Ciao Bella: In Search of My Italian Father: Amazon.co.uk: Helena Frith-Powell: Books

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Review

'Beautifully written, it made me laugh and I wanted to follow in Helena's footsteps round Italy!' Kate Figes

Daily Telegraph

`Humorous... rich and satisfying.'

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Customer Reviews

14 Reviews

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

Average Customer Review

3.9 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Plato's Children, 2 Jan 2006

By

Rationalist101 "Rationalist101" (London) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Plato's Children: The State We are in (Paperback)

This book is well worth reading, addressing, as it does, a range of contemporary issues in the context of Plato's cave. Anybody interested in the "good life" and how to live it will find it stimulating and thought provoking.

In particular, it addresses some of the problems of "political correctness" and popular culture in pretending to offer easy solutions to all, when this is clearly, on reflection, impossible.

It invites the reader to consider whether he is happy staring at the shadows or perhaps wish to walk towards the light.

Once again, Plato thought of it first...

My one complaint is that the book has been badly proof-readen and has numerous typographical and punctuation errors.

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10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clever, funny and entertaining, 24 Oct 2006

By

Sam Allenby (Toulouse, France) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)

This review is from: Ciao Bella: In Search of My Italian Father (Hardcover)

The dreary childhood memoir has been done to death. However, Frith Powell spares us the details - though hints that her early years weren't much fun. The fun begins when she is reunited with her real father at the age of 14, a larger than life character who quotes Dante, chases women half his age, and encourages his daughter to lose her English inhibitions. This is a charming tale of cultural identity, growing up and loving, combined with a modern travelogue as she revisits the places - Rome, Florence, Venice, Amalfi Coast and Rimini - where she spent time with her father. Full of amusing characters. I loved it!

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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars enjoyable, 20 Aug 2007

By

C. I. Iles (london,uk) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Ciao Bella: In Search of My Italian Father (Hardcover)

An amusing tale of a girl who loses contact with her Italian father and spends the early years in England growing up with her Swedish mother. The mother seems to collect a bad selection of boyfriends/new stepfather for her daughter, culminating in mother and daughter occaisionally having to flee the house.
Her Italian father is rich, handsome and famous,whilst her mother is beautiful, but cannot stand 'this italian'. The father recommends the daughter take lovers to acquire the skills needed in life (particularly an understanding of Dante, and multi linguistic skills)
Theres a lot of humour in this book as well as angst as the daughter seeks the love and respect she would want from a father. It's colourful insight into italian 'psyche' is amusing and sensitive.
Its factual content on the brief Italian 'grand tour' is full of great content
All in all an easy book to read that wont tax your mind too much

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Geriatric snob lists countercultural complaints
Reading Plato's Children, it's hard to see for what purpose this book is intended. If your intention is to make pithy observations of 'The State We Are In', as the subtitle... Read more

Published 13 months ago by Mr. C. Wilson

1.0 out of 5 stars awful
Absolutely disappointing. I am italian , have been for 45 years, and I thought this book coul be a funny and nice book about the British point of view on Italy and italians, but,... Read more

Published on 14 Nov 2009 by Lucrezia

4.0 out of 5 stars Honest and fun
This is a bright, witty and intelligent book that follows a 14 year old Helen Frith Powell's first holiday with her playboy Italian father (who she had not seen since she was a... Read more