Halfway to Each Other: 12/27/09

Susan and Tim Pohlman were on a business trip to Italy, their last trip together before they had plans to divorce. Both realized they were enjoying their trip and their time together. They decided to give their marriage a second chance by selling their home and living in the Rivera for a year. Half Way to Each Other is the memoir of their year in Italy.

The Pohlman family ended up living in an out of the way village. Since it was small and not especially touristy they had to learn how to live like Italians. The memoir covers many of their failures and later successes as they learned how village life works.

Many times throughout the book they are the typical ugly Americans: not bothering to learn how anything works before just jumping in and assuming that everything would be like their pampered life in Los Angeles. They've never made anything from scratch; they expect American style grocery stores; they're afraid of Gypsies and so on. The parents whine as much as the children do when things do go their way.

This sort of journey of rediscovery through a life abroad only works if you have tons of money to spend in the first place. How nice for them to have that ability. I'm not sure they realized just how fortunate they are in that regard.

I enjoyed learning about village life in Italy and when the Pohlmans weren't being stereotypical Americans they seemed like lovely people. I would have preferred to learn more about Italy and less about the state of their marriage but in all fairness, Halfway to Each Other isn't a travel memoir.

Comments (2)

Comment #1: Monday, December, 28, 2009 at 15:23:59

Kristen

I hadn't heard about this one and it sounds interesting. I'd ask if they manage to stay married but don't want to ruin it for myself if I do end up reading it!

Comment #2: Friday, January 8, 2010 at 17:23:12

Pussreboots

The book is upfront about them still being married by the end of the book so you're not spoiling anything by asking. The memoir is more about their year there than their actual marriage.