Il Duro

A selection of excerpts published in a Penguin Little Black Classic.

This book is noted on the back as Sketches of scorched landscapes, peasants and wild spirits from Lawrence's travels in early twentieth-century Italy.

I guess it falls into the travel genre, but I didn't consider much of the writing about travel. It was certainly portraits of people met while the author travelled, but I really didn't find it particularly entertaining, nor very descriptive or would I have said excellent writing.

I found the whole thing (ok it was only 55 pages, so not particularly taxing) rather an uninspiring and uninteresting read. It wasn't unbearable, and if I was pushed I would concede that “John” was interesting enough, but overall, I could definitely have done without reading this.

I suppose I am saying at “John” would be three stars, the other excerpts, two stars, which leads me to two stars overall.