The Italian Lover is a literary mash-up with a Hollywood spin – the heroine from Robert Hellenga’s debut novel, The Sixteen Pleasures, falls in love with the hero from his second novel, The Fall of a Sparrow, while her book is being made into a movie. For fans of the earlier books, this has the immediate appeal of visiting old friends. Unfortunately, the appeal wears off pretty fast.

Full review posted on Rose City Reader. ( )

Feel-good book.... et rien de tel que retourner à Florence. ( )

The Italian Lover is an interesting novel. It portrays a variety of perspectives and looks at just what love, home, and life is all about. Following the journey and emotions of Margot and Woody, Miranda, Esther, Michael and his wife, Beryl... well, it wakes you up to how complicated love can be. Sometimes it's a flash of passion, sometimes it's all the memories shared with someone. Sometimes it means romance or home or just finding the meaning in your life. In the Reading Guide the interviewer brought up how at some point or another, all the major characters looked out from a high spot and what that meant... I have to admit, I wasn't that observant. But it does show how much this book can make you think.

Pros:

~ Interesting characters, setting, and story
~ A look at the production of a movie
~ A glipse of Italy and its culture

Cons:

~ Because it takes place in Italy, the naming of places, food, etc. means a lot of Italian is used in the story. Can make it more difficult to follow the story.
~ I really have difficulty believing its so much easier, simpler, and expected for Italian men to have affairs. And there are several affairs throughout the story.

A big disappointment after the Sixteen Pleasures, the filming of which this novel was about. I didn't really care about the characters or what happened to them, and the film plot was not interesting. ( )