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fionnualalirsdottir's review against another edition
This volume contains the novella The Aspern Papers, and two shorter pieces that almost read like travel writing, The Diary of a Man of Fifty and Travelling Companions. All three conjure up the atmosphere of American ex-pat communities living in style in Florence, Rome and Venice at the end of the nineteenth century.
solmaz_sali's review against another edition
2.0
its impossible to read this book and not want to travel to italy. James touches so many important issues that come with tourism while describing how beautiful each part of italy is. his main argument is how artificial tourism has become and how we travel just to see what others have seen. thinking about it even now we all have a picture of where we are visiting, you know what empire state looks like before seeing it.
the only reason i gave it two stars is because of how slow it is. it took hours before finishing a section. since there isn't a main plot or story to follow but a traveller in italy it does get boring. the only reason you should read this is to hear his arguments for the artificiality of tourism not for a journey or exciting story to follow
the only reason i gave it two stars is because of how slow it is. it took hours before finishing a section. since there isn't a main plot or story to follow but a traveller in italy it does get boring. the only reason you should read this is to hear his arguments for the artificiality of tourism not for a journey or exciting story to follow