What do you think?
Rate this book
Whispering Tides
When his beloved wife Nina suddenly dies - after 23 years of life together - Alberto Landi understands he has to leave Milan Italy, where he has always lived and worked. He leaves his friends, colleagues, a good job and the polluted big city he has never loved which has now become even more intolerable to him. He is fifty, he is totally alone and he is confused, but he definitely knows that he has to escape very far away, across the ocean to the only place he and Nina had always loved together. He lands in Savannah, Georgia. There, in a natural paradise governed by the breath of the tides and with the help of many dear friends - colorful human characters as well as wise animals - he starts to rebuild his new life. His dream is coming true until the day he wakes up one morning and discovers that…
242 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 13, 2011
7 people are currently reading
40 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 19, 2012
Hmmm, to be honest, I think this is one of the most unusual books that I have read this year. Mattioni writes a very deep book relating to the grief of his main character, yet is able to keep it light. You can feel his grief from your fingertips to the tips of your toes, yet his character and the supporting characters have that deep south charm and wit that I happen to love about the South.
The only thing that kept throwing me off was that Mattioni kept throwing in references to the historical South. Some I think fit into the story line and some I kept asking myself what the point was. This was also the reason this book wasn't a 5 star read.
I can put this book on the list of works on why I prefer Indie authors over Big House Publishing. I think it is also a prime example of what those who are closed minded to the works of indie authors are missing. This book was incredibly unique in its' presentation and I think the author showed talent to present two levels of storyline...A charming one on the top level to warm the hearts of the readers while capturing the pain, hurt and loss of Alberto in the "sub level". I think if he would have chosen to write this book in any other method, he would be missing a critical component.
The only thing that kept throwing me off was that Mattioni kept throwing in references to the historical South. Some I think fit into the story line and some I kept asking myself what the point was. This was also the reason this book wasn't a 5 star read.
I can put this book on the list of works on why I prefer Indie authors over Big House Publishing. I think it is also a prime example of what those who are closed minded to the works of indie authors are missing. This book was incredibly unique in its' presentation and I think the author showed talent to present two levels of storyline...A charming one on the top level to warm the hearts of the readers while capturing the pain, hurt and loss of Alberto in the "sub level". I think if he would have chosen to write this book in any other method, he would be missing a critical component.
March 28, 2012
A Shimmering Love Story, A Contemporary Divine Comedy
WHISPERING TIDES by Guido Mattioni, trans., William Marino and Daniela Zoppini, is a shining love story, one that gripped me from its opening pages. I read it straight through from cover to cover, mulled over my notes, skipped back and forth, re-read the highlights. Surprised and delighted in equal measure by its ending, I continue to ponder the meaning of the story and am loathe to leave the experience of this wonderful book.
Although it is the chronicle of one man's grief, WHISPERING TIDES is the story of a humanist and his love for his friends and the South, for the bright mystery of animals, for the unique vision of characters with unfettered souls, for the locals who live in and around Savannah, Georgia.
Dante might say that Alberto Landi, the main character of WHISPERING TIDES, is in the middle of life's journey and lost in a dark wood. Fifty years old, leading a successful life in Milan and surrounded by the trappings of wealth and glitterati, Alberto suddenly loses the love of his life, Nina, his wife of twenty-three years. His world crashes; he is lost without her. His grief is so deep that he journeys in body, mind and dreams across the globe to Savannah, Georgia, where once he knew happiness. He is in search of the rebirth that the new world and, especially, the southern sentiment and way of life, seem to offer. He stays at the home of a friend where he and his wife had enjoyed happier times. He revisits places and people he loves, commenting on and sharing their uniqueness. Vowing to rebuild his life there, he renounces his former work and possessions. Stripped clean of his old ways, he slowly, painstakingly begins his reawakening. To be more specific would give away the story.
Alberto has a love of Savannah, its history, its people, its animals. Local characters abound. Many are humorous; all are unforgettable.
Perhaps my favorite is the statue of James Edward Oglethorpe:
"He appeared to be looking South with his right hand softly resting on the hilt of his sword as if to caress it, while his left hand was planted on his side in a posture halfway between that of martial vigilance and male dare. He seemed to be looking towards the Florida border and pondering the fact that there he had tried many times to spot the glittering helmets of Spanish bullies who were greedy for conquest and carrying unmentionable diseases."
The novel is the journey of one man's dark night of the soul. It is for all of us, a poignant evocation of grief, but it is also a deep affirmation of life.
Guido Mattioni's gift of storytelling is large. His spirit is exuberant, his grasp of American history is large. He has the eyes of a humanist and the soul of a poet.
I recommend WHISPERING TIDES to all readers who enjoy a good story, but search for meaning in between the words, to those who want to come away from a great read with an even greater understanding of what it means to be human.
WHISPERING TIDES by Guido Mattioni, trans., William Marino and Daniela Zoppini, is a shining love story, one that gripped me from its opening pages. I read it straight through from cover to cover, mulled over my notes, skipped back and forth, re-read the highlights. Surprised and delighted in equal measure by its ending, I continue to ponder the meaning of the story and am loathe to leave the experience of this wonderful book.
Although it is the chronicle of one man's grief, WHISPERING TIDES is the story of a humanist and his love for his friends and the South, for the bright mystery of animals, for the unique vision of characters with unfettered souls, for the locals who live in and around Savannah, Georgia.
Dante might say that Alberto Landi, the main character of WHISPERING TIDES, is in the middle of life's journey and lost in a dark wood. Fifty years old, leading a successful life in Milan and surrounded by the trappings of wealth and glitterati, Alberto suddenly loses the love of his life, Nina, his wife of twenty-three years. His world crashes; he is lost without her. His grief is so deep that he journeys in body, mind and dreams across the globe to Savannah, Georgia, where once he knew happiness. He is in search of the rebirth that the new world and, especially, the southern sentiment and way of life, seem to offer. He stays at the home of a friend where he and his wife had enjoyed happier times. He revisits places and people he loves, commenting on and sharing their uniqueness. Vowing to rebuild his life there, he renounces his former work and possessions. Stripped clean of his old ways, he slowly, painstakingly begins his reawakening. To be more specific would give away the story.
Alberto has a love of Savannah, its history, its people, its animals. Local characters abound. Many are humorous; all are unforgettable.
Perhaps my favorite is the statue of James Edward Oglethorpe:
"He appeared to be looking South with his right hand softly resting on the hilt of his sword as if to caress it, while his left hand was planted on his side in a posture halfway between that of martial vigilance and male dare. He seemed to be looking towards the Florida border and pondering the fact that there he had tried many times to spot the glittering helmets of Spanish bullies who were greedy for conquest and carrying unmentionable diseases."
The novel is the journey of one man's dark night of the soul. It is for all of us, a poignant evocation of grief, but it is also a deep affirmation of life.
Guido Mattioni's gift of storytelling is large. His spirit is exuberant, his grasp of American history is large. He has the eyes of a humanist and the soul of a poet.
I recommend WHISPERING TIDES to all readers who enjoy a good story, but search for meaning in between the words, to those who want to come away from a great read with an even greater understanding of what it means to be human.
December 30, 2012
Italians, Alberto Landi and his wife, Nina, loved to travel, and their favorite destination was Savannah, Georgia. In fact, they went there so often, they were made honorary citizens by Savannah’s mayor. When Nina dies, Alberto can no longer live in Italy because the memories of Nina are too painful. So he moves to Burnside Island, just south of Savannah, where the soothing regularity of the tide begins to heal him.
Alberto muses on the tides: “And it all happens in a moment, so there is just a little time to enter the house, pour another cup of coffee and return to note that your last glance has already become another sight. Within minutes, the tide invaded every corner caressing with placid threats and the lawn behind the house, ripping the boats attached to the piers off the sticky mud and almost giving the subliminal message that if it wanted to, it could overwhelm and submerge the whole house and us along with it. She reminds you: remember who’s in charge here.”
Whispering Tides is a difficult book to pigeon-hole. It is advertised as “A touching, funny and memorable tale set in Savannah.” Mattioni makes no claim to how even he would characterize it. His readers’ note reads:
“Some of the characters in this book are totally invented, some are somewhat real and the rest are in fact totally real, even if I have used pseudonyms for all of them in order to protect their privacy. However, I swear, all of them are really deep in my heart as is the city of Savannah itself.”
Though it is part fiction, I wouldn’t describe Whispering Tides as a novel because very little actually happens. But also because it is part fiction, it is not a memoir. So how can I describe it in such a way that would convince you to read it?
Whispering Tides is a travel guide to some of the best sights and local restaurants in the Savannah area. It is philosophical reflections on friendship and human nature. Indeed, Mattioni often delves into animal nature as well, reflecting in long passages on the behavior of birds and cats. Sometimes Whispering Tides recounts Georgia’s history and sometimes it waxes poetic about Georgia’s geography. Many of Whispering Tides’ passages qualify as character studies occasionally accompanied by a psychological analysis of the subject. But most of all, Whispering Tides is a love letter to Savannah and the nearby islands.
The conventional reader in me wanted to know more about Nina and how she died. Her death was presented as tragic and sudden, the kind of hook that is irresistible to readers. However, Mattioni kept the narrative focused on Alberto’s present with only occasional lapses in to the past. The novelist in me envied Mattioni’s dream-like prose and his lyrical descriptions of Savannah and the Georgian Islands. I especially liked this passage:
“The water that is usually glass calm began to vibrate, as if gently simmering and then it was covered with concentric circles until finally shining tender creatures came to the surface. The air was filled with faint cries and happy sounds resembling the joyful laughter of children. They were baby dolphins that had just been born. That bay, chosen by the ancient wisdom of their mothers, is the nursery and natural sanctuary where those young sweet mammals chase each other around, learn to take their first dives and emerge between splashes looking at you confidently with their soft eyes.”
The New Englander in me rankled against Georgians’ disparaging diatribes against the manners, money, and shallowness of Yankees. Alberto did not offer a different perspective on northerners and I was left wondering if he felt the same way. I wondered if he realized how people who live on islands hundreds of miles apart from each other often have more in common with each other than the closest mainlanders.
Everyone Alberto met in Georgia was charming and welcoming to the Italian stranger. He was an acceptable exception to their isolation. Unlike Yankee visitors to Savannah, Alberto did not represent a people clamoring to buy waterfront property as a weekend escape from their urban existence.
Despite not liking the over-generalized characterization of northern life and northern people, I found myself smiling as I recognized characters in Whispering Tides from my own experience of living in the Deep South for over a decade: the small town mayor dedicated to preserving the quaint and isolated character of his town; the townie everyone knows because he spends his days hanging around the diners and bars talking to them, but who no one really knows because he’s never given out his phone number even to his girlfriends; and the deep and infectious laughter of women who’ve spent their lives earning minimum wage working at the local supermarket. Mattioni describes them as, “A small army of women in chintzy overalls or acrylic stretch-pants suits…vestals of discounts, the great deal priestesses of ‘3 for $2.00’, but above all friendly companions ready to assist their neighbors, regardless of who those neighbors are.”
It is always interesting to read the immigrant’s perspective on American life. What is special about Whispering Tides is how it concerns a small slice of the American experience and delves deeply into it. This is a good book for reading on your back porch in view of the water with a glass of wine at your side.
Alberto muses on the tides: “And it all happens in a moment, so there is just a little time to enter the house, pour another cup of coffee and return to note that your last glance has already become another sight. Within minutes, the tide invaded every corner caressing with placid threats and the lawn behind the house, ripping the boats attached to the piers off the sticky mud and almost giving the subliminal message that if it wanted to, it could overwhelm and submerge the whole house and us along with it. She reminds you: remember who’s in charge here.”
Whispering Tides is a difficult book to pigeon-hole. It is advertised as “A touching, funny and memorable tale set in Savannah.” Mattioni makes no claim to how even he would characterize it. His readers’ note reads:
“Some of the characters in this book are totally invented, some are somewhat real and the rest are in fact totally real, even if I have used pseudonyms for all of them in order to protect their privacy. However, I swear, all of them are really deep in my heart as is the city of Savannah itself.”
Though it is part fiction, I wouldn’t describe Whispering Tides as a novel because very little actually happens. But also because it is part fiction, it is not a memoir. So how can I describe it in such a way that would convince you to read it?
Whispering Tides is a travel guide to some of the best sights and local restaurants in the Savannah area. It is philosophical reflections on friendship and human nature. Indeed, Mattioni often delves into animal nature as well, reflecting in long passages on the behavior of birds and cats. Sometimes Whispering Tides recounts Georgia’s history and sometimes it waxes poetic about Georgia’s geography. Many of Whispering Tides’ passages qualify as character studies occasionally accompanied by a psychological analysis of the subject. But most of all, Whispering Tides is a love letter to Savannah and the nearby islands.
The conventional reader in me wanted to know more about Nina and how she died. Her death was presented as tragic and sudden, the kind of hook that is irresistible to readers. However, Mattioni kept the narrative focused on Alberto’s present with only occasional lapses in to the past. The novelist in me envied Mattioni’s dream-like prose and his lyrical descriptions of Savannah and the Georgian Islands. I especially liked this passage:
“The water that is usually glass calm began to vibrate, as if gently simmering and then it was covered with concentric circles until finally shining tender creatures came to the surface. The air was filled with faint cries and happy sounds resembling the joyful laughter of children. They were baby dolphins that had just been born. That bay, chosen by the ancient wisdom of their mothers, is the nursery and natural sanctuary where those young sweet mammals chase each other around, learn to take their first dives and emerge between splashes looking at you confidently with their soft eyes.”
The New Englander in me rankled against Georgians’ disparaging diatribes against the manners, money, and shallowness of Yankees. Alberto did not offer a different perspective on northerners and I was left wondering if he felt the same way. I wondered if he realized how people who live on islands hundreds of miles apart from each other often have more in common with each other than the closest mainlanders.
Everyone Alberto met in Georgia was charming and welcoming to the Italian stranger. He was an acceptable exception to their isolation. Unlike Yankee visitors to Savannah, Alberto did not represent a people clamoring to buy waterfront property as a weekend escape from their urban existence.
Despite not liking the over-generalized characterization of northern life and northern people, I found myself smiling as I recognized characters in Whispering Tides from my own experience of living in the Deep South for over a decade: the small town mayor dedicated to preserving the quaint and isolated character of his town; the townie everyone knows because he spends his days hanging around the diners and bars talking to them, but who no one really knows because he’s never given out his phone number even to his girlfriends; and the deep and infectious laughter of women who’ve spent their lives earning minimum wage working at the local supermarket. Mattioni describes them as, “A small army of women in chintzy overalls or acrylic stretch-pants suits…vestals of discounts, the great deal priestesses of ‘3 for $2.00’, but above all friendly companions ready to assist their neighbors, regardless of who those neighbors are.”
It is always interesting to read the immigrant’s perspective on American life. What is special about Whispering Tides is how it concerns a small slice of the American experience and delves deeply into it. This is a good book for reading on your back porch in view of the water with a glass of wine at your side.
June 22, 2014
I loved this book because it reads just like Savannah, GA is...slow and glorious.
Alberto Landi, the protagonist in "Whispering Tides" took an impressive fall. After the horrific death of his beloved wife of 23 years, when his world crumbled, he left his home in Milan, Italy and with all his worldly possessions in two bags, moved heart and soul to Savannah where he slowly healed.
In Alberto's words: "Now I understood the sincere sensation that I had experienced the very first time I had arrived here and immediately felt this place hidden deeply inside something already familiar that belonged to me. It was almost as if that water and that mud, so remote from the places where I was born and had lived, were in reality elements that had always been known to me, so much so that from then on I felt as I was immersed, secure and at ease in an amniotic liquid."
Mattioni goes on to describe Savannah, its residents, the flowers, and the wildlife in such detail that the writing seems three-dimensional and in slow motion. This brilliant writer paints such beautiful pictures with his imaginative prose that I will not soon forget them.
Whispering Tides is not a story of grief and loss. It is a wondrous love story between Alberto and his wife, Nina, and his romance with every nuance of Savannah.
Alberto Landi, the protagonist in "Whispering Tides" took an impressive fall. After the horrific death of his beloved wife of 23 years, when his world crumbled, he left his home in Milan, Italy and with all his worldly possessions in two bags, moved heart and soul to Savannah where he slowly healed.
In Alberto's words: "Now I understood the sincere sensation that I had experienced the very first time I had arrived here and immediately felt this place hidden deeply inside something already familiar that belonged to me. It was almost as if that water and that mud, so remote from the places where I was born and had lived, were in reality elements that had always been known to me, so much so that from then on I felt as I was immersed, secure and at ease in an amniotic liquid."
Mattioni goes on to describe Savannah, its residents, the flowers, and the wildlife in such detail that the writing seems three-dimensional and in slow motion. This brilliant writer paints such beautiful pictures with his imaginative prose that I will not soon forget them.
Whispering Tides is not a story of grief and loss. It is a wondrous love story between Alberto and his wife, Nina, and his romance with every nuance of Savannah.
August 9, 2012
AWESOME !!!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews