Casa Nostra: A Home in Sicily
The renovation of a massive, decaying villa in Sicily ostensibly spurred the writing of this uneven, predictable memoir from first-time author Manzo. Married into a Sicilian family struggling to maintain its hold on the family property, London-born Manzo is compelled to help rebuild it, becoming a fixture of the neglected house and its multi-generational members. Photographs reinforce the grandeur of the property, which includes crenellated towers and arched doorways, but the story of the renovation itself is thin and uneventful, populated with predictable delays and a few oddball stories of contractors and broken water pumps. As expected, the domestic project frames the story of each family member, particularly the aging matriarch, though there are long chapters on architecture and the Mafia which often serve to slow what little momentum there is. Despite this, some charming moments shine through, particularly concerning the brothers who share the villa and the food they eat together, but without any major disasters or truly comic mishaps, the book flounders; still, readers looking for a light escape will agree there's worse places to flounder than sun-drenched Sicily.Copyright &copy; Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.