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Naked (in Italy): A Memoir About the Pitfalls of La Dolce Vita
A page-turning, heart-wrenching, hilarious debut in the tradition of Elizabeth Gilbert, Jenny Lawson, Me Talk Pretty One Day and Under the Tuscan Sun.
In her late twenties, M.E. Evans hops on a plane to Italy on a mission to change her life and that’s exactly what happens. Unfortunately, personal growth isn’t always easy. In Naked, bestselling author, M.E. Evans tackles the dysfunctional family narrative and travel memoir in a way that is refreshingly honest, painfully vulnerable, and wildly entertaining.
If you’ve ever set foot in a foreign country or picked up a travel memoir you probably think you already know what Naked is about: a dreamy personal account of the life-altering beauty that is Italy. And sure, that’s in there, nestled somewhere between the profound grief, bruised ego, debilitating anxiety, chronic depression, vagina paintings, a boyfriend with billowing chest hair and a mother-in-law who forcibly irons your underwear.
Evans’ dream of a magical life abroad is marred by forbidden love, the death of her younger brother, and a batshit crazy family, yet she skillfully merges tragedy and humor for a wild emotional journey exploring what it means to be human–flaws and all. Evans’ wit, compassion, and vulnerability make reading this book a rarely authentic and relatable experience. You’ll cry, you’ll cackle, and you’ll want Evans to be your best friend.
In her late twenties, M.E. Evans hops on a plane to Italy on a mission to change her life and that’s exactly what happens. Unfortunately, personal growth isn’t always easy. In Naked, bestselling author, M.E. Evans tackles the dysfunctional family narrative and travel memoir in a way that is refreshingly honest, painfully vulnerable, and wildly entertaining.
If you’ve ever set foot in a foreign country or picked up a travel memoir you probably think you already know what Naked is about: a dreamy personal account of the life-altering beauty that is Italy. And sure, that’s in there, nestled somewhere between the profound grief, bruised ego, debilitating anxiety, chronic depression, vagina paintings, a boyfriend with billowing chest hair and a mother-in-law who forcibly irons your underwear.
Evans’ dream of a magical life abroad is marred by forbidden love, the death of her younger brother, and a batshit crazy family, yet she skillfully merges tragedy and humor for a wild emotional journey exploring what it means to be human–flaws and all. Evans’ wit, compassion, and vulnerability make reading this book a rarely authentic and relatable experience. You’ll cry, you’ll cackle, and you’ll want Evans to be your best friend.
454 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 1, 2019
68 people are currently reading
150 people want to read
About the author
M.E. Evans
2 books22 followersKnown for her dark humor and stinging prose, M.E. Evans often shares personal stories of her complicated family, bad travel, and her ongoing struggle with anxiety and depression. Her blog (me-evans.com) is full of candid and often funny life moments.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
April 11, 2021
Another book of local interest (written by one of my favorite students!) about which I've written for our local English-language newspaper, the Florence News. Here's the article:
I’m not really qualified to properly review this book. As a fiction writer myself I don’t really get memoir or creative nonfiction nor do I read much of it. Also, I’m one of the teachers at the art school that M. E. Evans attended here in Florence back in 2009 and she was one of my creative writing students. So, despite the fact that I’m basically clueless about the kind of writing that she came to my class wanting to do, did, and has now done so successfully in her blog and now in this, her debut book, we became fast friends and have read together many times in Florence and even Salt Lake City where she welcomed me with open arms and when I tried my best to arrange a little book tour for my own first effort.
My lack of critical expertise and total bias aside, let me tell you that Naked (in Italy) is a great read. It certainly has all of the wit and hilarious irony that M. E. has become semi-famous for from her blog Surviving in Italy, which has been entertaining English speakers who live in Italy, who formerly lived in Italy, or who dream of living in Italy, for some years now. But Naked (in Italy) also bares M. E.’s sentimental and vulnerable sides, charting not only the funny awkwardness but also the scary pitfalls of negotiating a new culture, as well as the inner struggles we all face to stay sane amid change, personal tragedy, and while we’re making all of those big life decisions like whom to marry and where to live. M. E. is expert at exposing the silliness and severity of life’s heaviest and most absurd challenges, I laughed out loud a hundred times and I finished the book in tears of joy.
Naked (in Italy) captures the adventure, the initial exhilaration, and the freedom one feels when moving away from the constraints of one’s culture to enter another, but also the isolation, confusion, and sheer terror that the first stages of integration entail. I recently read a post by another of our Anglophone Florence bloggers about how important it is not to live in the expat bubble, but also to learn the language, meet and befriend Italians, and consequently to ward off alienation and loneliness by mixing in. Unfortunately, despite the lovely aspects of Italian life so refreshing from an Anglo-American viewpoint—a breezy pace of life punctuated by endless scrumptious meals—fascism and its cultural basis in conformity were not born in Italy casually. The flipside of the Italian meal is that it must be eaten punctually at one and eight p.m. every day with recipes carved in stone and no pity for those too weak to eat all fifty-five courses. Relaxed schedules means stores open for ten minutes in the afternoon and if you’re lucky to arrive between the opening and closing time of some office, the clerk is invariably outside smoking a cigarette and talking on their cellphone and will leave without ever noticing that you had waited an hour or two for them to acknowledge your presence.
Yes, the only thing worse than living in solitude as a foreigner in Italy is actually entering into Italian life and being held to the standards to which Italians hold one another in the orgy of conformity that constitutes their cultural self-esteem. Look, I love Italy as much as the next voluntary immigrant (been here 25 years over three separate stints), but I, too, have been chewed out by fascist cabdrivers for muttering an epithet that Italian schoolchildren repeat all day long, sneered at by near-illiterates for the tiniest of grammatical errors, called an “animal” for having pre-packaged pesto in my fridge, ridiculed by family members for eating standing up in the kitchen or reading at table—after six hours of complaining about immigrants (my ex-wife’s family’s favorite Christmas meal topic), soccer scores, and the highlights of last night’s TV shows, I turned to literature to stop my brain from oozing out of my ears. It’s clear that an enormous part of Italianess—like nationalism the world over—springs from a sneaking anxiety that one’s culture might be inferior to others and therefore the obnoxious backlash of attacking every small deviation from an imaginary norm as disgusting, traitorous, and finally worthy of eradication.
With nationalism growing the world over, it seems to me that right now is an important time to read books like Naked (in Italy), honest accounts of what it’s like to move between cultures, to marry into another culture, and to see cultural norms for what they are: touchstones of identity to which we religiously cling in order to feel united with others and superior to all of those “thems” out there. And this particular story is written with so much love and humor it’s a pleasure to follow M. E. on her journey through graduate school, love, and marriage in Italy.
I’m not really qualified to properly review this book. As a fiction writer myself I don’t really get memoir or creative nonfiction nor do I read much of it. Also, I’m one of the teachers at the art school that M. E. Evans attended here in Florence back in 2009 and she was one of my creative writing students. So, despite the fact that I’m basically clueless about the kind of writing that she came to my class wanting to do, did, and has now done so successfully in her blog and now in this, her debut book, we became fast friends and have read together many times in Florence and even Salt Lake City where she welcomed me with open arms and when I tried my best to arrange a little book tour for my own first effort.
My lack of critical expertise and total bias aside, let me tell you that Naked (in Italy) is a great read. It certainly has all of the wit and hilarious irony that M. E. has become semi-famous for from her blog Surviving in Italy, which has been entertaining English speakers who live in Italy, who formerly lived in Italy, or who dream of living in Italy, for some years now. But Naked (in Italy) also bares M. E.’s sentimental and vulnerable sides, charting not only the funny awkwardness but also the scary pitfalls of negotiating a new culture, as well as the inner struggles we all face to stay sane amid change, personal tragedy, and while we’re making all of those big life decisions like whom to marry and where to live. M. E. is expert at exposing the silliness and severity of life’s heaviest and most absurd challenges, I laughed out loud a hundred times and I finished the book in tears of joy.
Naked (in Italy) captures the adventure, the initial exhilaration, and the freedom one feels when moving away from the constraints of one’s culture to enter another, but also the isolation, confusion, and sheer terror that the first stages of integration entail. I recently read a post by another of our Anglophone Florence bloggers about how important it is not to live in the expat bubble, but also to learn the language, meet and befriend Italians, and consequently to ward off alienation and loneliness by mixing in. Unfortunately, despite the lovely aspects of Italian life so refreshing from an Anglo-American viewpoint—a breezy pace of life punctuated by endless scrumptious meals—fascism and its cultural basis in conformity were not born in Italy casually. The flipside of the Italian meal is that it must be eaten punctually at one and eight p.m. every day with recipes carved in stone and no pity for those too weak to eat all fifty-five courses. Relaxed schedules means stores open for ten minutes in the afternoon and if you’re lucky to arrive between the opening and closing time of some office, the clerk is invariably outside smoking a cigarette and talking on their cellphone and will leave without ever noticing that you had waited an hour or two for them to acknowledge your presence.
Yes, the only thing worse than living in solitude as a foreigner in Italy is actually entering into Italian life and being held to the standards to which Italians hold one another in the orgy of conformity that constitutes their cultural self-esteem. Look, I love Italy as much as the next voluntary immigrant (been here 25 years over three separate stints), but I, too, have been chewed out by fascist cabdrivers for muttering an epithet that Italian schoolchildren repeat all day long, sneered at by near-illiterates for the tiniest of grammatical errors, called an “animal” for having pre-packaged pesto in my fridge, ridiculed by family members for eating standing up in the kitchen or reading at table—after six hours of complaining about immigrants (my ex-wife’s family’s favorite Christmas meal topic), soccer scores, and the highlights of last night’s TV shows, I turned to literature to stop my brain from oozing out of my ears. It’s clear that an enormous part of Italianess—like nationalism the world over—springs from a sneaking anxiety that one’s culture might be inferior to others and therefore the obnoxious backlash of attacking every small deviation from an imaginary norm as disgusting, traitorous, and finally worthy of eradication.
With nationalism growing the world over, it seems to me that right now is an important time to read books like Naked (in Italy), honest accounts of what it’s like to move between cultures, to marry into another culture, and to see cultural norms for what they are: touchstones of identity to which we religiously cling in order to feel united with others and superior to all of those “thems” out there. And this particular story is written with so much love and humor it’s a pleasure to follow M. E. on her journey through graduate school, love, and marriage in Italy.
August 17, 2020
I thought this would be more of a humorous tale of travel adventures in Italy (even though the subtitle gives it away so I had been forewarned), but still 75% of the book is about the author’s neurosis with trying to make it work in Italy, Italian boyfriend turned eventual husband and his family. An inordinate amount of time is spent in “they don’t like me!” and “why don’t they like me?” scenarios but the clues as to why she doesn’t endear themselves to them is everywhere in the book. Her pronouncement that she has always had a “resting b**** face” tells the reader all you need to know. I wanted to enjoy it but found myself bored and wishing her ramblings (mainly due to her many failings and insecurities) would end, especially about her vajayjay. It’s her and other’s nether regions that she focuses on by and large in art school—culminating in an end of year exhibit put together with as much enthusiasm as she dedicates to higher edu pursuits, in other words: zero F***s — since she wasn’t / isn’t a real artist and applied more on a lark to escape her problems, aka mostly herself. When one student in passing says that nudity is so "freshman year of art school," she screams out "I'm basically a freshman, a-hole." Me: No, honey, You're a graduate student. How she was accepted into a graduate program in fine art without any formal training is baffling! (She doesn’t go there to create art obviously; it’s more a starting off point for escapism and running from grief, to party, and to find herself a man, even if she pretends otherwise.) Seriously, for someone who doesn’t think she’s good enough, a claim she repeatedly touches on, she sounded awfully full of herself. And early on in the book she writes that she spent her life BSing her way out of things, as she does in graduate school and after that (albeit the only ppl she can't seem to BS are her future-in-laws), and as a reader I felt that I had just been had by a master manipulator. I was disappointed, since having studied and traveled in Italy and other places in Europe, I wanted to like it but was left wanting. I wouldn’t waste the money on the hardcover price or your money period. There are better travel / memoir books out there 👇🏼. Not to mention better writers.
If you want to read an excellent memoir that features family dynamics and strife, education and travel, and an author who actually throws herself into her studies with real sincerity, purpose and passion and comes out a more enlightened and better version of herself, I highly recommend Tara Westover’s Education for one.
If you want to read an excellent memoir that features family dynamics and strife, education and travel, and an author who actually throws herself into her studies with real sincerity, purpose and passion and comes out a more enlightened and better version of herself, I highly recommend Tara Westover’s Education for one.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 29, 2021
Poorly written, poorly edited... the overuse of hyperbole made me cringe, and predictable simili brought me back to high-school diary entries. Still, I devoured it because it accurately depicted the whirl of emotions I feel about Italy and its people. I’d only recommend this book to expats who have fallen for an Italian.
September 27, 2019
I've followed ME Evans writing for years now and have always found her voice to be honest, raw, relatable and hilarious. In Naked in Italy, Evans tells of her journey to Italy filled with friendship, adventure and romance, but also the feelings of isolation and overwhelm that can come with integrating into a new culture. Evan's writing has been a great source of comfort and laughs in my own life, as she always reminds us that the deep dark parts of our psyche we all struggle to manage at times are part of the human experience and can be a great source of strength if we learn to wrestle with them. I can't say enough good things about this book and recommend anyone fond of Italian travel lit read this for a dose of la vita with true depth and reality. Also, Misty and Francesco are #couplegoals!
December 8, 2020
Full disclosure: my cousin wrote this. However, cousin or not, I've yet to see someone give voice to what it's like to grow up as the non-religious minority within a religiously dominant culture, or the remarkably non-romantic day-to-day life of an expat. Evans does this with her signature biting oddball humor (by which I mean she is an oddball who may or may not bite you) that has drawn so many to her blog and unique, relatable, honest writing.
February 9, 2024
Proverò a spiegare quanto questo libro abbia significato per me in questi giorni.
La scrittrice si trasferisce in Italia a 28 anni per studiare arte. Dapprima innamorata dell’Italia, lentamente si scopre a smascherare la finta perfezione della cosiddetta “dolce vita”. Specialmente riguardo le complesse relazioni familiari con i genitori del suo fidanzato che hanno pretese altissime e si offendono per nulla.
Incredibilmente il libro ha una serie di punti in comune con quello che io e mia moglie stiamo attraversando in questo momento ed è stato ottimo spunto di riflessione o di risate.
L’Italia raccontata da un’americana, ed è tutto molto vero.
La scrittrice si trasferisce in Italia a 28 anni per studiare arte. Dapprima innamorata dell’Italia, lentamente si scopre a smascherare la finta perfezione della cosiddetta “dolce vita”. Specialmente riguardo le complesse relazioni familiari con i genitori del suo fidanzato che hanno pretese altissime e si offendono per nulla.
Incredibilmente il libro ha una serie di punti in comune con quello che io e mia moglie stiamo attraversando in questo momento ed è stato ottimo spunto di riflessione o di risate.
L’Italia raccontata da un’americana, ed è tutto molto vero.
January 22, 2025
Another fun Expat in Italy tale
I've read several memoirs of moving to Italy at this point but I think this one about a younger student probably feels more like what I expect if I bite the bullet even though I'm in my 60s. Lots of mischief and merry making is how I'd like to do it. But I'd also expect to speak better Italian than Misty did.
I've read several memoirs of moving to Italy at this point but I think this one about a younger student probably feels more like what I expect if I bite the bullet even though I'm in my 60s. Lots of mischief and merry making is how I'd like to do it. But I'd also expect to speak better Italian than Misty did.
May 30, 2020
An interesting look at a slice of life
I read this memoir because an author I like (Jenny Lawson) recommended it. The author tells her tale in a painfully entertaining way. It makes me regret not doing something similar when I was younger!
I read this memoir because an author I like (Jenny Lawson) recommended it. The author tells her tale in a painfully entertaining way. It makes me regret not doing something similar when I was younger!
June 21, 2020
Well written
Humorous book in places. Skimmed through the last few chapters, tedious to this reader. Self analysis rhetoric through out the book, but that's part of the reason it was written. Had to see if it ended well.
Humorous book in places. Skimmed through the last few chapters, tedious to this reader. Self analysis rhetoric through out the book, but that's part of the reason it was written. Had to see if it ended well.
July 5, 2020
Brava
It took me back to my life in Italy as newlywed. I couldn't wait to turn the page to read what Misty was up to next. Yes she's a "hot mess" raw but human. I hope her life is full. Per Sempre
It took me back to my life in Italy as newlywed. I couldn't wait to turn the page to read what Misty was up to next. Yes she's a "hot mess" raw but human. I hope her life is full. Per Sempre
June 25, 2020
A bit of a ramble...
Both geographically and literally. Misty’s character was a bit too insecure for me. Loved the descriptions of Italian people and culture.
Both geographically and literally. Misty’s character was a bit too insecure for me. Loved the descriptions of Italian people and culture.
September 14, 2020
Wanted to like her, but i couldn't. Was a bit exhausting with all these explanations how she works. I had to skip lot of uninteresting pages, at least it was a short reading experience
Read
February 3, 2021Chick-flick.
February 7, 2021
Another nostalgic (for me) book about living in Italy. I want to visit Florence again now...
February 11, 2021
If you like tough modern dialogue and even tougher characters, you will love this book. If you don't, you won't.
July 12, 2021
Couldn't get into it.
July 22, 2021
Refreshing
Wow. I love this author’s work - she is so funny. After reading this raw memoir, I feel like she and I are friends. Now off to find more of her stuff.
Wow. I love this author’s work - she is so funny. After reading this raw memoir, I feel like she and I are friends. Now off to find more of her stuff.
April 14, 2025
I love Italy, probably more than ME Evans does, so some of her complaining I couldn't relate with. She also has multiple typos throughout her book, which is off-putting.
February 8, 2020
I miss reading this already and it’s only been a month. Eagerly awaiting the next book. I need this writers voice in my life. Often memoirs can be a little self-indulgent by the very nature of the subject matter and are so focussed on their life that we can’t always relate. Or too far the other way and we don’t feel we really got let in to the writers life. Others are great stories but badly written. Misty is a triple threat- she lets us into her life and thoughts and it’s like being with your best friend, she makes her work accessible and relatable even to those who haven’t had directly similar experiences (she philosophises on topics that anyone who’s ever moved home, had a relationship, had parents, tried to cook for other humans can relate to. If you happen to have had a similar hairdryer moment with your mother in law then all the better but I firmly believe you can enjoy the book also if not). Oh, and it’s bloody well written.
October 11, 2019
If you’re thinking of skipping off to a foreign country for a new dream life, perhaps even to find a new partner, you should read this book. If you’re not planning to do that, you should also read this book because either a) you’ll be able to feel smug about all the tough stuff you’ve not had to endure, or b) you might just realise your life’s a bit too ordinary and you’re missing all the good stuff.
Misty’s book is a full-on, emotions-laid-bare account of her experience trying to find herself by leaving behind her troubled roots in the US and ‘starting again’ in Italy. It’s a rollercoaster of powerful, funny, raw, uplifting and disquieting content. But above all, it’s compelling from start to finish. Read it and you’ll not only find out about Misty, you might well learn a lot about yourself and your relationships with family and friends.
When a book is this good, it makes a huge impression and whirls around in your head. Like seeing a great performance, admiring your favourite work of art or listening to your favourite song. This book continues to deliver even after you’ve read the last sentence.
Misty’s book is a full-on, emotions-laid-bare account of her experience trying to find herself by leaving behind her troubled roots in the US and ‘starting again’ in Italy. It’s a rollercoaster of powerful, funny, raw, uplifting and disquieting content. But above all, it’s compelling from start to finish. Read it and you’ll not only find out about Misty, you might well learn a lot about yourself and your relationships with family and friends.
When a book is this good, it makes a huge impression and whirls around in your head. Like seeing a great performance, admiring your favourite work of art or listening to your favourite song. This book continues to deliver even after you’ve read the last sentence.
October 11, 2019
If you’re thinking of skipping off to a foreign country for a new dream life, perhaps even to find a new partner, you should read this book. If you’re not planning to do that, you should also read this book because either a) you’ll be able to feel smug about all the tough stuff you’ve not had to endure, or b) you might just realise your life’s a bit too ordinary and you’re missing all the good stuff.
Misty’s book is a full-on, emotions-laid-bare account of her experience trying to find herself by leaving behind her troubled roots in the US and ‘starting again’ in Italy. It’s a rollercoaster of powerful, funny, raw, uplifting and disquieting content. But above all, it’s compelling from start to finish. Read it and you’ll not only find out about Misty, you might well learn a lot about yourself and your relationships with family and friends.
When a book is this good, it makes a huge impression and whirls around in your head. Like seeing a great performance, admiring your favourite work of art or listening to your favourite song. This book continues to deliver even after you’ve read the last sentence.
Misty’s book is a full-on, emotions-laid-bare account of her experience trying to find herself by leaving behind her troubled roots in the US and ‘starting again’ in Italy. It’s a rollercoaster of powerful, funny, raw, uplifting and disquieting content. But above all, it’s compelling from start to finish. Read it and you’ll not only find out about Misty, you might well learn a lot about yourself and your relationships with family and friends.
When a book is this good, it makes a huge impression and whirls around in your head. Like seeing a great performance, admiring your favourite work of art or listening to your favourite song. This book continues to deliver even after you’ve read the last sentence.
October 17, 2019
I started reading Evans' blog when I was having fantasies of moving to Italy after I went the first time, and was delighted that her funny and honest voice translated beautifully into long form. At its core, this is a love story and a story about family as much as anything. It is about healing after trauma and loss, and how sometimes you need to be in uncomfortable situations to find yourself. It also illuminates how being an expat isn't as easy as it looks, as appealing of a proposition as it seems right now. It is an engaging, entertaining read and surprisingly moving. Well worth your time!
November 6, 2019
This is a journey that has twists and turns, heartbreak and laugh out loud moments. Life is beautiful and tragic, sometimes all at the same time. This author is irreverent and funny as all get out and will make you think and make you grateful. I want to be her friend and hope there will be another book in the future! She does cuss a lot so just beware. I don't think that should take away from the enjoyment of the story.
November 21, 2019
This book was seriously one of the best that I've read lately. The character development that M.E. Evans is able to achieve with words is an art form that is rarely achieved. I loved the raw honesty with all emotions and not shying away from the really tough stuff that we can walk through in life. This is certainly a book that I could read over and over again. I sure hope M.E. Evans writes another book soon because her style is addictive!
November 2, 2019
I like the book a lot. I understand and am still living some of the the lows and highs of the story. The story moves fast , stopping at key moments that guides the narrators' life. She writes in a non-judgmental way; however the reader will feel like dealing with certain character(s). You feel invited to the parties and have front row to the mishaps along the way.
May 19, 2020
I am not a big reader but absolutely loved this book. I could totally relate because I am married to a guy from Southern Italy and also have lived here for almost 5 years. This book shows you what the real Italy is like with in-laws and all. It was the kind of book I could have finished in a few days but didn't want it to end. Can't wait to read your next one!
October 23, 2019
Read it! Realistic look at living in Italy. I've followed Misty's blog for years and was excited to get a full book from her. I very much enjoyed her honesty in telling her story and laughed several times on the way. I feel like she's my old friend! I can't wait for the next book!
July 20, 2020
Honest, hilarious and totally insane. A mixture of love story, grief journey, self searching, friendship and total war with the Italian mother in law. Misty Evans is sarcastic, honest, quirky and terribly real and truthful about herself and Italy.
June 17, 2021
Disgusting trash. Did not finish reading it. The vocabulary was horrific! Please advise us when a book has been written by a "potty" mouth author!
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews