In Sicily

In Sicily

Few places on earth have escaped the singular eye of Norman Lewis, but always, in the course of his long career, he has come back to Sicily. From his first, wartime visit - to a land untouched since the Middle Ages - through his frequent returns, he has watched the island and its people as they have changed over the years. In 1998 he returned yet again to write this book, the result of a sixty-year-long fascination with all things Sicilian.In Sicily reveals this fascination on every page. Throughout there is the Mafia, and Lewis's friendships with policemen, journalists and men of respect. But more, he writes of landscape and language, of his memories of his first father-in-law (professional gambler, descendant of princes and member of the Unione Siciliana), of Sicily's changing sexual mores, of the effects of African immigration, of Palermo and its ruined palaces - and of strange superstitions, of witches and bandits and murder.From Library JournalSicily, a place of recurring interest to prolific British author Lewis (Voices of the Sea; Naples 44), is the setting of this mixture of straightforward travel narrative and social commentary. As Lewis visits different towns on the island, he compares modern-day Sicily with his World War II memories, noting the changes that have taken place over the last few decades. Along the way, he not only encourages readers to visit and experience Sicily but also creates vacation destinations out of many small towns on the island through his colorful anecdotes. He devotes a great deal of space to the Mafia and its influence on Sicily's daily life and includes chilling stories of a 1947 massacre. There are also reflections on the effects of recent African immigration and the island's changing sexual mores. The author eventually concludes that despite the addition of numerous hotels and cafs and the cleaning and modernization of urban areas, Sicilian culture and traditions have changed little since his first visit. Recommended for academic or public libraries collecting books on Italy. Sheila Kasperek, Mansfield Univ., PACopyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.From BooklistThis renowned British travel writer has visited Sicily several times over the past half-century, and now he draws together his impressions into an edgy portrait of this fascinating Mediterranean island. From then to now, from the first time he visited to the last time, the Mafia has dominated Sicilian life. How this hardly underground organization has exerted such power is graphically related in Lewis' personal encounters with people who live under its shadow: "under assault by a species of social disease, the Mafia, for which no cure is yet apparent." But just as Sicilians no doubt wish they had less violence in their lives, readers may wish for less buzz about the Mafia and more talk about geography and non-Mafia history and customs. On the other hand, such is the orchestration of Sicilian life; for Lewis, all points of discussion lead back to the Mafia. Brad HooperCopyright