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Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World
From the author of the acclaimed Pulitzer Prize-winning #1 New York Times bestseller All the Light We Cannot See and Cloud Cuckoo Land , a "dazzling" (Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran ) memoir about art and adventures in Rome.
Anthony Doerr has received many awards—from the New York Public Library, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the American Library Association. Then came the Rome Prize, one of the most prestigious awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and with it a stipend and a writing studio in Rome for a year. Doerr learned of the award the day he and his wife returned from the hospital with newborn twins.
Exquisitely observed, Four Seasons in Rome describes Doerr's varied adventures in one of the most enchanting cities in the world. He reads Pliny, Dante, and Keats—the chroniclers of Rome who came before him—and visits the piazzas, temples, and ancient cisterns they describe. He attends the vigil of a dying Pope John Paul II and takes his twins to the Pantheon in December to wait for snow to fall through the oculus. He and his family are embraced by the butchers, grocers, and bakers of the neighborhood, whose clamor of stories and idiosyncratic child-rearing advice is as compelling as the city itself.
This intimate and revelatory book is a celebration of Rome, a wondrous look at new parenthood, and a fascinating story of a writer's craft—the process by which he transforms what he sees and experiences into sentences.
Anthony Doerr has received many awards—from the New York Public Library, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the American Library Association. Then came the Rome Prize, one of the most prestigious awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and with it a stipend and a writing studio in Rome for a year. Doerr learned of the award the day he and his wife returned from the hospital with newborn twins.
Exquisitely observed, Four Seasons in Rome describes Doerr's varied adventures in one of the most enchanting cities in the world. He reads Pliny, Dante, and Keats—the chroniclers of Rome who came before him—and visits the piazzas, temples, and ancient cisterns they describe. He attends the vigil of a dying Pope John Paul II and takes his twins to the Pantheon in December to wait for snow to fall through the oculus. He and his family are embraced by the butchers, grocers, and bakers of the neighborhood, whose clamor of stories and idiosyncratic child-rearing advice is as compelling as the city itself.
This intimate and revelatory book is a celebration of Rome, a wondrous look at new parenthood, and a fascinating story of a writer's craft—the process by which he transforms what he sees and experiences into sentences.
211 pages, Paperback
First published June 12, 2007
2158 people are currently reading
20806 people want to read
About the author
Anthony Doerr
52 books25.6k followersAnthony Doerr is the author of six books,
The Shell Collector
,
About Grace
,
Memory Wall
,
Four Seasons in Rome
,
All the Light We Cannot See
, and
Cloud Cuckoo Land
. Doerr is a two-time National Book Award finalist, and his fiction has won five O. Henry Prizes and won a number of prizes including the Pulitzer Prize and the Carnegie Medal. Become a fan on Facebook and stay up-to-date on his latest publications.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,343 reviews
July 24, 2015
After finishing All the Light We Cannot See, I’ll confess I was a bit addicted to Doerr’s lovely writing. Since we were about to take a trip to Rome, I thought I would pick up this travelogue about Doerr’s year in Rome as a creative writing resident. He describes the city with love and nostalgia, capturing Rome at its funniest and most breathtaking. It’s difficult to say something new about a city that has captured imaginations for millennia, but Doerr manages to do so in this story of an Idaho couple with two toddlers who are thrust into Rome for a year. Again, this is a book you read for the writing. Doerr really knows how to craft a scene and turn a phrase.
August 6, 2008
Humorless self-important dude lives in Rome for a year with his wife and newborn twins. Dude muses about Rome. Dude muses about history. Dude muses about parenthood. Dude muses about musing. Dude thinks that writing short sentences and fragments makes. The banal. More interesting. Dude's wife passes out from exhaustion and dehydration because she's been taking care of the twins by herself while dude muses. Dude muses about this for a while before he takes her to the hospital. Dude muses about the Pope. Dude muses about leaving Rome. Dude and family go back to Boise, where I hope they get a nanny.
February 19, 2018
What a book ! Sensual, Captivating and beautifully written. Anthony Doerr finds himself in the heart of Rome shortly after his twin boys were born. Having received the Rome Prize, an award that gave him a year-long stipend and studio in Rome he embraces the adventure and moves his family to the Eternal City.
I loved so much about this book, the writing is poetic, lyrical and so vivid, the author's descriptions of Rome through the seasons are breathtaking. This is a short read at 205 pages but Doerr never wastes a word as we walk through the streets of Rome with him and his enviable stroller containing two delightful and demanding babies. We see life in a small apartment with his wife and children and how they try to adapt to the language and customs of a foreign city where life takes on a new meaning as well as challenges. I loved the snippets of history of Rome sprinkled throughout the book and I spent almost every chapter googling places and buildings and really enjoyed this eloquent and witty little book. His descriptions of people he met on the streets on a daily basis was so vivid and real. All in all a suprisingly uplifting and delightful read and a lovely little escape to a city full of life and history and intrigue.
I loved so much about this book, the writing is poetic, lyrical and so vivid, the author's descriptions of Rome through the seasons are breathtaking. This is a short read at 205 pages but Doerr never wastes a word as we walk through the streets of Rome with him and his enviable stroller containing two delightful and demanding babies. We see life in a small apartment with his wife and children and how they try to adapt to the language and customs of a foreign city where life takes on a new meaning as well as challenges. I loved the snippets of history of Rome sprinkled throughout the book and I spent almost every chapter googling places and buildings and really enjoyed this eloquent and witty little book. His descriptions of people he met on the streets on a daily basis was so vivid and real. All in all a suprisingly uplifting and delightful read and a lovely little escape to a city full of life and history and intrigue.
May 13, 2016
This is a lovely and enjoyable travelogue from an American writer who spent a year in Rome on a fellowship. I picked it up not just because I like travel memoirs, but also because I recently read Anthony Doerr's excellent novel All the Light We Cannot See, and he had been working on that book while he was in Rome back in 2004.
Doerr and his wife moved to Italy when their twins were newborns, so besides the travel vignettes and insightful comments from a writer talking about the process of writing, there are also adventures in parenting in a foreign country. Additionally, Pope John Paul II died while they were in Italy, and Doerr marveled at the millions who flocked to Rome for the pope's funeral.
In short, there's a lot of interesting stuff in this 200-page travelogue. Doerr is an engaging writer and I enjoyed following his journey. Recommended for those who like stories of Italy or books about writers and writing.
Favorite Quotes
"We came to Rome because we'd always regret it if we didn't, because every timidity eventually turns into regret."
"The only way to fall asleep is to stop trying to fall asleep. Sleep is a horizon: the harder you row toward it, the faster it recedes.
[on visiting the grave of John Keats]
"We are hemmed by brickwork, ivy, history. A line from a Tom Andrews poem comes back to me: 'The dead drag a grappling hook for the living. The hook is enormous.'"
"A good journal entry — like a good song, or sketch, or photograph — ought to break up the habitual and lift away the film that forms over the eye, the finger, the tongue, the heart. A good journal entry ought to be a love letter to the world."
"I agree to live now, live as sweetly as I can, to fill my clothes with wind and my eyes with lights, but I understand I'll have to leave in the end."
Doerr and his wife moved to Italy when their twins were newborns, so besides the travel vignettes and insightful comments from a writer talking about the process of writing, there are also adventures in parenting in a foreign country. Additionally, Pope John Paul II died while they were in Italy, and Doerr marveled at the millions who flocked to Rome for the pope's funeral.
In short, there's a lot of interesting stuff in this 200-page travelogue. Doerr is an engaging writer and I enjoyed following his journey. Recommended for those who like stories of Italy or books about writers and writing.
Favorite Quotes
"We came to Rome because we'd always regret it if we didn't, because every timidity eventually turns into regret."
"The only way to fall asleep is to stop trying to fall asleep. Sleep is a horizon: the harder you row toward it, the faster it recedes.
[on visiting the grave of John Keats]
"We are hemmed by brickwork, ivy, history. A line from a Tom Andrews poem comes back to me: 'The dead drag a grappling hook for the living. The hook is enormous.'"
"A good journal entry — like a good song, or sketch, or photograph — ought to break up the habitual and lift away the film that forms over the eye, the finger, the tongue, the heart. A good journal entry ought to be a love letter to the world."
"I agree to live now, live as sweetly as I can, to fill my clothes with wind and my eyes with lights, but I understand I'll have to leave in the end."
February 6, 2019
[2.5] While reading Doerr's reminiscences of his family's year in Rome, I sometimes felt like a polite neighbor sitting through a bland, travelogue slideshow. Although well-penned, his observations lacked insight, depth or humor. Fortunately, it was short and easy to finish. I'll stick to his fiction from now on.
July 5, 2020
I am surprised by how disappointed I was while listening to Doerr read this memoir which takes place over the course of a year in Rome. The only other book of Doerr's which I have read is All the Light We Cannot See which I loved and is a favorite. I was looking to revisit Rome through Doerr's eyes and narrative, but I never felt fully engaged which always kills a book for me. Doerr kept me at a distance and pulled me out of his leapfrogging narrative with his constant (over)use of metaphor and other literary devices. His narrative voice sounded like he was reading poetry and not a travelogue/memoir. There are some beautiful passages and some of the metaphors are brilliant but they just kept coming. A case of too much of a good thing which pulled me/the narrative out of Rome and into his/my head. He dropped this style in a couple of places where flowery language would have been inappropriate and then the narrative was smooth and engaging.
I thoroughly enjoyed and was happily reminded of some of my own travel experiences in Italy and elsewhere when Doerr described the mouth-watering food and coffee, the lovely Italian people and the crazy Italian drivers, of shopping or trying to do anything in a foreign country when you do not know the language and customs. I also enjoyed his most frequent topic of discussion, his twin boys.
Many people loved this book, especially the prose and the metaphors, so I invite you to consider those reviews.
I thoroughly enjoyed and was happily reminded of some of my own travel experiences in Italy and elsewhere when Doerr described the mouth-watering food and coffee, the lovely Italian people and the crazy Italian drivers, of shopping or trying to do anything in a foreign country when you do not know the language and customs. I also enjoyed his most frequent topic of discussion, his twin boys.
Many people loved this book, especially the prose and the metaphors, so I invite you to consider those reviews.
August 26, 2015
On the day that his twin sons were born, Anthony Doerr received a letter informing him that he had won the Rome Prize. He was given a small apartment, a studio at the American Academy, and a monthly stipend to spend a year writing in the Eternal City. Six months later, he and his wife bundled up the twins and flew from Idaho to Italy.
Doerr writes about the challenges of parenting twins, especially the lack of sleep, and the love he feels for them. Communicating in Italian is another difficult task, sometimes with humorous results, and other times frightening as when he needed to get medical help for his wife Shauna. During the year the author read all 37 volumes of Pliny's "Natural History" (from AD 77) as well as many other works about Rome. His family walked and rode buses through the city with a twin stroller, marveling at the beauty they could find. The whole area of Rome and the Vatican is really a huge art museum. They were also witness to the events at Saint Peter's Square when the Pope died and another Pope was chosen.
Doerr is a keen observer of both people and nature. His lyrical writing is beautiful, and draws the reader in to experience Rome through his eyes. "Four Seasons in Rome" is an especially enjoyable travel memoir.
Doerr writes about the challenges of parenting twins, especially the lack of sleep, and the love he feels for them. Communicating in Italian is another difficult task, sometimes with humorous results, and other times frightening as when he needed to get medical help for his wife Shauna. During the year the author read all 37 volumes of Pliny's "Natural History" (from AD 77) as well as many other works about Rome. His family walked and rode buses through the city with a twin stroller, marveling at the beauty they could find. The whole area of Rome and the Vatican is really a huge art museum. They were also witness to the events at Saint Peter's Square when the Pope died and another Pope was chosen.
Doerr is a keen observer of both people and nature. His lyrical writing is beautiful, and draws the reader in to experience Rome through his eyes. "Four Seasons in Rome" is an especially enjoyable travel memoir.
June 28, 2020
Every morning I try to remind myself to give unreservedly, to pore over everything, to test each sentence for fractures in a dream.
-Anthony Doerr
I read this memoir because I want to travel to Rome someday. Yet people who know me or follow my reading habits also know how much of an Anthony Doerr fan I am: his story collection, The Shell Collector, is one of my favorite story collections; his novel, All the Light We Cannot See, was the first novel I reviewed this year and is a favorite read of 2020; plus his writing is an inspiration for anyone with writing aspirations. I love reading about personal experiences during travel and if there is anyone who knows how to shape a story in a supple way that a reader processes his world and imagines herself in it, that person has to be Doerr:
When Doerr is awarded the prestigious Rome prize (a one-year writing fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters), he finds himself in Rome with his wife and twin boys. This memoir is one that illuminates the writing life, as Doerr works on his famous novel even while he deals with bouts of insomnia and some unsuccessful attempts at writing. What is compelling are those revelations of being new parents in a strange city, raising twin boys (babies), and not knowing the language or customs. There is something magical about the unknown that makes a writer lean on what he knows best, which in this case becomes gorgeous descriptions, nuanced storytelling, and attention to the kind of details that appeal to the senses. Rome, its beguiling architecture and archaic manner, is recreated in this book.
-Anthony Doerr
I read this memoir because I want to travel to Rome someday. Yet people who know me or follow my reading habits also know how much of an Anthony Doerr fan I am: his story collection, The Shell Collector, is one of my favorite story collections; his novel, All the Light We Cannot See, was the first novel I reviewed this year and is a favorite read of 2020; plus his writing is an inspiration for anyone with writing aspirations. I love reading about personal experiences during travel and if there is anyone who knows how to shape a story in a supple way that a reader processes his world and imagines herself in it, that person has to be Doerr:
A good journal entry - like a good song, or sketch, or photograph - ought to break up the habitual and lift away the film that forms over the eye, the finger, the tongue, the heart. A good journal entry ought to be a love letter to the world.
Leave home, leave the country, leave the familiar. Only then can routine experience - buying bread, eating vegetables, even saying hello - become new all over again.
When Doerr is awarded the prestigious Rome prize (a one-year writing fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters), he finds himself in Rome with his wife and twin boys. This memoir is one that illuminates the writing life, as Doerr works on his famous novel even while he deals with bouts of insomnia and some unsuccessful attempts at writing. What is compelling are those revelations of being new parents in a strange city, raising twin boys (babies), and not knowing the language or customs. There is something magical about the unknown that makes a writer lean on what he knows best, which in this case becomes gorgeous descriptions, nuanced storytelling, and attention to the kind of details that appeal to the senses. Rome, its beguiling architecture and archaic manner, is recreated in this book.
April 1, 2018
Doerr, who wrote, “All the Light We Cannot See”, wins an award to spend a year in Rome writing. His wife has just given birth to twins and their move is definitely an entertaining one.
Reading this book made me feel as if I was in Rome. His descriptions are beautiful and it was just lovely to imagine all the sights, sounds, and aromas. The book is sprinkled with wonderful moments throughout. Towards the end, however, I felt that it was becoming a bit aimless and it started to drag, but I enjoyed it overall.
Some of my favorite quotes:
“If it ever begins to snow, we should run to the Pantheon, because to see snowflakes come drifting through the hole at the top of the dome is to change your life forever.”
“To spend a day walking the streets in Rome, we’re told, is to inhale the equivalent of eighteen cigarettes.”
“The world is not a pageant: beauty is as unquantifiable as love. Geography is not something that can be ranked.”
“Roma, they say, non basta una vita. One life is not enough.”
“The only way to fall asleep is to stop trying to fall asleep. Sleep is a horizon: the harder you row toward it, the faster it recedes.”
Reading this book made me feel as if I was in Rome. His descriptions are beautiful and it was just lovely to imagine all the sights, sounds, and aromas. The book is sprinkled with wonderful moments throughout. Towards the end, however, I felt that it was becoming a bit aimless and it started to drag, but I enjoyed it overall.
Some of my favorite quotes:
“If it ever begins to snow, we should run to the Pantheon, because to see snowflakes come drifting through the hole at the top of the dome is to change your life forever.”
“To spend a day walking the streets in Rome, we’re told, is to inhale the equivalent of eighteen cigarettes.”
“The world is not a pageant: beauty is as unquantifiable as love. Geography is not something that can be ranked.”
“Roma, they say, non basta una vita. One life is not enough.”
“The only way to fall asleep is to stop trying to fall asleep. Sleep is a horizon: the harder you row toward it, the faster it recedes.”
June 1, 2015
I have a love affair with Italy having had the great fortune to visit it two years in a row (2010 and 2011). Venice and Florence were easy falls/love at first sight, Rome not so much. Needless to say spectacular even the first time around (it is Rome after all!), it was much more rough and tumble -- requiring more from the tourist... a bit of work, having to earn it a bit (or a lot) more than the other two locales. But on the second time around, the city easily revealed its charm almost immediately. I knew my way around and was prepared and ready for the grit, the bustle, the attitude.
I was pretty prepared to hate, or at minimum, at least be pretty darn bitter about Anthony Doerr's Four Seasons in Rome. How could I possibly even like this guy who won a literary prize that awarded him a full year in the Eternal City with room, board, and a salary just to work on his craft?! But alas, Doerr defied the odds and right from the start I found myself not only *not* hating him but even liking him.
So while the "win a trip to Rome for a year" premise is still pretty annoying, I think what helped things out was that this was not one of those travel memoirs where the person is trying to "find themself." Not that there is anything wrong with that, was/am a big fan of the mother of that genre -- Liz Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love -- but that's very "been-there, done-that" at this point, though any personal tale of travel and particularly living abroad is a life-changing/altering experience.
Rounding out the non-hate, was that he and his wife moved there with 6-month old twin boys. Being a childless person, that's enough of a personal nightmare for me anywhere in the world, let alone doing it halfway across the world where I don't speak the language. Finally what was particularly endearing, was that Doerr does not end up doing much productive writing as, no surprise, Rome and new fatherhood both end up being two pretty darn big distractions! I only became aware of this memoir having recently read Doerr's first novel, All The Light We Cannot See which appears to be what he fully and well-intended to work on while in Rome, but it appears that a short story and this book from his journal were the end-products of that year abroad.
I am giving the book an unofficial 4.5 stars, it really struck a chord with me and I relished most every moment of it -- tacking on my sheer/pure sentimentality/love for Italy and Rome, giving it the Goodreads bump up to 5 stars. Doerr is a helluva writer and beautiful captures the magic and spirit of this ancient city. His quite literary (but always accessible) prose might get a bit eye-rolly at times, particularly to the Rome uninitiated, but for me it is a city that deserves all the florid language and languishing descriptions. It certainly elicited audible sighs or side-smiles from this reader.
March 19, 2024
Subtitle: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World
This is Doerr’s memoir of a year he spent as a fellow at the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The award came with a studio in which to write, an apartment, and a stipend. And, of course, the experience of a year in Rome. It also came at a time when his wife had recently given birth to twins. Undeterred, Anthony and Shauna set off for Rome with four-month-old twin boys, who were not yet sleeping through the night.
I was completely delighted by this memoir. I have no children, but have witnessed the absolute exhaustion brought on in new parents by days (weeks? Months?) without adequate sleep as they try to care for a newborn. Caring for two simultaneously? And yet …
Doerr and his wife managed to find some time for themselves (thanks to a great babysitter), to explore some of Rome’s less-well-known treasures and even to venture in the Umbrian countryside for some “alone time.” He recounts his efforts to write, his explorations of the city and surrounding area, his neighbors, his struggles to learn and speak serviceable Italian (asking for “grapefruit sauce” was a highlight!), and the experience of all new parents as these small bundles slowly become independently mobile and show signs of the individuals they will become.
This is Doerr’s memoir of a year he spent as a fellow at the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The award came with a studio in which to write, an apartment, and a stipend. And, of course, the experience of a year in Rome. It also came at a time when his wife had recently given birth to twins. Undeterred, Anthony and Shauna set off for Rome with four-month-old twin boys, who were not yet sleeping through the night.
I was completely delighted by this memoir. I have no children, but have witnessed the absolute exhaustion brought on in new parents by days (weeks? Months?) without adequate sleep as they try to care for a newborn. Caring for two simultaneously? And yet …
Doerr and his wife managed to find some time for themselves (thanks to a great babysitter), to explore some of Rome’s less-well-known treasures and even to venture in the Umbrian countryside for some “alone time.” He recounts his efforts to write, his explorations of the city and surrounding area, his neighbors, his struggles to learn and speak serviceable Italian (asking for “grapefruit sauce” was a highlight!), and the experience of all new parents as these small bundles slowly become independently mobile and show signs of the individuals they will become.
December 30, 2009
This book gave me a lot of mixed feelings. I was looking forward to reading a book set in Italy, and of course reading about other people's sleep and parenting woes is one of my hobbies. Once I started reading, I was pleased at how well-written it was. And I think a special award should go to anyone who pens lines such as, "Trying to dress [the twins:] after a bath is like trying to put pajamas on a mackeral" or "This, I suppose, is what it means to look after two babies: any attempt to make you feel as if you were at the center of something is hopelessly hilarious."
As Pee Wee Herman, noted, though, everyone has a big BUT. This book was, for the most part, a collection of random, poetic impressions. Not only did that wear thin as a concept, but the whole wide-eyed wonder of the book seemed rather strained. I mean, it was written in 2007. Isn't the country bumpkin abroad in Italy a bit outdated? I was consumed with curiosity about the details of what Doerr's wife was doing all day, living in a country where she knows no one, doesn't speak the language, and is attempting to parent infant twins. All this was missing; instead we got way too many still lives of Roman bakeries and crowds and starlings.
And then there were lines like this: "A spring night is a power that sweeps through the crowded sheaves of blooming tulips and pours into your heart like a river." That line alone would knock a star off a review.
As Pee Wee Herman, noted, though, everyone has a big BUT. This book was, for the most part, a collection of random, poetic impressions. Not only did that wear thin as a concept, but the whole wide-eyed wonder of the book seemed rather strained. I mean, it was written in 2007. Isn't the country bumpkin abroad in Italy a bit outdated? I was consumed with curiosity about the details of what Doerr's wife was doing all day, living in a country where she knows no one, doesn't speak the language, and is attempting to parent infant twins. All this was missing; instead we got way too many still lives of Roman bakeries and crowds and starlings.
And then there were lines like this: "A spring night is a power that sweeps through the crowded sheaves of blooming tulips and pours into your heart like a river." That line alone would knock a star off a review.
May 31, 2016
This was SO thoroughly enjoyed. Not only for the "new eyes" to Rome but also for the total Doerr grab to what infancy care feels like for a parent. In this case first time parents and also for multiples, twins.
But believe me, when you have an endless screamer or have them in steps less than 18 months apart, there is little difference. I absolutely adored that closet room they rigged up in that tiny Rome apartment so the screamer could have his dark.
He also completely "gets" insomnia. The variety that sits life-long in some of us from earliest to latest days. People who have no tendency or periods of this which they surmount- they really have little idea. I loved how the more he'd try the farther the shore "got away". Oh YES!
But the flavor of the food and life with those babies which caused reaction in so many everyday Romans! He should have made more friends and had some continued conversations- and he DID realize that fact at the end.
His poor wife had it MUCH, MUCH harder than he did. I'd LOVE to hear her report in a like manner to this little book, about 7 or 8 months after their return home. SO many reasons, and hope she is well.
But believe me, when you have an endless screamer or have them in steps less than 18 months apart, there is little difference. I absolutely adored that closet room they rigged up in that tiny Rome apartment so the screamer could have his dark.
He also completely "gets" insomnia. The variety that sits life-long in some of us from earliest to latest days. People who have no tendency or periods of this which they surmount- they really have little idea. I loved how the more he'd try the farther the shore "got away". Oh YES!
But the flavor of the food and life with those babies which caused reaction in so many everyday Romans! He should have made more friends and had some continued conversations- and he DID realize that fact at the end.
His poor wife had it MUCH, MUCH harder than he did. I'd LOVE to hear her report in a like manner to this little book, about 7 or 8 months after their return home. SO many reasons, and hope she is well.
September 28, 2023
What I loved most about this was how its wash of scenes, characters, sounds, and sights captured the chaos that is Rome. It was eons ago when I was there, but this is how I saw it. Almost too much to handle all at once—the beauty, the filth, the fountains, the traffic, the reverence for food, the graffiti, the splendor of the cathedrals, the ruins, the light, the Vespas, the Italians offering advice to strangers, the fruit, the cheese, the Italians cheerfully disobeying posted rules...
February 21, 2018
A veces los libros te eligen a ti y no tu a ellos. Es lo que me ha ocurrido con esta pequeña joya de Anthony Doerr. Si no hubiera leído antes "la luz que no puedes ver" (que tras leer este libro tengo claro que no hubiera sido igual sin esta experiencia del escritor en roma)y casualidades de la vida me encontrara con este libro justo después de leer "spqr" de mary beard seguro que aunque hubiera aparecido en mi camino habría pasado de largo. El libro son las memorias del año que pasó el escritor viviendo en Roma gracias a una beca justo con sus hijos gemelos recién nacidos lo que hizo que su familia se embarcara en esta aventura. Me ha servido para ratificar lo buen narrador que en Doerr y ya me quedo con las ganas de seguir leyendo sus otros libros. Para los que vayan a visitar la ciudad eterna les recomiendo su lectura antes del viaje porque van a descubrir lugares de la ciudad por los que pasar y a los que ya hemos tenido la suerte de estar Doerr con su manera de unir las historias del imperio romano , con la roma renacentista y la vida de los actuales romanos consigue que nos den ganas de volver a pasear por sus calles.
July 17, 2010
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this book!
The diction of the novel just feels so right and natural to me. Doerr is a true artist, knowing exactly how to blend a combination of words to make you stop and stare (and envy his talent). I read this book every time I want to get myself in a writing mood. His craft is undeniable. A must read for every writer that loves the sound of words and the compelling images it creates.
The diction of the novel just feels so right and natural to me. Doerr is a true artist, knowing exactly how to blend a combination of words to make you stop and stare (and envy his talent). I read this book every time I want to get myself in a writing mood. His craft is undeniable. A must read for every writer that loves the sound of words and the compelling images it creates.
April 23, 2023
I'm an avid fan of Anthony Doerr (All the Light We Cannot See). I'm almost to the point where I'd be willing to read his grocery list. This book is a memoir about his year in Rome, and it was at turns funny, heartwarming, informative and philosophical. It's HEAVY on the details of Rome, which some might find a bit tiresome, but I enjoyed every moment of it.
Highly recommend.
Highly recommend.
August 26, 2016
The day his wife gave birth to twin boys, Doerr found out he won a fellowship he hadn't applied for: a year in Rome with all expenses paid so he can write. Six months later Anthony and Shauna, Henry and Owen, leave Boise and move to Rome. He lives in the same neighborhood Julius Caesar lived and sits in the garden where Galileo sat. Ponder that! The book he was preparing to write was All the Light We Cannot See. [Now that he's moved to Paris, I'm kicking myself for not driving a few hours to Boise for one of his readings.]
Doerr's book intersects with some of my highest interests: family, travel, the daily life of an author. It won 5 stars because of the wonder-infused writing, a blend of N.D. Wilson and Frances Mayes.
Quotes:
"Rome is a broken mirror, the falling strap of a dress, a puzzle of astonishing complexity. It is an iceberg floating below our terrace, all its ballasts hidden beneath the surface."
"I x-ray sentences, I claw away a paragraph and reshape it as carefully as I can, and test it again, and peer into the pages to see if things in there are any clearer, any more resolved. Often they are not. But to write a story is to inch backward and forward along a series of planks you are cantilevering out into the darkness, plank by plank, inch by inch, and the best you can hope is that each day you find yourself a little bit farther out over the abyss."
"I try to shape a few sentences around this tiny corner of Rome; I try to force my eye to slow down. A good journal entry—like a good song, or sketch, or photograph—ought to break up the habitual and lift away the film that forms over the eye, the finger, the tongue, the heart. A good journal entry ought be a love letter to the world."
“Without habit, the beauty of the world would overwhelm us. We’d pass out every time we saw— actually saw— a flower. Imagine if we only got to see a cumulonimbus cloud or Cassiopeia or a snowfall once a century: there’d be pandemonium in the streets. People would lie by the thousands in the fields on their backs.”
"In the States, practically every time someone would stop us on the street or in the grocery store, they'd gesture at the stroller and say, "Twins? Bet you have your hands full." They'd mean well, of course, but to be reminded of something you can't forget is debilitating. I prefer the Italian mothers who lean over the stroller and whisper, "So beautiful," the smiles of passing children, the old Roman who stopped us today and grinned at Henry and Owen before shaking my hand and saying, with a bow, "Compilmenti." My compliments."
Doerr's book intersects with some of my highest interests: family, travel, the daily life of an author. It won 5 stars because of the wonder-infused writing, a blend of N.D. Wilson and Frances Mayes.
Quotes:
"Rome is a broken mirror, the falling strap of a dress, a puzzle of astonishing complexity. It is an iceberg floating below our terrace, all its ballasts hidden beneath the surface."
"I x-ray sentences, I claw away a paragraph and reshape it as carefully as I can, and test it again, and peer into the pages to see if things in there are any clearer, any more resolved. Often they are not. But to write a story is to inch backward and forward along a series of planks you are cantilevering out into the darkness, plank by plank, inch by inch, and the best you can hope is that each day you find yourself a little bit farther out over the abyss."
"I try to shape a few sentences around this tiny corner of Rome; I try to force my eye to slow down. A good journal entry—like a good song, or sketch, or photograph—ought to break up the habitual and lift away the film that forms over the eye, the finger, the tongue, the heart. A good journal entry ought be a love letter to the world."
“Without habit, the beauty of the world would overwhelm us. We’d pass out every time we saw— actually saw— a flower. Imagine if we only got to see a cumulonimbus cloud or Cassiopeia or a snowfall once a century: there’d be pandemonium in the streets. People would lie by the thousands in the fields on their backs.”
"In the States, practically every time someone would stop us on the street or in the grocery store, they'd gesture at the stroller and say, "Twins? Bet you have your hands full." They'd mean well, of course, but to be reminded of something you can't forget is debilitating. I prefer the Italian mothers who lean over the stroller and whisper, "So beautiful," the smiles of passing children, the old Roman who stopped us today and grinned at Henry and Owen before shaking my hand and saying, with a bow, "Compilmenti." My compliments."
January 24, 2021
After reading All the Light by this author which set the bar very high on expectations this book was a let down in many ways.
Possibly because this is not really a novel but a travel biography of sorts with a fairly good description of Rome ( a representation for this to be a historical novel ). The overarching image of this book for me will remain the babysitting time the author and wife spent with their lovely twin sons.
The book is a description of a year spent in Rome by the author and his family under a scholarship from the Academy of Arts. He attempts to write a book while taking care of his twin sons Henry and Owen with his wife Shauna.
The pay offs in this book are introductions to Pliny the Elder’s Natural History and some interesting anecdotes from its series and a number of “snapshots” of monuments in Rome as well as points of interest in this historic city.
I was not sure if this theme warranted a novel.
Possibly because this is not really a novel but a travel biography of sorts with a fairly good description of Rome ( a representation for this to be a historical novel ). The overarching image of this book for me will remain the babysitting time the author and wife spent with their lovely twin sons.
The book is a description of a year spent in Rome by the author and his family under a scholarship from the Academy of Arts. He attempts to write a book while taking care of his twin sons Henry and Owen with his wife Shauna.
The pay offs in this book are introductions to Pliny the Elder’s Natural History and some interesting anecdotes from its series and a number of “snapshots” of monuments in Rome as well as points of interest in this historic city.
I was not sure if this theme warranted a novel.
July 10, 2024
An enjoyable read that kept me cool on this hot day - oh how I wanted to be in Rome during all the seasons the author shares. His earnest and slight surprise at these momentous events in his life took me back to my youth. . .being told the news on Pearl Harbor day that my three toddlers were going to have two more siblings (twins) in the spring. And, like the author and his wife, I was finding sleep a rare gift in that part of parental service and sacrifice in a life that prior to these responsibilities had never found sleep a rare thing nor a shallow one. It was unexpected, and I remembered back to my thin-skinned response to those realizations as I read of his surprised dismay recounting those days.
I appreciated his reminder that it all goes by so very fast, and admired his taking the time to write down those thoughts, those feelings, fears, wonders, and all those hopes, hopes on hopes. . .
His observations and experiences during his year in Rome were a treat, and took me back in time to that year myself - a time I now recognize as the quiet before the storm of many hard things to come, and many sweet things to come such as having time enough to read a book for no other reason than I want to read it. Today. And ponder on the seasons in one's own "time in Rome." (ha! a metaphor. . .this girl rarely leaves the county. . .)
I appreciated his reminder that it all goes by so very fast, and admired his taking the time to write down those thoughts, those feelings, fears, wonders, and all those hopes, hopes on hopes. . .
His observations and experiences during his year in Rome were a treat, and took me back in time to that year myself - a time I now recognize as the quiet before the storm of many hard things to come, and many sweet things to come such as having time enough to read a book for no other reason than I want to read it. Today. And ponder on the seasons in one's own "time in Rome." (ha! a metaphor. . .this girl rarely leaves the county. . .)
November 28, 2024
Might seem boring to some and since this is a memoir about his time in Rome with his family, I wasn't expecting anything grand. But I loved it. Doerr has a unique way with words - simple and ordinary, yet anything but.
May 16, 2017
This was a great read - thank you Anthony Doerr for winning the award that gave you a year in Rome with your wife and babies! I definitely connected with this little memoir as I was totally soaking up the imagery and play by play in anticipation of being in Rome in about a month! I also related so well to the exhaustion of little baby boys! I loved the insight and pondering....how we view such "old world or "old history" in this modern digital society. And now I have a little bit better understanding of why and how it took you so long to write The light We Can Not See, you gave a few glimpses into how you were preparing to write it, very interesting! I also have a better insight into your writing - it is heavy on the imagery and description - I can see how that worked for me in this book and was a little harder for me in your other best selling fiction novel.
Readers definitely pick this up if you want to transport yourself into the daily life in Trastevere, the exhaustion of twin newborns, the Pantheon at Christmas, the dying and re-electing of the Pope and various other things that happen throughout the 4 seasons.
Readers definitely pick this up if you want to transport yourself into the daily life in Trastevere, the exhaustion of twin newborns, the Pantheon at Christmas, the dying and re-electing of the Pope and various other things that happen throughout the 4 seasons.
July 19, 2007
I love Rome and this book reminded me why. There is a lot in here about the author's kids and his writing (it is a memoir), but it's all interesting.
I love his descriptions of Rome. One of my faves is (I think I'll get his right)--as he's describing all the contradictions and nuances of Rome, he uses the phrase..a metaphor along the lines of Rome being a dress strap that slipped off the shoulder. (obviously his wording is much more lovely). But, that's a great comparison for the City-- all at once careless but beautiful; sultry but innocent; compelling but negligent; simple but full of suggestion.
The book is short and so easy to read. I also loved his mentionings of his trips to Umbria--my absuolute favorite Italian province--home to Perugia and Assisi and Spoleto...
I love his descriptions of Rome. One of my faves is (I think I'll get his right)--as he's describing all the contradictions and nuances of Rome, he uses the phrase..a metaphor along the lines of Rome being a dress strap that slipped off the shoulder. (obviously his wording is much more lovely). But, that's a great comparison for the City-- all at once careless but beautiful; sultry but innocent; compelling but negligent; simple but full of suggestion.
The book is short and so easy to read. I also loved his mentionings of his trips to Umbria--my absuolute favorite Italian province--home to Perugia and Assisi and Spoleto...
September 11, 2016
Anthony Doerr received a writing studio for one year in Rome as part of an award he won. WOW. So he packed up his newborn twins, his wife and spent four seasons in Rome. The man has a way with words whether he is writing fiction or nonfiction. He writes beautifully which is one of the reasons I loved his book "All the Light We Cannot See". I enjoyed the descriptive quality of his writing and I enjoyed his passion, not only for his writing and his family, but for all of his surroundings.
October 9, 2023
I only lived in Rome for 10 weeks but this book captured my entire experience of being there. Doerr perfectly describes the experience of being an American in Rome, of butchering the language and constantly being at a loss for words, of getting lost, of being in awe of and then growing used to ancient wonders. Most of all, he captures the beauty and essence of my favorite city in the world. Reading this book felt like coming home. Thank you to Doerr for crafting a book I can pick up any time I miss Rome and want to be teleported there.
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October 12, 2022I love Doerr's writing so jumped when a friend recommended this book. We are going to Rome in the fall, and it seemed like perfect timing. His luscious writing, the way he weaves the personal with the political with history and antiquity. YIKES, I was mesmerized, all the whilw reliving the early days of parenthood and learning about the first year with twins.
I learned from Doerr that the Italians focus on the good fortune and beauty of twins as opposed to Americans, who say, "Bet you have your hands full." I've been thrilled to have several encounters with moms with twins since reading this and watch their eyes light up when I compliment their gorgeous children. Who needs to be reminded of the effort of raising twin babies? No one.
Of course, I learned and enjoyed much more than this, including how hard it can be to write even when given time, space, and money to do so. I learned about how layered Rome is physically and historically. Doerr writes vividly of prominent locations that I hope to see, but also spots off the tourist routes that I might be able and wish to find. And he wrote about John Paul and the papacy, the dying and selection of a pope. I lived that piece of history but not up close in Rome, so his viewpoint was eye-opening. Great book.
I reread this book after we returned from a 3 week vacation in Italy, plus 4 days in Rome. I chose to stay in the Trastevere neighborhood because of having read Doerr's book. I can't say I recalled a lot of his story while there other than the hill and the fountain, but upon my return the book came alive in a brand new way. I actually started it on the plane ride back from Italy. It was like my experience of Rome (and Italy) continued. There were so many things that were more vivid, like the light, the clouds, the umbrella pines, the Tiber, the cobblestones and the sounds of a language I couldn't understand but felt as a soothing presence throughout the trip. I was so thrilled by the reread, that I've decided to reread several more books, something I'm always reluctant to do because there is so much too read. However, revisiting a book is a wonderful experience too, so that's what I'm doing, maybe for the rest of the year.
I learned from Doerr that the Italians focus on the good fortune and beauty of twins as opposed to Americans, who say, "Bet you have your hands full." I've been thrilled to have several encounters with moms with twins since reading this and watch their eyes light up when I compliment their gorgeous children. Who needs to be reminded of the effort of raising twin babies? No one.
Of course, I learned and enjoyed much more than this, including how hard it can be to write even when given time, space, and money to do so. I learned about how layered Rome is physically and historically. Doerr writes vividly of prominent locations that I hope to see, but also spots off the tourist routes that I might be able and wish to find. And he wrote about John Paul and the papacy, the dying and selection of a pope. I lived that piece of history but not up close in Rome, so his viewpoint was eye-opening. Great book.
I reread this book after we returned from a 3 week vacation in Italy, plus 4 days in Rome. I chose to stay in the Trastevere neighborhood because of having read Doerr's book. I can't say I recalled a lot of his story while there other than the hill and the fountain, but upon my return the book came alive in a brand new way. I actually started it on the plane ride back from Italy. It was like my experience of Rome (and Italy) continued. There were so many things that were more vivid, like the light, the clouds, the umbrella pines, the Tiber, the cobblestones and the sounds of a language I couldn't understand but felt as a soothing presence throughout the trip. I was so thrilled by the reread, that I've decided to reread several more books, something I'm always reluctant to do because there is so much too read. However, revisiting a book is a wonderful experience too, so that's what I'm doing, maybe for the rest of the year.
October 19, 2016
After receiving the Rome Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and with that prize a one-year, expense-paid opportunity to live and write in Rome, Anthony Doerr was off to Italy with his wife and their newborn twin sons. As a new parent, he confesses not to have made much headway with the novel he had hoped to work on during his time abroad, but we gained the gift of this unforgettable memoir, Four Seasons in Rome. It is a breathtaking book of mesmerizing observations and heartfelt musings on the indoctrination of parenthood during his time in one of the world’s most unfathomable cities. Doerr captures the splendor and spectacle that is Rome. Every page resonates with ecstatic beauty. The entire book feels like a lovely poem or an addictive song that plays in your head with the chorus of pure emotion. In offering up reflections on life, family, and the city, Doerr's prose fascinates with its gorgeous imagery. He makes your heart feel fuller with life and your mind bigger with wisdom. I found the book to be a rush of inspiration. Having read everything Doerr has published, I feel confident in saying he is a great American writer, among the best of his generation.
June 10, 2024
I really loved this book. And I loved the author's writing style... Yes, it is full of metaphors and yes, it is super discriptive and yes, there is a lot of detail, and yes, I thought it was wonderful. I've read some reviews stating some readers thought Doer's writing was so beautiful in the beginning, but by the end they felt it was just too much and they were over it. I really don't know how anyone could get sick of something so beautiful. Plus, I think the author is aware that there is potential of this... Especially after reading this quote in the book ".... We began to feel glutted, oversaturated. Church interiors meld from one to the next, two-thousand-year-old columns float past unnoticed. Was that another Michelangelo? Another Pinturiccho? Fifty years ago, in Rome and a Villa, the novelist Eleanor Clark called it the "too-muchness" of Rome.......Too much beauty, too much input; if you aren't careful, you can overdose.". See, he knows that crossing the line is a potential, but he treats us anyways! I also loved that we know in this book he starts writing one of my favorite books "All the Light we Cannot See". I will definitely be reading more by this author. I would recommend listening to this audiobook as well, as it is narrated by the author: he did a great job.
January 10, 2016
An engaging, warm and personal account by Anthony Doerr of his one-year experience living in Rome with his wife and twin boys – six months old at the time of his move. In poetic prose that vividly brings the city to life before your eyes and makes his experiences the reader’s experiences, Doerr relates what it’s like to supplant oneself from the familiar regularity of a Boise, Idaho life to the vibrant, historical, foreign and vita dolce of Rome, where navigating a stroller and the simple task of ordering a sandwich are confusing challenges. I loved Doerr’s beautiful descriptive writing, the ease with which his words flow -- bringing the reader intimately into his everyday life, his deep appreciation for Rome’s treasures and his entire embrace of living the experience during his four seasons in Rome. A wonderful read and highly recommended.
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