Il Bel Centro cover art

Il Bel Centro

A Year in the Beautiful Center

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Il Bel Centro

By: Michelle Damiani
Narrated by: Nicol Zanzarella
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About this listen

When Michelle Damiani dreamed of living in Italy, she imagined her family as it was in Virginia - her husband filling every moment with work, her teenage son experimenting with sarcasm, her daughter smiling at the scent of lilacs, her baby-cheeked son methodically clicking Legos together, and herself hovering over the happiness of them all - only surrounded by ancient cobblestone alleys and the sound of ringing Italian. What she didn't know was how Italy would work to change them all.

©2015 Michelle Damiani (P)2018 Tantor Europe Motherhood Parenting & Families Relationships Western Europe Italy
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I wanted to listen to this audiobook for a bit if escapism and it no doubt delivers that. I find it awkward to review stories written by people about their own life experiences. It’s their life and I’m not here to judge anyone on how they live their lives and it’s irrelevant whether I share their principles or opinions. As a story I think it’s a bit unnecessarily long-winded (which is rich coming from me!) but it is very padded out with intricacies which don’t really add anything - in my humble opinion. I’m still not sure how much I enjoyed this book to be honest. I can’t really fault the narrator as I think she did a fine job. I’ve listened to quite a few similar (families moving abroad) stories and I’m afraid I didn’t find this one remarkable. It’s pleasant enough though, on the whole, if you want some easy listening.

Hmmm… tricky to review

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... if it's a fictional exploration of an awful woman and her awful family, with the overwrought reading as an integral part of the artistic work, then it's a five star masterpiece.

If it's a non-fictional account by an awful woman of her awful family, with the reading a stand-alone, awful performance then it's a one-star no-hoper. I endured it for one hour and forty-five minutes before concluding it to be the latter, and binning it.

In any case, and whether this is mostly-fact or mostly-fiction, it's only about Americans and not at all about Italy.

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