I am instantly taken back to those late-fall mornings when we had to stand glued to others in jam-packed buses, never daring to grab a seat if one ever was free—fall mornings… I’d give anything to experience again the unmistakable snug feeling of bodies swaying to the rhythm of the bus, seeking warmth like penguins huddled together— … people going to work, to school, or looking for work, they were on the bus too, broken and sad, always sad, angry, and scared—of the cold, of life, of your glance when they caught you staring and looked away, their ragged coats smelling of weather-beaten wool that had just been in the rain and whose damp scent I’ve always loved.
— André Aciman, Roman Year: A Memoir (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, October 22, 2024)
Notes:
- DK Recommendation? Loved it!
- Book Reviews
- NY Times: “Roman Year“: An Exile Revisits the Squalor and Grandeur of 1960s Italy
- “Aciman evokes the passing of time in rich, meandering prose, rebuilding 1960s Rome in sentences suffused with light and sound and memories — the taste of an artichoke, the smell of bergamot and of Crêpe de Chine perfume. From the bewilderment of arrival, the young Aciman moves through denial toward a gradual acceptance of his new life. “Roman Year” is both an affecting coming-of-age story and a timely, distinctive description of the haunted lives of refugees.”
- Guardian: Memento Amore
- NY Times: “Roman Year“: An Exile Revisits the Squalor and Grandeur of 1960s Italy