A Rosie Life in Italy: Why Are We Here?

4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars | 2,284 ratings

Price: 17.46

Last update: 08-09-2024


Top reviews from the United States

ITS GREAT
5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and hilarious, yet also heart-rendering story
Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2023
I love good memoirs of ex-pats who buy property in other countries filled with all their dreams which are constantly interrupted with not knowing the language or how things work so differently than in their home countries. Rosie Meleady's writing is superb! It is filled with humor, great descriptions of their life in Italy-the food, people they meet, places nearby their home and especially dealing with all the incompetent workmen to renovate a huge 100-year old, delapidated, house with lots of history, not to mention all the stuff the previous owners left there. She had me laughing so much my stomach hurt. But there are also moments in this book, as well as the others, where there is sadness with events in her Irish family, and she poetically describes her grief and pain. She has been married to her husband, Ronan, a long time, and they know how to get under each other's skin, which is hilarious, but also know how to be supportive of each other, even if they don't always agree. As soon as I finished the first book, I bought the rest and read them straight through. So this review is for all of them. The last book (5) was extremely touching when she had to make decisions about what her life would be like in the future. Rosie, you are a marvel and I thank you for the enjoyment of your books.
Mary Herold
4.0 out of 5 stars so Italian
Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2023
This was such a fun book. I laughed at all the difficulties, personalities and the wonderful writing. A great book if you’ve been reading mysteries, thrillers or historical books with lots of tragedy. I’ll get the next Rosie book. Can’t wait to see what they do in their villa,
Robert
5.0 out of 5 stars Light reading and scenic descriptions of Italian villages.
Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2024
Liked the adventures Rosie gets into, and the pictures developed in your mind of Italian sights,
User 1
3.0 out of 5 stars It's okay but it's not great.
Reviewed in the United States on March 21, 2023
There is some "filler" in the book where you will find yourself reading about what's in her fridge or pantry, the issues that she has with the mail, and random thoughts where she will think out loud on the page and wander off on some tangent. Not the most engrossing story but funny in some parts and a decent enough of a read if you have nothing else laying around that interests you.
george jacobs
5.0 out of 5 stars A good description of what we all went through in the 2020 pandemic
Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2021
I enjoyed this book very much. Being married to an FBI (full-blooded Italian--both grandparents born in Italy), I could instantly relate to the quirks (?) of Italian culture. I remember the first night I ate dinner with them. Six of us were crowded around a tiny table in a tiny kitchen eating spaghetti. All of the sudden they started yelling at each other. I jumped, not being used to people yelling about such mundane things, and, at the dinner table. I remember a passage in the book where Rosie and Ronan were fighting. She said it didn't matter because the neighbors didn't understand English, and they think nothing of people yelling at each other anyway. Her description of the greeting and kissing on both cheeks where she ended up bumping noses was hilarious. The book was full of funny situations and interactions. It also shared so many highs and lows of their experiences--ones that we all can relate to....the excitement of planning to buy their dream home, the delays, red-tape, and problems which meant not buying the home, the reality that maybe they still could....the disappointments, the uncertainty, the unknowns.....it tugged at my emotions so vividly.

But for me, the lasting memories of the book will be the real-life descriptions of how they (everyone?) dealt with the coronavirus. If they left Italy to go home (Ireland) would they be permitted back in Italy? They were worried about their elderly parents in Ireland and their daughter in London. They couldn't see friends in Italy, and could only go to the grocery store where they were faced with shortages. And why were people hoarding toilet paper? They went days without getting dressed up or worrying about how they looked--sure, why not a walk wearing pajamas? Like all of us, they ate more, watched more TV, drank more, worried more. But there was always that hope that Covid-19 will be over. And when it is, how will it feel to be free again? I think in many ways the book is memorable for its story of human response to a crisis told in an emotional but witty fashion.

I definitely recommend it.
jujubered
4.0 out of 5 stars Fun and funny...but could have used an editor
Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2021
This is a fun, funny, mostly true (according to the author herself, who says she changed a few things and conflated some events and timelines) saga about how an Irish destination wedding planner, her husband, and her two children left rainy old Ireland for the sunny climes of Italy (with a stopover in France first). It tells of issues with the language, the customs, and the difficulties buying property in Italy, and it also addresses money difficulties and moving/renting/buying and selling properties in both Ireland and Italy. It even includes the family's trials through the whole covid mess, which, of course, impacted everyone around the world. That said, Rosie could use a good editor, or at least a friend who could have read the manuscript and suggested some clarifications in her writing, not to mention some grammar and spelling issues here and there. But all this is easy to overlook when you get into her story, which is about a brave and loving woman trying to live her best life, despite obstacles constantly thrown in her way.
Karen Wiant
5.0 out of 5 stars A fun read... inspirational, too.
Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2023
So much fun ~ esp for those who have been to Italy, who want to return to Italy, or who have ever dreamed of living in Italy. I appreciate Rosie's sense of humor and a glimose into her European worldview (as opposed to ours here in the USA)... and her handling of the global pandemic and its affect on all of us touched my heart. I'm looking forward to reading the next books in the series.

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