The Uncle from Rome

by Joseph Caldwell

An American opera singer travels to Naples and becomes embroiled in his strangest role yet.

Michael Ruane is an obscure American opera singer who arrives in Naples to play a small part in an important production of Tosca and star in his own staging of a little-known Benjamin Britten opera. The work comes at a particularly trying time, when he's still raw with grief after his New York lover's death from AIDS. As the productions get under way, Ruane is offered an unusual part: That of the "uncle from Rome" at a local wedding. According to tradition, the presence of the uncle from Rome at important events confers prestige on the family. However, Ruane is soon enmeshed in a drama that surpasses any role he has played on the stage. The Uncle from Rome is a brilliant and colorfully imagined novel filled with theatrics of operatic proportions.

Genres: Fiction, LGBT, Italy, Gay Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

A playwright and novelist whose books include The Pig Did It, The Pig Comes to Dinner, and The Pig Goes to Hog Heaven, Joseph Caldwell has been awarded the Rome Prize for Literature by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives in New York City and is working on various post-Pig writing projects.

Reviews

[Erica Verrillo · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Uncle From Rome is one of those rare books that manages to combine cultural melodrama, personal angst, hilarious comedy, and good cooking - all at once - in a veritable soup of personal and cultural contradictions. Caldwell himself states his case for the incoherence of the human soul when Michael describes the typical Neapolitan as profoundly contradictory - cruel and kind, vain and humble, warm and cold. But Caldwell captures these contradictions of the human spirit neatly, accurately and with scathing humor.

Our hero, Michael, is an ambitious opera tenor who is doomed to play bit parts. Ostensibly, he is in Naples for a performance of Tosca. But, in reality, he has come to Italy so that he can finally be a star in his own production of an obscure Benjamin Britten opera. But the true proof of his under-appreciated talent comes when he is ordered by Tosca's diva to impersonate a fictitious "Uncle from Rome" in order to lend an air of prestige to a wedding. Michael manages to pull his "bit part" off perfectly, but with entirely too much success. In his role as the "Lo Zio da Roma" Michael must prevent a murder - which he does with simultaneously hilarious and tragic consequences. When all the contradictions come together, and everything inevitably falls apart, Michael himself comes unstrung in a tense climax that will have you glued to the pages. The last paragraph is literally to die for.

Caldwell skewers the fantastic and ridiculous world of Neapolitan pride/opera/family (exaggerated, yet somehow perfectly true)with a wit that is so sharp it's painful. The contrast between Italian high melodrama with Michael's own state of desperate, but equally self-dramatized ennui, is truly marvelous. Caldwell is a true connoisseur of the arts, of artists, and of everything that makes "Nablidans" and, well, people in general, simultaneously wonderful and unbearable. Bravo, Giuseppe. Bravissimo!

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. An improbable situation of mistaken identity escalates into a series of heartbroken revelations and well-intentioned and disastrous meddling on a journey through Naples, from its most humble kitchens and streets to the heaven scraping arches of theaters and cathedrals. I laughed aloud at some scenes and, like the main character, wished that I could cry at others.

[Mary Whisner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned a new word: comprimario, “a singer if secondary, even tertiary roles in opera. The protagonist, Michael—a Midwesterner by birth—is visiting Naples to perform a small role in Tosca and put on a small production of Benjamin Britten’s Curlew River. The soprano singing Tosca asks him to pretend to be a family’s uncle from Rome at a wedding—she says it’s a custom for a family to impress the neighbors by pretending to have an important uncle who comes all the way from Rome—and Michael finds himself in the middle of a passionate family drama. There’s also a beautiful tenor who is also a cross-dressing prostitute and a thief (or is he a cross-dressing prostitute who is a talented tenor on the side?).

Much of the book seems like a light farce, as Michael tries to solve the problems of his make-believe family, but there’s also some serious life-and-death stuff, so it’s not a good choice if you only want amusing escape. But if you like Italy, opera, or bumbling heroes, check it out.

[Carla Foy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't understand how anyone could have rated this book a 4 or 5 star. I did not enjoy this book at all.

[Harlan · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF, the ratio of flowery detail to plot was too low. I think there might be a fun story, but did not decide to hang out and see.

[gaudeo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A terrific story, very well and dramatically told, of a man caught up in a role he does not expect, and the varied consequences of his filling that role to the fullest. The world of opera is dealt with skillfully, the author aware throughout that the reader may not be familiar with that world. Naples is evoked largely through its people, again skillfully. It's too bad this book didn't receive more attention when it came out. Highly recommended.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Caldwell’s tale is equal parts funny and heart-rending, sometimes in the same moment. I think he has understood that the modern skeptic cannot feel too much, so he gives the reader constant breaks, allowing the humor to leaven the real subject, which is grief.

[Ken Cook]

While dated, this novel was a clever way of reviewing life in the time of the AIDS crisis. The inclusion of the opera theme and placing it in Italy (along with the clever "uncle from Rome") kept interest going.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a lot about contemporary Italian culture, and I loved the alienness of it!

[Elsimom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. Filled with drama, recurring themes, an artistic page turner! Lots to discuss – interesting symbolism. Out of print so plan ahead to get everyone access to a copy.

[Richard Jespers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderfully realized novel of opera, Naples, AIDS, the gulf created by loss of lover. Funny. Sad. Beautifully executed. Never heavy handed or manipulative.