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Unto the Sons
by
Gay Talese
"An Italian ROOTS." The Washington Post Book World
At long last, Gay Talese, one of America's greatest living authors, employs his prodigious storytelling gifts to tell the saga of his own family's emigration to America from Italy in the years preceding World War II. Ultimately it is the story of all immigrant families and the hope and sacrifice that took them from the fami...more
At long last, Gay Talese, one of America's greatest living authors, employs his prodigious storytelling gifts to tell the saga of his own family's emigration to America from Italy in the years preceding World War II. Ultimately it is the story of all immigrant families and the hope and sacrifice that took them from the fami...more
Paperback, 640 pages
Published
March 1st 1995
by Ballantine Books
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Gay Talese is a seasoned American journalist and writer. This book is about his family roots. It took him 10 years to research the history of his family from pre World War I to World War II. The details are very rich, straightforward without having too much peppers.
Talese's writing is as stylish as the content of his wardrobe. Despite being a non-fiction book, Talese didn't hurt the readers' eyes with footnotes, but using bibliography. This very captivating book is written in a liter...more
Talese's writing is as stylish as the content of his wardrobe. Despite being a non-fiction book, Talese didn't hurt the readers' eyes with footnotes, but using bibliography. This very captivating book is written in a liter...more
DISCLAIMER: I only read the first ~50 pages. I feel that is enough to give a book a chance and write a partial review, so here goes:
This book is a collection of stories about present and past family members of the author. It jumps from person to person and not in chronological order (something I typically like). While some stories approached interesting I was bored immediately and consistently. I started the book on a long, late plane flight, and had to put it down. I blamed the...more
This book is a collection of stories about present and past family members of the author. It jumps from person to person and not in chronological order (something I typically like). While some stories approached interesting I was bored immediately and consistently. I started the book on a long, late plane flight, and had to put it down. I blamed the...more
This is a very detailed memoir of Talese's family in Italy and their (some of the family members') subsequent immigration to the US. I did like it and I do recommend it but I also have to say it suffers from the same flaw that many biographies/ memoirs do - it is too detailed, too many historical details of the big politics when in fact his family's history would have been more than enough to make this a worthwhile read.
I do understand Talese's wish to set the history of his family i...more
I do understand Talese's wish to set the history of his family i...more
Gay Talese spent 10 years writing this book about his families emigration from a small town in southern Italy, close to the tip of the boot. It is multi-generational, a sort of Italian roots relating the forces that disintegrated the village life of a poor Italian town during the period 1880 to 1920 that resulted in the emigration of many of her sons and daughters.
It could have used some editing. You are left dangling of what happened to the figures he follows most closely. Not al...more
It could have used some editing. You are left dangling of what happened to the figures he follows most closely. Not al...more
This is a fascinating book, a memoir about Italian immigration. Talese intertwines his family's history with Italian history dating back to the middle ages, and more recent history, including a fascinating piece about Mussolini. It reads like a combination novel and history book...I couldn't put it down...
I love this man's writing style! Classic, full bodied, well constructed story of his family and the story of Italy and it's people, conquerors and hero's. It's 625 pages and I intentionally read only 10 pages a night,I already know I don't want it to end.
Gay Talese's personal saga from his ancestors in Italy to his American immigrant grandparents, to his growing up in Ocean City, New Jersey. But it is no less a wonderful story than his other works. He is a good story-teller.
Marilynn Feeney recommended this book because it's a true story about a family from the same Italian village, Maida, as hers. I enjoyed this book a lot, but it's not a quick read by any means. The author weaves the history of the country along with the histories of many of his family members. Once I gave up trying to remember how everyone was related to each other, I was able to enjoy the book a whole lot more. I learned so much about the Italian history in the past 100+ years, and it really...more
What a wonderful book. Gay Talese, a well-known author that I had never read before, traces his family's origins from southern Italy to the US. The writing is excellent and the stories and anecdotes he relates give proof to the old adage "truth is stranger than fiction". There is also a lot of Italian history presented; the book covers the periods of both WWI and WWII.
I read this book one summer while in Ocean City, NJ where Mr. Talese grew up. It was interesting to think of the city during the early 1900's. Good book. Starts a little slow, but picks up quickly.
This is one of the books that inspired me to write my own. Part memoir, part novel, it perfectly captures the Italian American experience, which just happens to be mine.
Fascinating notes on Italian history and family ties. Overall, still a bit too long, though.
A poignant memoir of growing up during World War II as a son of Italian immigrants.
Unless you really love Italian history, it's mostly a yarwn.
yuk, way too much history for me
The long history of one family. And I mean long history. Helps one understand life in southern Italy in the last two centuries. Helps one understand World War I from a very personal perspective. I wouldn't have thought I'd be terribly interested in either one, but I was!
A biographic story about the author's Italian roots. Felt a bit too lengthy at times, but still an enjoyable read.
I definitely like Talese's narrative style, so I'll most likely search for his other books soon.
I definitely like Talese's narrative style, so I'll most likely search for his other books soon.
Such a lesson in the immigrant experience and in Italian history. One of the most vivid pictures I have of this book is Talese's father's pain during WWII being an American and yet having loved ones in Italy.
i like the book. It is a history book about Sicily. Anyone who is interested in that topic should read this. It is well written, highly personal, tracing the roots of his own family back to the Napoleonic era.
Recommended to me by Vern.
great book!!!!!!
You know you are a first generation immigrant when you shy from luxury, have a foot in both countries and constantly wait for the other shoe to fall...this book is a masterpiece.
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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| italian history | 1 | 7 | Sep 14, 2009 11:14am |
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Gay Talese is an American author. He wrote for The New York Times in the early 1960s and helped to define literary journalism or "new nonfiction reportage", also known as New Journalism. His most famous articles are about Joe DiMaggio, Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra.
More about Gay Talese...
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