Sicilian Odyssey

March 24, 2003
If asked to pick the "one quality that seems dependable, immutable, endlessly available" in Sicily, novelist and essayist Prose would choose intensity. It is difficult, she admits, to resist the superlative when describing such a place—an inclination that often gets the better of her as she recounts her month-long sojourn on the island. Thankfully, her descriptive excesses are eclipsed by the overall strength of this absorbing travelogue, which melds observation, anecdote, history and myth—the last a subject that formed the framework of Prose's previous work, The Lives of the Muses. The author and her companion traveled to Sicily in February 2002, partly to experience its pleasures but also, as a New Yorker in the wake of the September 11 attacks, "to discover what this island has learned and can teach us about the triumph of beauty over violence, of life over death." Prose's fatalism is well suited to an island that has lived with death—at the hands of foreign invasions and internal brutality—for centuries without forgetting how to celebrate life. Driving through Sicily, Prose explores both its beauty and ugliness; facing the grief that so often underlies Sicilian gaiety allows her to come to terms with her newly fragile world. This process enriches Prose's varied, engaging musings on subjects ranging from the simple wonders of Sicilian cooking to the craziness of Carnivale in a culture that can party with the best of them. Her slim but dense volume is a perfect traveling companion for those planning to visit Sicily and an excellent surrogate for those staying at home. B&w photos by author.

Starred review from March 1, 2003
Prose is so taken with Sicily, the beauty of its landscapes and art, the complexities of its mythology and history, the earthiness of its food, the intensity of its people, she thinks this "singular island" is where she "would love to be reborn--preferably as a big, handsome, life-loving, prosperous Sicilian guy." This empathic fancy is indicative of her receptivity to the spirit of this ancient land. A penetrating and quick-witted novelist and critic, Prose proves to be an agile, philosophical, and entrancing travel writer as she explores the narrow streets of medieval mountaintop towns, mosaic-adorned churches, and the noisy streets of Palermo and embarks on an equally compelling inner journey as she contemplates the waves of violence and destruction that have assailed this legendary place and the surges in creativity and life-affirming celebration that counter them. Cogent and provocative observations of architecture, paintings, and carnivals, as well as thoughtful assessments of Sicilian literature and the valiant work of contemporary photographer Letizia Battaglia, all revolve around Prose's fascination with the interleaving of the past and present and the "essence" of Sicilian life, the ability "to transmute the horrors of history into something extraordinary and profoundly alive."(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)