequately warned by the previous negative reviews. The related website is equally atrocious. In the age of unlimited blogging, why do we all believe that our own small lives are interesting? Well, they aren't to those of us who might have some intelligence but don't want our travel experiences filtered through the eyes and psyche of Alan Epstein.

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