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The Telling Room: A Tale Of Love, Betrayal, Revenge, And The World's Greatest Piece Of Cheese (2013)

by Michael Paterniti(Favorite Author)

3.28 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0385337000 (ISBN13: 9780385337007)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

The Dial Press

review 1: My first thought when reading this is that they should have titled it: "Who Stole My Cheese?" Later, the author cites the more famous "Who Moved My Cheese" as a source of confusion when trying to explain to people what his book is about. However, since it is basically the true story of an artisan who was ruined by corporate greed-heads, perhaps it should be used in management training seminars.The structure of the story a little strange in that it would not be an exaggeration to say that the text is 40% footnotes. Plus, early on, I formed a bad impression of the author, who inserts himself and his family into the story, because he admits to getting rid of his Jesus and Mary Chain and Joy Division CDs. The reason: because he thought his new baby should not be exposed to t... morehat kind of music. Had I not been assured that it gets better I might have stopped reading right then and there.However, the story of Ambrosio, his cheese and small town Spanish life is interesting. Although the author, like most tourists to Spain, is charmed by village life -- ie. old men passing the porrone and an obsession with great food -- he does eventually reveal that all is not as idyllic as it appears and that underneath the surface, there are a lot of lingering resentments from Civil War days. I really did wonder how the story was going to resolve itself and whether Ambrosio would eventually reconcile with the best friend who, he believed, sold him out. (No spoiler here).The time spent in Castile also did the author some good in that it made him see some of the bad elements of American culture. I can only hope he regrets getting rid of his music collection.
review 2: There is something almost magically mesmerizing about this book. It is one of those that you just can't put down once you have started. It's in the voice of the narrator. Paternitti has manage to write a story that has made history seem so entrancing, through the creation of characters that are absolutely endearing. I can't stop smiling to myself or laughing my way through certain passages, partly because I am familiar with the Spanish culture he describes, and because the characters remind me of my own family in Panama, and all I learned to appreciate about life in the first few decades of the 1900s from family members, and education. For anyone who knows little or nothing about Spain, let alone about the autonomous community of Castilla and Leon, this book is a wealth of information from many of the most important periods in Spanish History. Anyone who reads this book will fall in love with it, surely. I highly recommend it. less

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