I've been wanting to read this book for a while, so I was thrilled when I got to read a reissue.Naples '44 is based on the diary of British soldier Norman Lewis, who was a part of the British Intelligence Corps in Naples after the Nazi occupation. Through Lewis' eyes we see the immediate after effec...
Disclaimer: I got a copy via Netgalley. Have you ever read the transcripts from the Titanic inquiry? It’s a rather interesting look at what various British people thought of the rest of the barbarians, except for the Americans. In some places, Lewis’ diary of his wartime experiences in Naples mirr...
A great writer brings that great combination - objectivity and humanity - to bear in a setting of what might otherwise be indescribable suffering - Naples in 1944 when newly occupied by the Allied forces. Whether describing the thousands of impoverished citizens scouring the fields for anything edib...
Norman Lewis writes of Sicily: "[T]his is a Mediterranean island where the majority of public happenings are seen in one way or another to be bizarre." No question, it's a weird place. The book is an overview of Sicily's peculiarities, with special emphasis on how and why the Mafia ("the Honoured ...
I'm now officially nuts for Norman. I love this guy's style and brevity. Things slumped a bit near the end of the journey, but it was so fascinating to read about how they found themselves in Madrid just as the revolution was starting. And scary, too!
Worthy of six stars.
Log in with Facebook 
