Under the Tuscan Sun

Wife loved this follow up ... she did mention ... like many others ... it's a bit chewy in parts & doesn't flow like the orginal ... however ... she loved the story line & felt ... despite the chewy bit's ... it's def worth reading ...

So one of my favorite movies, not just because of Diane Lane, but for other reasons is based on this book. But it really isn't. The life that Mayes describes is a brief part of the movie. When the character based on Mayes writes on the postcard, the language she uses is what this novel is infused with. It is a love letter to this area of Tuscany. Bits and pieces of the story make their way on screen, but the continuity is different. The movie is a tale with beginning, middle and end. This book is lovely, and one feels a sense of attachment to a place you never have been through the words and writing of Mayes. But it is not the story that made its way to the screen. That, to me was more engaging than the tale of Mayes and her husband Ed restoring Bramasole. I will watch the movie over and over. I will read other books by Mayes, but I don't think I will revisit this again. I can recommend it for all of us should experience her use of language, that is wonderful.

The one book I have gone back to more than a million times. This story sets me free with every read. I have gifted this book multiple times to people I know are struggling to restart their lives after major changes. And I will continue to gift this book. Might have to go re-read it now!

Even if I never get to go back, I've been able to travel to Tuscany (Florence, specifically), and that makes me incredibly lucky. But it's one level of privilege to be able to visit briefly. It's a whole other level to be able to buy property over there and actually live there for parts of the year. But what some of us can only dream of, others are able to make happen and Frances Mayes' Under the Tuscan Sun recounts her experiences buying and renovating a farmhouse in Cortona, Italy, and the first years she spent with it as her Christmas and summer home. First things first: the movie (which I've never seen) is apparently not a strict adaptation of the book. While in both cases Frances' divorce from an apparently very wealthy man (she mentions it only vaguely in the book) is what enables her to purchase the home, the movie apparently gives her a hot new Italian man to mend her broken heart. In reality/the book, she is already happily remarried by the time she decides to start looking for a summer home in Italy. Let me stress that again: they have the means to start searching for a summer home in ITALY. If rich white people doing home renovation, eating food, and contemplating their navels is not your deal, this book will not be for you. I've seen rather a lot of negative reviews focused on the premise that the book is not like the movie and/or annoyed that it's about nothing more than wealthy people doing construction and eating. There are reasons I found the book to be a mixed bag (hence the very middle of the road rating), but they don't have anything to do with either the lack of romance or the privilege. Well, sort of the latter, I guess, because my biggest beef with the book is that there isn't really any conflict. Story structure has remained remarkably consistent over recorded history, which means there are clearly elements that are naturally appealing to people when they're taking in a tale. One of the fundamental pieces of a story is conflict: we want to see our protagonists struggle with obstacles. Frances...doesn't, really. She obliquely mentions that things are expensive, but there's never any indication she has to scrimp or save or go without in order to afford them. She and her husband do a lot of DIY to fix the place up, but the impression is that they enjoy doing it, and don't need to do it for money's sake. It all just seems to roll along...they find the house, they buy it, they do gradual repairs, they start spending a lot of time there, they make new friends, and they're happy. Which must be lovely to experience, but pretty boring to read about. What saves it from being a total snooze is the writing. Mayes is a poet, and it shows. It's beautifully written, and the way she writes lets you see with your mind's eye the lawn at Bramasole with the bright yellow table she had painted, loaded with fresh and simple but delicious food, looking out on the olive trees and flowers and rolling hills. There's an enjoyable element of wish fulfillment fantasy...very very few people will ever get to live the kind of dreamy life she shows us (I have no doubt there were and are less wonderful elements behind the scenes, but she doesn't go into them), so it gives us a window into what seems like an incredible experience. But I had trouble focusing on it because I was honestly mostly bored after about the first 100 pages or so.

Her first of 3 memoirs, I enjoyed this book very much on life in Italy. Recommend you read more of her books.

Somehow, I do not believe this book needs my review to help it sell... It is a wonderful read and I have really been enjoying it as a summer book. One thing to stress: if you are coming to this book because you love the movie, it is barely recognizable as the same work! The movie is in my top ten favorite movies list, I've seen it about thirty times, so I'm familiar enough with it to make the solid comparison. Tons of the book got included in the movie, like the famous line about the hot grape "it even smells purple" but the movie fictionalized almost all the characters and the romantic story didn't happen in real life this way. Frances and Ed bought the house together, she didn't meet him at the end of the story. If you can free your mind from these expectations, you will find a rich and loving narrative that easily draws you in and keeps you riveted long past the time you should have turned out the light and gone to bed.

Adorável

I've been listening to a CD version of this book recently, and have been quite charmed by it. The reader's (Barbara Caruso)mellifluous and precise voice coupled with the fairly lavish prose (the write is a poet after all) slow my usually racing mind down to a walking pace, which is good in itself. The writer observes and admires the Italians' ability to live for the moment and enjoy it, and it is clear that she has learned to do this too. Her appreciation of her lovely house and its surroundings, of delicious indigenous food and consequent eating simply, are almost meditations on how the influence of Western urban living has removed us from good ingredients, birdsong, neighbourliness, uncomplicated pleasures. She has made me think again about taking pleasure in cooking for its own sake, and counting my many blessings.

I could imagine myself there, renovating, pruning, cooking lucscious foods. The book moves from section to section, progressing from the wonder of discovering everything on the land and in the walls, to discovering the local recipes. There are 2 full chapters of recipes, one for summer, the other for winter, and I was excited to try them. Her rich descriptions and word comparisons are fun and poignant.

If someone wants to travel to Italy, this book is a must read. It is about writers experience of buying a villa in Cortona. The struggles she faced along with the beauty of this city. Writer explained each part of the Cortona and around it vividly. Can imagine you are in her place experiencing it for the first time. Must read

The book only seems to talk about restoring an old house... no story, no background, no excitement. The movie is divine, but the book does not have a spark of emotion.