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My Roman Year
The author of Call Me by Your Name returns with a deeply romantic memoir of his time in Rome while on the cusp of adulthood.In Roman Year, André Aciman captures the period of his adolescence that began when he and his family first set foot in Rome, after being expelled from Egypt. Though Aciman’s family had been well-off in Alexandria, all vestiges of their status vanished when they fled, and the author, his younger brother, and his deaf mother moved into a rented apartment (eventually revealed to be a recently vacated brothel) on Via Clelia. Though dejected, Aciman’s mother and brother found their way into life in Rome, while Aciman burrowed into his bedroom. The world of novels eventually allowed him to open up to the city and, through them, discover the beating heart of the Eternal City.Aciman’s time in Rome did not last long before he and his family moved across the ocean, but by the time they did, he was leaving behind a city he loved. In this memoir, the author, a genius of "the poetry of the place" (John Domini, The Boston Globe), conjures the sights, smells, tastes, and people of Rome as only he can. Aciman captures, as if in amber, a living portrait of himself on the brink of adulthood and the city he worshipped at that pivotal moment. Roman Year is a treasure, unearthed by one of our greatest prose stylists.
354 pages, Paperback
First published October 22, 2024
About the author
André Aciman
49 books9,623 followersAndré Aciman was born in Alexandria, Egypt and is an American memoirist, essayist, novelist, and scholar of seventeenth-century literature. He has also written many essays and reviews on Marcel Proust. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times, The Paris Review, The New Republic, Condé Nast Traveler as well as in many volumes of The Best American Essays. Aciman received his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Harvard University, has taught at Princeton and Bard and is Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature at The CUNY Graduate Center. He is currently chair of the Ph. D. Program in Comparative Literature and founder and director of The Writers' Institute at the Graduate Center.
Aciman is the author of the Whiting Award-winning memoir Out of Egypt (1995), an account of his childhood as a Jew growing up in post-colonial Egypt. Aciman has published two other books: False Papers: Essays in Exile and Memory (2001), and a novel Call Me By Your Name (2007), which was chosen as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and won the Lambda Literary Award for Men's Fiction (2008). His forthcoming novel Eight White Nights (FSG) will be published on February 14, 2010
Aciman is the author of the Whiting Award-winning memoir Out of Egypt (1995), an account of his childhood as a Jew growing up in post-colonial Egypt. Aciman has published two other books: False Papers: Essays in Exile and Memory (2001), and a novel Call Me By Your Name (2007), which was chosen as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and won the Lambda Literary Award for Men's Fiction (2008). His forthcoming novel Eight White Nights (FSG) will be published on February 14, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
October 11, 2024
Audio Arc from NetGalley for an honest review. Release date Oct 22, 2024
This is a memoir by the author best known for the novel, Call Me By Your Name.
The audio is read by Edoardo Ballerini. When Ballerini reads Italian works his narration is amazing He has just the right tone and inflections and a voice that understands the beauty of the language. It is what drew me to this audio. Once again he was perfect for this narration.
This memoir covers one year in the author's life in Rome when he was 17 years old--a senior in high school and had immigrated to Rome with his mother and brother from Alexandria Egypt. His parents are Turkish and Italian Sephardic Jews whose families immigrated to Egypt in the early 1900's and settled in Alexandria. Andre’s parents had done fairly well in Alexandria but the changing political climate causes the family to immigrate to Italy in 1965. Andre, his brother and mother leave Egypt by boat and are met in Italy by Andre’s uncle who has secured a place for the family in Rome. It was unclear to me exactly why the father stayed behind. It is intimated that a woman is the reason although he tells the family that he is being detained due to family business and/or the government legal concerns.
The brothers and their mother who is deaf are left to fend for themselves in Rome. They have little money, the mother has a handicap and none speak Italian well but speak English, Arabic and French. Andre, as the oldest is expected to assist his mother as she reads lips and writes as her main forms of communication. Andre and his brother have attended an American school in Alexandria and hope to find similar schooling in Rome. Italian schools would mean repeating several grades and both boys do not want to do that.
There are so many problems, and it is rather inspiring to hear how the family works to overcome difficulties with so little. Andre’s father is mostly out of the picture, rationalizing that he cannot live with the family (or even in the same country) due to disagreements with his wife. Andre often describes his mother’s temper and outbursts now directed at him and seems to understand his father’s decision even though it places a direct hardship on his own living situation.
The events of this year are told from the viewpoint of a 17 year old boy. This is not a grown man writing a memoir about his youth. It is told instead as narrative non-fiction. The reader lives through Andre’s days, going to school, bookstores, daily chores and various family events with Andre. The writing is beautiful, so rich at times that I couldn’t listen to it for long periods of time. The romanticism overwhelmed me at times. Every situation, even the mundane seemed to be told with such significance. I felt often I needed time between chapters to digest. This made me think that in print form it might be better read in chunks than straight through. Also I could really have used a family tree. On Audio only, I found myself confused as to uncles, aunts, cousins, friends of one or some, of these. There are many names and relationships to keep straight in Italy, France, Egypt, and the United States.
I did feel it was an excellent listening experience and I would recommend it in that form. I do feel there is much I missed as I am not familiar with this author’s work and so think I missed some of the nuance of how his life has contributed to the stories he writes, as I find that so interesting in memoirs by author’s. It does make me interested in reading one of his novels.
There is less of Rome here than I would have hoped for and little history of the time. This is a young boy’s story. It illustrates in a personal story how difficult immigration is. So much of what we hear in this country has to do with its effects on us and it worth looking instead at how a family copes and the problems that must be overcome just to survive. Even though it takes place in 1965 I think much still applies. It is not an easy story, and cannot be told without reading about a lot of hardship. But it is well told and I am glad I got to listen to it.
This is a memoir by the author best known for the novel, Call Me By Your Name.
The audio is read by Edoardo Ballerini. When Ballerini reads Italian works his narration is amazing He has just the right tone and inflections and a voice that understands the beauty of the language. It is what drew me to this audio. Once again he was perfect for this narration.
This memoir covers one year in the author's life in Rome when he was 17 years old--a senior in high school and had immigrated to Rome with his mother and brother from Alexandria Egypt. His parents are Turkish and Italian Sephardic Jews whose families immigrated to Egypt in the early 1900's and settled in Alexandria. Andre’s parents had done fairly well in Alexandria but the changing political climate causes the family to immigrate to Italy in 1965. Andre, his brother and mother leave Egypt by boat and are met in Italy by Andre’s uncle who has secured a place for the family in Rome. It was unclear to me exactly why the father stayed behind. It is intimated that a woman is the reason although he tells the family that he is being detained due to family business and/or the government legal concerns.
The brothers and their mother who is deaf are left to fend for themselves in Rome. They have little money, the mother has a handicap and none speak Italian well but speak English, Arabic and French. Andre, as the oldest is expected to assist his mother as she reads lips and writes as her main forms of communication. Andre and his brother have attended an American school in Alexandria and hope to find similar schooling in Rome. Italian schools would mean repeating several grades and both boys do not want to do that.
There are so many problems, and it is rather inspiring to hear how the family works to overcome difficulties with so little. Andre’s father is mostly out of the picture, rationalizing that he cannot live with the family (or even in the same country) due to disagreements with his wife. Andre often describes his mother’s temper and outbursts now directed at him and seems to understand his father’s decision even though it places a direct hardship on his own living situation.
The events of this year are told from the viewpoint of a 17 year old boy. This is not a grown man writing a memoir about his youth. It is told instead as narrative non-fiction. The reader lives through Andre’s days, going to school, bookstores, daily chores and various family events with Andre. The writing is beautiful, so rich at times that I couldn’t listen to it for long periods of time. The romanticism overwhelmed me at times. Every situation, even the mundane seemed to be told with such significance. I felt often I needed time between chapters to digest. This made me think that in print form it might be better read in chunks than straight through. Also I could really have used a family tree. On Audio only, I found myself confused as to uncles, aunts, cousins, friends of one or some, of these. There are many names and relationships to keep straight in Italy, France, Egypt, and the United States.
I did feel it was an excellent listening experience and I would recommend it in that form. I do feel there is much I missed as I am not familiar with this author’s work and so think I missed some of the nuance of how his life has contributed to the stories he writes, as I find that so interesting in memoirs by author’s. It does make me interested in reading one of his novels.
There is less of Rome here than I would have hoped for and little history of the time. This is a young boy’s story. It illustrates in a personal story how difficult immigration is. So much of what we hear in this country has to do with its effects on us and it worth looking instead at how a family copes and the problems that must be overcome just to survive. Even though it takes place in 1965 I think much still applies. It is not an easy story, and cannot be told without reading about a lot of hardship. But it is well told and I am glad I got to listen to it.
July 17, 2024
Thanks to Netgalley and Farrar, straus and giroux for the arc of Roman year by André Aciman! This book is out on 22 Oct 2024.
If there's one thing you need to know about me, it's that André Aciman is one of my favourite writers. Especially his (partial) memoir Out of Egypt, about his Jewish family's expulsion from Egypt in the 1950s, is one of my top books of all time. Roman year is essentially a continuation of where Out of Egypt leaves of, following the writer, his brother and his parents during the course of a year living in Rome after leaving Egypt.
Naturally, as this book is a follow-up to one of my absolute faves, I couldn't help but compare it to its predecessor at times. Roman year felt a little less purposeful than Out of Egypt, with a slightly less well-rounded storyline. But in the end that does tie in with what the author describes: a year of waiting, of indecision, of looking back and looking forward at the same time. It makes sense for the story to feel a little bit like that as well.
In the end, I think this book highlights what Aciman does best. His description of his love-hate attitude to Rome, his longing yet apprehension for New York, his idealised love for Paris, the memories of Alexandria he doesn't want to long for. The characters are vivid, the prose is to die for. No one quite captures a sense of place and belonging like André Aciman can.
If there's one thing you need to know about me, it's that André Aciman is one of my favourite writers. Especially his (partial) memoir Out of Egypt, about his Jewish family's expulsion from Egypt in the 1950s, is one of my top books of all time. Roman year is essentially a continuation of where Out of Egypt leaves of, following the writer, his brother and his parents during the course of a year living in Rome after leaving Egypt.
Naturally, as this book is a follow-up to one of my absolute faves, I couldn't help but compare it to its predecessor at times. Roman year felt a little less purposeful than Out of Egypt, with a slightly less well-rounded storyline. But in the end that does tie in with what the author describes: a year of waiting, of indecision, of looking back and looking forward at the same time. It makes sense for the story to feel a little bit like that as well.
In the end, I think this book highlights what Aciman does best. His description of his love-hate attitude to Rome, his longing yet apprehension for New York, his idealised love for Paris, the memories of Alexandria he doesn't want to long for. The characters are vivid, the prose is to die for. No one quite captures a sense of place and belonging like André Aciman can.
August 11, 2024
This is my third André Aciman book that I have read, and like the others that I've read, it is a bit hit and miss.
Things that I liked about the book were:
- the descriptions of Rome, Paris, Naples and Alexandria
- the character descriptions
- the writing style
What I didn't like so much was the amount of introspection, this was a bit tiring by the end of the book.
Having said all of the above I did, on the whole, enjoy the book and look forward reading to more of his work
Things that I liked about the book were:
- the descriptions of Rome, Paris, Naples and Alexandria
- the character descriptions
- the writing style
What I didn't like so much was the amount of introspection, this was a bit tiring by the end of the book.
Having said all of the above I did, on the whole, enjoy the book and look forward reading to more of his work
November 5, 2024
Evocation is what I enjoy most about reading. When written words can conjure up nostalgia, embarrassing memories, fantasies, deep empathy, or vivid sights, tastes, and smells, that’s when I know I’m reading something special. For me all of that was achieved. Add subtle beautiful prose to the mix (think less flowery than call me by your name) and you get an authentic and moving memoir disguised as a coming of age novel :)
July 26, 2024
This is the story of one tumultuous, emotionally charged year that Aciman spent in Rome as a young man when his family was expelled from Egypt for being Jewish after the Six-Day War. I expected it to be a love letter to Rome, but his family were living in a very poor quarter, and much of the time Aciman was longing for Paris and Alexandria and dreading the eventual trip to New York City for college that he eventually wound up making. He is already a bookish fellow who sees the city through a screen of words on the page and when he does finally fall in love with Rome, it’s through a film about Tuscany. His family problems are intense: he is forced to mediate between his volatile, charming deaf mother and his philandering but charismatic, intellectual father who is living in Paris. They are linked to a squabbling, eccentric, extended Sephardic family that stretches across Europe, North America and even Uruguay, but ultimately considers itself Ottoman Greek.
What makes this book so extraordinary is Aciman’s exquisite, vivid writing, his ability to summon up a world of characters and places from the page. He has an unusual gift for linking his own introspection to larger, perhaps universal themes. I had to stop and read other books for work while I was reading it and I kept longing to rush back to this one.
It’s not quite as great as “Out of Egypt,” the first memoir. but it inspires me to re-read the first book and also to read what may now be his most famous book, “Call Me By Your Name.”
Many thanks to NetGalley and to FSG for an advance reader’s copy of the book.
What makes this book so extraordinary is Aciman’s exquisite, vivid writing, his ability to summon up a world of characters and places from the page. He has an unusual gift for linking his own introspection to larger, perhaps universal themes. I had to stop and read other books for work while I was reading it and I kept longing to rush back to this one.
It’s not quite as great as “Out of Egypt,” the first memoir. but it inspires me to re-read the first book and also to read what may now be his most famous book, “Call Me By Your Name.”
Many thanks to NetGalley and to FSG for an advance reader’s copy of the book.
Want to read
September 20, 2024i WILL read anything andre aciman writes (yes, this is a threat)
April 26, 2024
Roman Year reads like a literary bildungsroman as young Aciman navigates his tumultuous relationship to Italy, immigration, fantasies of America, women, school, and his family. This is ultimately a story about compromising between dreams and reality, learning to appreciate what is in front of you (a task tricky for any youth!), and managing competing desires. Like in his novels, Aciman's prose is absolutely lovely. He focuses more on fleshing out the characters and relationships in his life than on the setting itself, giving this memoir a novel-like quality.
Thank you to NetGalley and FSG for the e-arc.
Thank you to NetGalley and FSG for the e-arc.
August 24, 2024
"Writing is intended to dig out the fault lines where truth and dissembling shift places. Or is meant to bury them even deeper?"
André Aciman came to global attention through the success of his novel Call Me By Your Name and the subsequent sequel Find Me.
My Roman Year is an autobiographical account of one teenage year lived in Rome in 1967.
André, his parents, brother and other relatives are forced to leave Egypt - with his mother and brother and a large number of suitcases they arrive in Italy to be 'housed' by great uncle Claude- whose pomposity and sleight of hand in character is continually hiding the truth of his own existence.
The family are housed in Via Clelia. A street in Aciman's teenage eyes is not one to be proud of- never revealing where he lives to fellow school pupils.
Aciman weaves a story of a young man who knows he is in a transitory location- never fully recognising how much he comes to love the city and often fighting to not fit in- a partial sense of snobbery is evident. Continually found with a book in his hand; with a love of Paris and a desire to live in New York and not fully connecting with the Romans he meets, Aciman feels slightly aloof . But the main joy of this book is the essence of the areas of Rome he visits, the people he meets who open their doors to him and also the relationship between his parents and their desires for him to succeed.
André Aciman's parents never wanted to be together and during the book live apart - it is their characters that bring the book alive; his mother's deafness and initial loneliness but efforts to make friends and be part of the local area and his father's dreams of success and love of the Arts that he shares with Aciman.
This is very much a book about those awkward years of exploration, finding yourself, experimentation with love and sex and trying to 'work out' who you might become.. It also permeates a sense of isolation and missed opportunities for the young Aciman
Beautifully written, comical in parts, fall of angst and love and ultimately with a view into a displaced family who find themselves in an unfamiliar city in an unfamiliar country and culture. The quest to find the love for his time in Rome would appear to have been a struggle for Aciman - did his writing enable a cathartic renaissance of hidden love for his time there to be uncovered? He questions this -This book would acknowledge that he did..
Although autobiographical ,this could easily be read as a novel of a young man who finds himself living briefly in 1960's Rome and the impact on him and his family
André Aciman came to global attention through the success of his novel Call Me By Your Name and the subsequent sequel Find Me.
My Roman Year is an autobiographical account of one teenage year lived in Rome in 1967.
André, his parents, brother and other relatives are forced to leave Egypt - with his mother and brother and a large number of suitcases they arrive in Italy to be 'housed' by great uncle Claude- whose pomposity and sleight of hand in character is continually hiding the truth of his own existence.
The family are housed in Via Clelia. A street in Aciman's teenage eyes is not one to be proud of- never revealing where he lives to fellow school pupils.
Aciman weaves a story of a young man who knows he is in a transitory location- never fully recognising how much he comes to love the city and often fighting to not fit in- a partial sense of snobbery is evident. Continually found with a book in his hand; with a love of Paris and a desire to live in New York and not fully connecting with the Romans he meets, Aciman feels slightly aloof . But the main joy of this book is the essence of the areas of Rome he visits, the people he meets who open their doors to him and also the relationship between his parents and their desires for him to succeed.
André Aciman's parents never wanted to be together and during the book live apart - it is their characters that bring the book alive; his mother's deafness and initial loneliness but efforts to make friends and be part of the local area and his father's dreams of success and love of the Arts that he shares with Aciman.
This is very much a book about those awkward years of exploration, finding yourself, experimentation with love and sex and trying to 'work out' who you might become.. It also permeates a sense of isolation and missed opportunities for the young Aciman
Beautifully written, comical in parts, fall of angst and love and ultimately with a view into a displaced family who find themselves in an unfamiliar city in an unfamiliar country and culture. The quest to find the love for his time in Rome would appear to have been a struggle for Aciman - did his writing enable a cathartic renaissance of hidden love for his time there to be uncovered? He questions this -This book would acknowledge that he did..
Although autobiographical ,this could easily be read as a novel of a young man who finds himself living briefly in 1960's Rome and the impact on him and his family
August 2, 2024
Roman Year is an incredibly thoughtful memoir from CMBYN author, André Aciman, detailing his year as a teenager migrating to Rome after being expelled from Alexandria. This is a slow, meandering journey, portraying the mundane and his day to day life in great detail. At times, I found the memoir to be too slow and embodied the spirit of dolce far niente a tad too much. However, if detailed-oriented anecdotes and memories are your thing, you will certainly enjoy this. Although I do prefer CMBYN, Roman Year still portrays Aciman’s prose beautifully, and in turn, portrays Rome as a mosaic of the sights, culture, and people he loves.
September 23, 2024
Andre Caiman has lived a very interesting life. His writing is beautiful too.
September 22, 2024
Loved this coming of age memoir set in Rome in the late 1960s. Aciman writes with the same emotional insight as you find in his novels. I was hooked by the exploration of his displacement as a refugee, and the effect it had on his family, and his changing relationship with Rome. A beautiful read.
June 29, 2024
thank you to FSG & netgalley for an eARC to review!
this one wassss... a bit of a miss. the writing was very authentic but felt a bit dry to me. each chapter was too dragged on and it seemed as if aciman was trying to be poetic about his time in rome but it didn't hit the mark 🙃 i can see this being another readers cup of tea but unfortunately wasn't mine, if you're into very slow and detailed memoirs this would be a good read for you!
this one wassss... a bit of a miss. the writing was very authentic but felt a bit dry to me. each chapter was too dragged on and it seemed as if aciman was trying to be poetic about his time in rome but it didn't hit the mark 🙃 i can see this being another readers cup of tea but unfortunately wasn't mine, if you're into very slow and detailed memoirs this would be a good read for you!
October 12, 2024
I am not one to read fiction or autobiographical books. But I am one who likes to read stories about people, and that was something that I read.
Having only read "Call Me By Your Name" I didn't know the totality of his experiences to understand his writing, but I think I got to know him a bot better. I couldn't fathom his past, how he was an immigrant from Egypt, and how his stay in Italy for approximately a year and a half solidified his desire for reading and later to becoming a writer (at this point I wanted to add that young Aciman and I I both share an aversion of Kafka). Having to move to another country, especially only with one of your parent (who is deaf), with your younger sibling, while being afraid of the warzone on your home country and also being afraid of adapting to recipient one, is definitely overwhelming. Honestly, I liked the narration of Via Clelia, and the romanticizing of it, but what made me like the book more was not hiding the problems that his family had to overcome.
This book also touches a lot upon the complicated relationship with your parents. Firstly, in accordance with his relationship with his mother, who even though she was deaf with two hearing children, she did everything she could in the house, and even though the writer and his brother wholeheartedly admired her, they sometimes were embarrassed, but not because of her disability, but of how much the society would force any kind of discrimination upon her. On the other hand, the relationship with his father is entirely friendly. While he was working before he came to Italy to be with his family, it was obvious that he didn't respect the mother of his children, and that became more apparent when he went to live in Paris. Nevertheless, he was the one who inspired the writer to read, and he wouldn't be the same without his talks with him. Finally, I definitely did not like Uncle Claude for numerous reasons, that if I analyzed now, all the paper in the world wouldn't be enough.
A book about immigration, about finding your place in the world, coming-of-age and a thorough insight on Aciman's life in Rome that cultivated a part of his personality.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Having only read "Call Me By Your Name" I didn't know the totality of his experiences to understand his writing, but I think I got to know him a bot better. I couldn't fathom his past, how he was an immigrant from Egypt, and how his stay in Italy for approximately a year and a half solidified his desire for reading and later to becoming a writer (at this point I wanted to add that young Aciman and I I both share an aversion of Kafka). Having to move to another country, especially only with one of your parent (who is deaf), with your younger sibling, while being afraid of the warzone on your home country and also being afraid of adapting to recipient one, is definitely overwhelming. Honestly, I liked the narration of Via Clelia, and the romanticizing of it, but what made me like the book more was not hiding the problems that his family had to overcome.
This book also touches a lot upon the complicated relationship with your parents. Firstly, in accordance with his relationship with his mother, who even though she was deaf with two hearing children, she did everything she could in the house, and even though the writer and his brother wholeheartedly admired her, they sometimes were embarrassed, but not because of her disability, but of how much the society would force any kind of discrimination upon her. On the other hand, the relationship with his father is entirely friendly. While he was working before he came to Italy to be with his family, it was obvious that he didn't respect the mother of his children, and that became more apparent when he went to live in Paris. Nevertheless, he was the one who inspired the writer to read, and he wouldn't be the same without his talks with him. Finally, I definitely did not like Uncle Claude for numerous reasons, that if I analyzed now, all the paper in the world wouldn't be enough.
A book about immigration, about finding your place in the world, coming-of-age and a thorough insight on Aciman's life in Rome that cultivated a part of his personality.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 18, 2024
Beautifully written, this is a poignant, sometimes comical and sometimes sad tale of Aciman's life after his (Jewish) family were forced to flee Egypt for Rome after the 6-Day War.
The family lived in a poor quarter and life wasn't easy by any means, indeed, it took Aciman a while to fall in love with Italy, and it was only after he left for his studies in New York that things changed (a book about Tuscany is what did the trick).
Aciman's family issues are enough to make you go pale, from his excitable (but winsome) deaf mother and womanising (but charming) father, to his irascible curmudgeon of an uncle (a VERY odd duck). Throw in a few eccentric far-flung family members and you have a rather extraordinary tale... It is a story about waiting, about looking ahead but also behind you, and it is a time of turmoil and indecision.
Well-known for Call Me By Your Name, Aciman has a beautiful way of saying things, and a certain evocative knack for bringing characters to life, and Roman Year is no exception. It's a follow-up to his memoir titled Out of Egypt, and while it isn't imperative to read both, Out of Egypt is well-worth reading.
3 and 3/4 stars.
The family lived in a poor quarter and life wasn't easy by any means, indeed, it took Aciman a while to fall in love with Italy, and it was only after he left for his studies in New York that things changed (a book about Tuscany is what did the trick).
Aciman's family issues are enough to make you go pale, from his excitable (but winsome) deaf mother and womanising (but charming) father, to his irascible curmudgeon of an uncle (a VERY odd duck). Throw in a few eccentric far-flung family members and you have a rather extraordinary tale... It is a story about waiting, about looking ahead but also behind you, and it is a time of turmoil and indecision.
Well-known for Call Me By Your Name, Aciman has a beautiful way of saying things, and a certain evocative knack for bringing characters to life, and Roman Year is no exception. It's a follow-up to his memoir titled Out of Egypt, and while it isn't imperative to read both, Out of Egypt is well-worth reading.
3 and 3/4 stars.
May 29, 2024
An incredibly insightful and eloquent author
Contradictory in as much as the prose is at once a searing honest almost journalistic aspect, yet literary and embellished as the author romanticises much of what he sees in order to find a way of understanding the world around him.
Stunning insight into a Rome which perhaps doesn’t exist anymore
Deeply personal observations abut himself and familial relationships, and the authors burgeoning sexuality.
Grief at loss of home and culture, sometimes relieved by the realisation that home has been found, if only when leaving it.
The sense of a life very keenly observed in the present but only really understood in the echoes of elsewhere, even if that elsewhere is not somewhere he has visited
A sense of a struggle for the author to find and name self.
Contradictory in as much as the prose is at once a searing honest almost journalistic aspect, yet literary and embellished as the author romanticises much of what he sees in order to find a way of understanding the world around him.
Stunning insight into a Rome which perhaps doesn’t exist anymore
Deeply personal observations abut himself and familial relationships, and the authors burgeoning sexuality.
Grief at loss of home and culture, sometimes relieved by the realisation that home has been found, if only when leaving it.
The sense of a life very keenly observed in the present but only really understood in the echoes of elsewhere, even if that elsewhere is not somewhere he has visited
A sense of a struggle for the author to find and name self.
November 17, 2024
An engaging memoir. Covers the time right after the author's family fled Egypt when Nasser expelled non-Muslims in the 1960s and ended up in a lower middle class part of Rome for a year. Describes the author's colorful extended family--mostly Jews from Alexandria and Constantinople, including his estranged parents, trying to fit in with some of his more affluent relatives and at an American school with privileged ex pat kids, his burgeoning romantic life, and his mixed feelings about Rome, including his ambivalence about his neighborhood and his sentimental attachment to the more historic parts of Rome. The descriptions of his relationship with his father who lives apart from the family and seems to be involved in many romantic entanglements, fails to realize his potential professionally, and is a frustrated writer/intellectual are particularly poignant.
September 20, 2024
My Roman Year is a memoir of one year Aciman spent in Rome when his family were expelled from Egypt. Himself, his younger brother and his mother lost the status they had in Egypt and moved into a rented apartment . Aciman found it hard to adapt and lost himself in novels which allowed him to discover the city he eventually came to love.
If you're a fan of Aciman's work then you will 100% enjoy this. It's written in his same style we all love and reads just like a coming of age novel . Rome is a character in itself, the streets, the sights, the people and of course the food all come alive and I assure you that you will be lost in Rome whilst reading this .
I haven't actually read his first memoir Out of Egypt but I will now be reaching for it along with some more of his earlier work .
If you're a fan of Aciman's work then you will 100% enjoy this. It's written in his same style we all love and reads just like a coming of age novel . Rome is a character in itself, the streets, the sights, the people and of course the food all come alive and I assure you that you will be lost in Rome whilst reading this .
I haven't actually read his first memoir Out of Egypt but I will now be reaching for it along with some more of his earlier work .
October 31, 2024
I am thankful to have received an advanced reader copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This may have been a recollection of the author’s year in Rome as a teenager; however, it was told in such a nuanced way to include all parts of his life throughout. It was like following a timeline and taking some brief detours. I truly enjoy memoirs that give me new perspectives on life that has been lived and experienced. This book also challenged my vocabulary, which for me is always welcomed. It did take me longer to read than most 300 page books, but I think many passages required time to ponder and reflect on. The way this is written felt like it paralleled how the author must have felt knowing several languages but not feeling like one of them was native to him. A truly beautiful memoir.
October 7, 2024
My Roman Year is a journey through a year in the life of the author Andre Aciman when as a teenager his family was expelled from Egypt and sought sanctuary in Rome with family that were already living there. With the complex mix of characters that make up his family, the mix of loyalties to different countries and different sides of the family, the fall from having being wealthy in Eqypt to surviving in Italy and the time in his life make it a hard year for Andre but a beautifully written, fascinating story for the reader.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read My Roman Year.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read My Roman Year.
September 19, 2024
I enjoyed Aciman’s “Out of Egypt”, in which he took the reader through his family's forced migration from Egypt when the Jewish community had faced persecution in their ancient home. However, I found this second memoir overwritten as Aciman relived his year as a teenager in Italy, having rather wished to migrate with his family to America. Although I appreciated his character portraits, particularly that of his father and deaf mother, there was an overload of other details that could have been corrected with more stringent editing.
November 15, 2024
André Aciman is one of my favourite writers because he boils stories down into their true essence and makes you feel and understand that yearning, heartbreak, and desire; he makes you angry, he makes you hate, he makes you fall in love with the story, with the characters but, most importantly, he makes you fall in love with writing! This memoir is the perfect encapsulation of everything I love about his work.
October 3, 2024
A beautiful memoir. I love how Aciman shares his opinions on Rome when he was a teenager living there and what he thinks of the city since traveling back with his family. My only complaint is that the chapters are ridiculously long. Otherwise it is wonderfully written and full of tender moments.
Thank you to the publisher for the e-copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Thank you to the publisher for the e-copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
November 13, 2024
DNS (Did Not Start)
The font is so tiny that I gave up before I even started.
I am tired of publishers using such small fonts for book printing.
I should not have to WORK to read a book.
The font is so tiny that I gave up before I even started.
I am tired of publishers using such small fonts for book printing.
I should not have to WORK to read a book.
September 19, 2024
Very Aciman, with an interesting episode about being a Jew in Nasser Egypt
November 18, 2024
hoooo doggy this got a little long. i've read call me by your name twice and it certainly took that and knowing the movie inside and out for me to properly enjoy his writing style. clearly mr. andre is an intelligent cultured man but do you ever feel like some intelligent cultured ppl are destined to always sound like they're intentionally trying to be intelligent & cultured? just a thought.
October 26, 2024
i had a hard time getting into this one, and even put it down once before i finally got into it. But, by the time i got into it i really started to enjoy this one. Reading it felt more like discrete stories that made the story feel a bit more jumpy than fluid, which I think is where i struggled a bit. That being said, i really did end up enjoying this one. It was a very much a slice of life kind of read as André’s family finds their way in Rome. From memory, this felt like a different read than Call me by your Name (but it has been awhile since I’ve read it so don’t quote me 😅). I ended up listening to a big chunk of this one and the narrator added so much to the story. Ah so good! Next up by André Aciman will be “The Gentlemen from Peru” and soon!
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