An Italian Affair (Vintage)

• Paperback - 07 May, 2002 - Vintage
• Usually ships in 24 hours
• By: Laura Fraser
• ISBN: 0375724850

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Reviews by readers

A beautiful, sensual love story

This book is a very quick read but it is beautiful, sensual and fun. Fraser chronicles a jet-set love affair with a French man after a divorace. I read it once a year while lounging in the sunshine. The descriptions of food, place and character are vivid and delicious. Be sure to have some crusty bread, fresh mozzarella, tomato, basil, and olive oil on hand while reading this book!

romantic places, not a romantic lover

This book was great for me because the author wrote loving, detailed descriptions of the places she went, the food she ate, and the people she met. Her husband, who she thought was the love of her life, left her after only a year of marriage, in a nasty, hurtful way. She left San Francisco to spend time in Italy to distract herself from thinking about her marriage, and to avoid meeting her ex with his new wife in their old haunts. How many of us have fantisized about escaping to a beautiful place to lick our wounds in similar situations. Of course Laura was going to find an Italian man to help get her over her emotional hurt, but the man she settled on... I can't help thinking she could have done better. What bothers me is not that "M" was a married man with kids, it's that he was gross, and a user. She described him smoking stinky cigarettes and smelling like cigars. Yuk. He's a nasty arrogant middle-aged Parisian, not even a romantic young hunk. But the story of getting over a broken heart, and the romance of beautiful places, appeals to me greatly.

You find yourself in a maze of twisty passages

You're very interested in Italy and are planning a vaction there
in the spring. You have been reading books on Italian history
and accounts of travel in Italy. You find Laura Fraser's
book "An Italian Affair" and you think that it sounds interesting
so you order it. But when you start to read "An Italian Affair"
you find that the books is simply unreadable. The book is
written in the second person (the same tense that you wrote this
book review in). You find Ms. Fraser describing your marriage
which ended when your husband left you for another woman. But
wait, you don't have a husband. In fact, you check and
discover that you're male. The book also describes your affair
with a married Italian professor. You're surprised, because
you have not even visited Italy yet. And neither the Italian
professor or you are homosexual.

After reading a few paragraphs of this horrible book you wonder
how it ever got past the editors at Vintage. You put the book
in the library donation pile and grab another book from the
bookshelf. But before you put this whole experience behind you,
you decide to write a review on Amazon to warn other readers of
what they may find if they buy this book.

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