Review of When we were young

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Amiczy Heaven
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Review of When we were young

Post by Amiczy Heaven »

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "When we were young" by Robert Mattia.]
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4 out of 5 stars
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When we were young: Inspired by Tales of Truth, Adventure, Love and Loss by Robert Mattia is a memoir of the author's life. Although the author explained that some names and characteristics in the book were altered, and events and conversations have been compressed and recreated, the story is a recollection of his experiences. The author starts his story with his normal daily routine, some of which are habits he carried from childhood, like making his bed. He goes to work and hears about the tower bombing. The next day at work, his mother called him to return home and speak with his dad. His dad has been suffering from ALS for some time now. This call takes the author’s mind back to his childhood as he shares stories of him growing up in an Italian family living in America.

This was an emotional rollercoaster read for me because I could relate with the author on so many things, especially his father’s illness. The author was passionate about telling this story, and I could tell how proud he was of his family and the life that they led. The story had a soul; I could feel the author in every story he told; I couldn’t tell when he was telling a recreated story; it all felt very real. The recount of history was accurate. He also shed light on how people struggled and survived during the war, which I could mentally picture. His descriptions were great, too. I could picture his mother saying goodbye to her family and holding white lilies. I felt like I could picture his mother when she was young in Italy and her early days in America. The author also dropped important notes on raising kids.

There were so many things that I liked about this book. However, there were some downsides to it. One of the things that put me off about this book was back and forth between adulthood and childhood. I wished the book started with telling his childhood story and let it progress in chronological order; considering it is a recount of history, I expected it to be properly arranged. I understand the author needed the story to be as original as possible; however, it did affect my enjoyment of this book a little. Also, there was too much background on construction at the beginning—so much information I did not need to know. It delayed the story a bit.

This was a great book, and I rate it 4 out of 5 stars. The book was well written, and despite its volume, I could not spot any errors in it; it was perfectly edited. So many aspects of this book gave me a lot to be happy about while reading. I only deducted a star because of the aspects of the book that I wasn’t pleased with, as mentioned above. Thinking about them didn’t make me happy, and because the story wasn’t well arranged, the author kept taking me back to a memory I'd already read about. However, it was a good read, and I enjoyed it.

The book will appeal to history lovers. There is a lot of Italian history in the book. The author also threw in some important historical facts about America. There is also World War II history. People who love reading family stories will also love this book, as it tells the story of the author's family. I will also recommend this book to people who love to read childhood stories and family history.

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When we were young
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Ajibola Gabriel
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Post by Ajibola Gabriel »

This is such a wonderful review of the book. I love to read stories of people’s childhood and how they’ve grown! Thank you for a wonderful review.
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