Four Seasons in Rome

Et vemodets mesterverk!

Jeg har en yndlingssjanger, kombinasjonen av essay, reiseskildring og memoar. Den følsomme blandingen av emosjoner, kunnskaper og virkelighet. Denne er slik.

I was quite smitten by the idea of Italy and Rome for most of 2022. I got this book much later in the year and read this quite slowly, almost savouring it. With my general “must get tasks done” approach to life, I find myself trying to “finish” books.

But this book was a mindful necessary pause to that nasty approach I have developed. I read it with no rush. Two pages a day, weeks without touching it, laying down in the park and reading an author talk about parenthood while struggling to order fruits in Italian. I think books like this really make you say, “I'd read their grocery list” but I am sure Anthony would make that the most engaging piece ever.

I somehow enjoyed this far more than “All The Light We Cannot See”. His writing is flowy as Tiber with absolutely heart-wrenching prose sprinkled in middle. Really enjoyed it one. <3

Beautifully written but slow

Doerr, a fiction writer, wins an award that provides him with a place to stay and writing time in Rome for a year. The problem? His wife has just given birth to twins and his life has forever changed.



Doerr spends a tremendous amount of time writing about how he is having trouble writing. If you can get past that, there is great beauty to be found in the writing he achieves.