{"product_id":"9780802191151","title":"Italian Neighbors","description":"\u003cb\u003eA New York Times Notable Book of the Year: A deliciously entertaining account of expatriate life in a small village just outside Verona, Italy.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Tim Parks is anything but a gentleman in Verona. So after ten years of living with his Italian wife, Rita, in a typical provincial Italian neighborhood, the novelist found that he had inadvertently collected a gallery full of splendid characters. In this wittily observed account, Parks introduces readers to his home town, with a statue of the Virgin at one end of the street, a derelict bottle factory at the other, and a wealth of exotic flora and fauna in between.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Via Colombare, the village’s main street, offers an exemplary hodgepodge of all that is new and old in the \u003ci\u003ebel paese\u003c\/i\u003e, a point of collision between invading suburbia and diehard peasant tradition. It is a world of creeping vines, stuccoed walls, shotguns, security cameras, hypochondria, and expensive sports cars. More than a mere travelogue, \u003ci\u003eItalian Neighbors\u003c\/i\u003e is a vivid portrait of the real Italy and a compelling story of how even the most foreign people and places gradually assume the familiarity of home.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “One of the most delightful travelogues imaginable . . . so vivid, so packed with delectable details.” —\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"Grove Atlantic","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47128017830128,"sku":"9780802191151","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780802191151_p0.jpg?v=1769907282","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780802191151","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}