The Archeology of a Good Ragù: Discovering Naples, My Father and Myself (36)

by John Domini

The Archeology of a Good Ragù offers a unique take on the recovery narrative. A damaged but savvy author finds new wholeness by way of a fascinating old Naples, Italy. John Domini’s exploration of the place― little known to North Americans, yet rich in culture and challenge― draws on decades of research, living with local friends and family. His work has appeared previously in the New York Times and elsewhere, and he’s published award-winning Neapolitan novels. This memoir will take readers into the back alleys and hidden beaches. It will examine intricacies of both romance and crime, and provide insight into the latest Naples immigrants, African refugees. Overall, Archeology of a Good Ragù turns the city into a prism that throws its colors across both urban and spiritual experience, everywhere.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir

285 pages, Paperback

Published May 1, 2021

About the author

John Domini has won awards in all genres, publishing fiction in Paris Review and Ploughshares, and non-fiction in GQ and The New York Times, and elsewhere. The Times praised his early stories as "dreamlike… grabs hold of both reader and character," and Richard Ford called his ’07 novel, Earthquake I.D., "wonderful… a rich feast." In 2016, J.C. Hallman hailed his latest, MOVIEOLA!, as "a new shriek for a new century." A 2014 selection of criticism, The Sea-God's Herb, was termed "poetic" and "fascinating," in Publishers Weekly. Domini has won an NEA fellowship, taught at Harvard, Northwestern, and elsewhere, and held visiting-artist positions in Italy.

Reviews

[Martin Ott · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Domini dazzles again with another book set in Italy. Already an accomplished fiction stylist, Domino brings this sensibility to a work of non-fiction set in Naples, a city that contains multitudes in his exploration of the locale, his relationships, and his place in the world. Part memoir, part travelogue, Domini weaves historical references and a tapestry of memories into a rich journey of discovery.

[Casey Knott · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well-crafted and heartfelt memoir that does exactly what the title implies--Domini delves into the rich history of Naples and his father all while refining his own identity. This book is well paced and artfully connected so that by the end it feels as if every bit, every story has been exhumed, investigated, and understood. I appreciated the blend of humor and wit, his honesty, and especially his poetic prose.

[J.C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is more than a love letter to a city – it’s an internal plumbing, or an excavation, as the title suggests, of how a place can inform a self. What makes a place? For Domini, it’s a lifetime of immersion, in experience, in books, in film, and in his blood. Long a critic of literature and the world, the author turns the idea of the ancestral home into a moving meditation on life, family, and art, and how they conspire to form what we call our identities. Highly recommended.

[Rosanna Staffa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel has a fierce emotional precision and rides the thin line between what fascinates and disturbs. John Domini’s newest novel is  sensitive and humorous, rich with insights and personal  stories. It is a splendid immersion into the complicated and marvelous world of Naples. 'The Neapolitan ragu’ is always in ferment, yielding briny intrigue'. Indeed.

[Dewitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Domini is a master of bravura prose; and in his THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF A GOOD RAGU: DISCOVERING NAPLES, MY FATHER, AND MYSELF, he combines 1) cultural criticism and dispatches from Naples worthy of Luigi Barzini with 2) his midlife American apologia for a failed marriage, and 3) his search for fatherhood, self, and roots, both literary and personal. Bravissimo!

[Michael Valleriano · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pointless, self indulgent ramblings.

Criticizes drug pushing culture and its mob origins, then two pages later professes the great pleasures he’s had with weed.

Most interested in his own sexual accomplishments than telling a coherent story.

He’s quick to criticize Napoli, but seems unable to the same for himself.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF: I wanted to but just couldn’t get myself to care about this man and his friends and family. His writing style is not particularly to my taste either so after six weeks of trying Im admitting defeat.