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Taking the Kids to Italy
A hilarious account of one absolutely disastrous Italian vacation, a story full of illness and good food, cold houses and warm people, bad decisions, marital spats, and family love. True in every detail, it is the tale of a trip award-winning author Roland Merullo made with his wife of many years, their two young children, and his brave octogenarian mother as an attempt to escape the New England winter and enjoy Italian cuisine, architecture, warm weather, and each other. Shortly after arriving at their rental house north of Rome, however, the Merullo family finds itself neck-deep in a swamp of misfortune. A stomach flu takes hold of their younger daughter and will not let go. The house is freezing cold, isolated, and patrolled by a pack of pesky mongrels. Hoping to escape the situation, the family heads south on a 500 mile drive, only to encounter, among a cast of eccentric characters, more bad luck. Their ability to cope — sometimes — and laugh — afterwards — forms the heart of Taking the Kids to Italy.
240 pages, Paperback
First published November 13, 2013
3 people are currently reading
48 people want to read
About the author
Roland Merullo
39 books692 followersROLAND MERULLO is an awarding-winning author of 24 books including 17 works of fiction: Breakfast with Buddha, a nominee for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, now in its 20th printing; The Talk-Funny Girl, a 2012 ALEX Award Winner and named a "Must Read" by the Massachusetts Library Association and the Massachusetts Center for the Book; Vatican Waltz named one of the Best Books of 2013 by Publishers Weekly; Lunch with Buddha selected as one of the Best Books of 2013 by Kirkus Reviews; Revere Beach Boulevard named one of the "Top 100 Essential Books of New England" by the Boston Globe; A Little Love Story chosen as one of "Ten Wonderful Romance Novels" by Good Housekeeping, Revere Beach Elegy winner of the Massachusetts Book Award for nonfiction, and Once Night Falls, selected as a "First Read" by Amazon Editors.
A former writer in residence at North Shore Community College and Miami Dade Colleges, and professor of Creative Writing at Bennington, Amherst and Lesley Colleges, Merullo has been a guest speaker at many literary events and venues and a faculty member at MFA programs and several writers’ conferences. His essays have appeared in numerous publications including the New York Times, Outside Magazine, Yankee Magazine, Newsweek, the Boston Globe, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Boston Magazine, Reader's Digest, Good Housekeeping, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. Merullo's books have been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, German, Chinese, Turkish, Bulgarian, Croatian, Slovenian, and Czech.
A former writer in residence at North Shore Community College and Miami Dade Colleges, and professor of Creative Writing at Bennington, Amherst and Lesley Colleges, Merullo has been a guest speaker at many literary events and venues and a faculty member at MFA programs and several writers’ conferences. His essays have appeared in numerous publications including the New York Times, Outside Magazine, Yankee Magazine, Newsweek, the Boston Globe, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Boston Magazine, Reader's Digest, Good Housekeeping, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. Merullo's books have been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, German, Chinese, Turkish, Bulgarian, Croatian, Slovenian, and Czech.
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March 9, 2016
Before I read Taking the Kids to Italy, I’d read all three of Roland Merullo’s “Meals with Buddha” novels in which the main character, Otto Ringling embarks on a series of rambling road trips with Volya Rinpoche, a bald, red-robed Buddhist monk from Russia who, it turns out, is a world-famous spiritual leader who marries Otto’s sister. Over the course of three books, Otto and Volya encounter an endless string of eclectic adventures, and Otto’s view of the world evolves.
After that introduction, I wasn’t sure what to expect from a Merullo memoir. He does not disappoint. This memoir has all the elements of the novels from a rash decision to go to Italy in February with a toddler and preschooler in tow, against all well-meaning advice, through wrenching challenges at every turn, to a satisfying outcome. Although the cast of characters is different and larger, and experiences happened more more or less as written, it’s equally compelling.
Whether he writes fact or fiction, Merullo’s attention to detail makes people and places snap to life. I’ve been to enough of the places he writes about to know he tells it true. Perhaps his greatest gift in either genre is his ability to get into his character’s heads and hearts. He’s especially good at revealing his main characters’ weaknesses with compassion and humor. Yes, in this book, his decision was rash. Yes, he can be stubborn as a constipated mule. Yes, he gets flustered under stress (and there was plenty of stress in this book). But instead of beating himself up, he wryly fesses up and slips life lessons for all of us under the door. Just as Otto did in the Buddha books, in his memoir, Merullo emerges as an authentic human being. By the end of the book, he seemed to emerge as one of those people who, even though you just met, seem like you’ve known them for years.
I recommend this book as an entertaining and thought-provoking read with brilliant coverage of Italian spots off the beaten tourist path. It will be especially valuable for anyone thinking of traveling with young children.
After that introduction, I wasn’t sure what to expect from a Merullo memoir. He does not disappoint. This memoir has all the elements of the novels from a rash decision to go to Italy in February with a toddler and preschooler in tow, against all well-meaning advice, through wrenching challenges at every turn, to a satisfying outcome. Although the cast of characters is different and larger, and experiences happened more more or less as written, it’s equally compelling.
Whether he writes fact or fiction, Merullo’s attention to detail makes people and places snap to life. I’ve been to enough of the places he writes about to know he tells it true. Perhaps his greatest gift in either genre is his ability to get into his character’s heads and hearts. He’s especially good at revealing his main characters’ weaknesses with compassion and humor. Yes, in this book, his decision was rash. Yes, he can be stubborn as a constipated mule. Yes, he gets flustered under stress (and there was plenty of stress in this book). But instead of beating himself up, he wryly fesses up and slips life lessons for all of us under the door. Just as Otto did in the Buddha books, in his memoir, Merullo emerges as an authentic human being. By the end of the book, he seemed to emerge as one of those people who, even though you just met, seem like you’ve known them for years.
I recommend this book as an entertaining and thought-provoking read with brilliant coverage of Italian spots off the beaten tourist path. It will be especially valuable for anyone thinking of traveling with young children.
Displaying 1 of 1 review