Book Review: Italian Neighbors, by Tim Parks

Finally got around to reading Tim Parks' 1992 book Italian Neighbors, a non-fiction (or at least lightly fictionalized) account of his time spent acclimating to life in a small Italian town outside the city of Verona, in northeast Italy. Tim Parks is the author of at least two dozen books, but readers of The New Yorker -- as well as readers of this blog (all three of you) -- might possibly recognize Tim Parks' name as a frequent short story contributor to the magazine. 

I consider myself an aficionado of all things pertaining to Italy, so I read this book with great interest. At this point the book is 30 years old so, along with being an anthropological look at life in small-town Italy, it's also sort of a historical document, since 1992 lies firmly in the pre-internet, pre- cellphone era. Anyone who remembers 1992 knows that while it might be 30 years ago, it might as well also be 100 years ago in terms of how technology has changed our lives.

What is this book about? Tim Parks and his young wife (unclear if she herself is an Italian) move into a small town called Montecchio, outside the small city of Verona in northeast Italy. Tim sets up shop as an English language professor and translator, and the two adjust to life among their Italian neighbors, with Parks making characters out of the seemingly average, workaday folks he shares the apartment building with, buys groceries from, meets around town, etc. 

Frankly, there is nothing at all remarkable about the town Parks and his wife live in, or the adventures they (do not) get into in this book. But that's precisely what makes the book interesting. Most travel writing and most novels about foreign countries take place in some exotic location or big city, or even a remote farm, and they romanticize the place in some way, or the character falls in love, runs afoul of the local police, gets involved in a crime, risks their life, etc. In other words, those books are written about some kind of extraordinary place or experience that a normal person is unlikely to have. 

But how many books are written about the kind of normal, mundane, daily life experiences one is likely to actually have (most likely to have, in fact) when one visits or lives in a foreign country? Not many, it seems. Yet those kinds of mundane details are the very stuff of 99.9% of our lives and -- written about with enough humor and incisive observation -- can be extremely interesting. 

Tim Parks has a certain characteristic British dry humor without being condescending, which is nice. With his keen eye for detail, things like the bottling of homemade prosecco with his neighbors, paying his taxes, and going for a stroll in the park, become opportunities for a bit of humorous, sociological observation. But not so humorous, either, that the book takes for a joke things that his Italian neighbors find serious. No, Parks has a finely-tuned sense of propriety and it's clear he has an innate respect for his host country and her people.