Laurino, Maria
Average customer rating:
- Where You Always and Italian? Ancestors and Other Icons of Italian America
- Very Well-Written!
- basta
- She spoke my mind
- A pleasure to read
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Were You Always an Italian?: Ancestors and Other Icons of Italian America
Maria Laurino
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Similar Items:
- La Storia: Five Centuries of the Italian American Experience
- Dances with Luigi: A Grandson's Search for His Italian Roots
- Don't Tell Mama!: The Penguin Book of Italian American Writing
- Under the Southern Sun: Stories of the Real Italy and the Americans It Created
- Are Italians White?: How Race is Made in America
ASIN: 0393321959 |
Book Description
Maria Laurino sifts through the stereotypes bedeviling Italian Americans to deliver a penetrating and hilarious examination of third-generation ethnic identity. With "intelligence and honesty" (Arizona Republic), she writes about guidos, bimbettes, and mammoni (mama's boys in Italy); examines the clashing aesthetics of Giorgio Armani and Gianni Versace; and unravels the etymology of southern Italian dialect words like gavone and bubidabetz. According to Frances Mayes, she navigates the conflicting forces of ethnicity "with humor and wisdom."
Customer Reviews:
Where You Always and Italian? Ancestors and Other Icons of Italian America.......2007-01-05
You needn't be Italian American or born in New Jersey from Italian parents to appreciate this book.
It's not the nasty mythical underbelly, but about real Italian Americans kvetching over their roots. Many wishing they were born a WASP or a Monarch butterfly.
An extension of John Fante and other first or second generation Italian Americans questioning their ethnicity. Intentionally masking their identities, many reborn as highly educated but ethnically stable members not at all like Tony Soprano.
Very Well-Written!.......2006-08-27
Were You Always an Italian is a very well written book, which should be no surprise, considering Maria Laurino's background. I enjoyed the personal musings a great deal and was reminded of another book about Italians that I recently thoroughly enjoyed, Eleven Days in August by Amatore Mille.
basta.......2005-12-02
If you had a situation where you were allowed to choose one of two things,going to the dentist, or reading this book, I would implore you to go to the dentist.
This is at most a twenty page book, the rest is mind killing filler.The book has a leftward slant. That explains the good reviews from the media.the contents, poor Italians come to america,they dont speak the language.Duh.They can only get minial jobs.duh. they are mostly happy doing labor jobs.very few pull out of that attitude.That is about it.part crybaby part slock,my father was born in southern italy. he had twelve bothers and sisters. none of them ever complained about being stuck in some corner as an inferior. They were to busy making the american dream come true. my grandfather worked three jobs, two of which he owned, the other was being a street lamp lighter.all of the children got a good education. most of them became very wealthy.No darkness for them, america was the place to make it If you kept your eye on the ball. this dark shabby book,is a lobotomy. dont waste your time.
She spoke my mind.......2003-04-23
Maria went through virtually the same experiences I did. Discrimination continued to run rampant in the 1980's, when I was growing up.
I grew up in a German and Irish neighborhood and nearly every time I tried to go outside and play I would be hassled and called names that I didn't understand. I could understand and feel her hurt, pain, and confusion when her Jewish girlfriend called her "that smelly Italian girl."
Maria was not being "whiny." She was simply stating a fact of life. I love it when people tell Italians to get over the discrimination we faced and continue to face yet we are saturated with stories of how much the English discriminated against the Irish during the mass migration in the mid-1800's. EVERY immigrant group's story of discrimination needs to be told so we can avoid the mistakes of the past and indeed "move on."
Maria's point of anything Italian being instantly Americanized was demonstrated with her own book. The original book cover had a lovely portrait of an Italian woman in native costume, but I guess that was too Italian, hence the generic present-day cover.
This is a great addition to any ethnology student's collection.
A pleasure to read.......2003-01-31
There are many books of this genre (i.e., author wonders about his or her roots, author visits the village of his or her ancestors, etc.) When someone gave me this book as a gift I wasn't very eager to read it because I was sure that I'd seen it all before. And although this book does go over some familiar ground, what sets it apart is the writing. Maria Laurino has written for the NY Times and Village Voice; she knows how to tell a story simply and engagingly. The book is a blend of sociology and personal reflections -- a combination that keeps it from getting too academic or too sentimental.
Authors:
- Comte De Lautréamont
- Lautréamont, Comte De
- Lavant, Christine
- Lawhead, Stephen
- Lawrence, D.H.
- Lawrence, Josephine
- Laymon, Richard
- Le Carr, John
- Le Fanu, J. Sheridan
- Le Guin, Ursula K.
Authors
Authors
