The author is a New Yorker who has spent much of her life living abroad. Her dream is to live in Venice, and this is the story of how she accomplished it.
When I was younger, I thought that vacations were beyond my reach. My idea of a vacation was to move to somewhere new and get a job. It was in this way I got to know Cleveland, San Antonio and San Francisco, so I could identify with the author in terms of her desire to do the same with Venice.
It has been awhile since I read this book; however, one of the things that stuck with me was that despite cultural and language differences, people around the world are pretty much just people! Ms. Weideger's relationships with her neighbors and landlords uphold this theory quite nicely.
The best thing about this book, perhaps, is that it made me want to visit Venice. The author's descriptions stick with me in a way that Venice seems like more of a real, worldly place to visit rather than the setting of a fairy tale! The unfortunate thing, though, was some of the reality of living in Venice tarnished the charm it had for the author at the outset. Sometimes, maybe, a vacation should just be a vacation.
This book would make a great gift for a person dreaming of--or planning on--visiting Venice. Even the armchair traveler will be entertained!
http://www.fiatgirl.com/
Copyright © 1999-2007 by Erika A. Lockhart
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