Marcus of Umbria: What an Italian Dog Taught an American Girl about Love

I totally fell in love with this book and with Marcus. For anyone who loves Italy and loves dogs or even one of the two, this is a must-read. For my work, I read numerous books about Italy and while I don't begrudge the success of Frances Mayes and books like Under the Tuscan Sun, books like Marcus of Umbria are unique on the literary landscape. Why? The author reveals the REAL Italy - where Italian views of animals are heavily influenced by war and hardship, where small town life (and gossip) can get stifling and where things that are out of the norm are seen with suspicion. Don't get me wrong, van der Leun also introduces us to all that is right with Italy and Italian life - the generosity of its people, the flavors of its cuisine, the bonds of family. I could relate to van der Leun in that I also rescued a dog as a single, young woman. It turned out to be the best decision of my life and broadened my life and deepened my heart immensely. This is one of those books that really deserves great success. Buy it - you won't regret it.

Justine, in her mid-twenties, is working for a magazine in New York City when she decides she needs a change of pace. She vacations in Umbria, Italy, and finds what she thinks is true love in a handsome Italian gardener. She goes back to New York quits her job and moves to the 200 person town of Collelungo. She is taken in by his family and treated as one of their own, though she can barely speak the language. His English is a little better than her Italian. In the meantime she finds an English pointer, neglected and living alone in a pen outside his parents' house, which she quickly adopts. She soon finds out she loves the dog much more than the man. She thinks the dog is a boy at first so names him Marcus only to find out it is a female but Marcus sticks. Justine, already the talk of the town, quickly becomes the laughing stock of the town for the way she treats Marcus. Italians treat dogs as they would livestock but Justine takes Marcus everywhere with her and they are inseparable. But this book is about much more than the love between a woman and her dog. Justine tells how the Italians of this small town live close to the land, she even describes slaughtering of pigs and lambs and how they are taken care of before they give their lives for the dinner table. She talks about foraging for mushrooms and how much work goes into getting the olives off the trees to make olive oil. She further describes how each family makes its own wine and thinks theirs is the best around. She describes how generous the people are, but she does not over romanticize Italy, she tells all it's dirty little secrets too. This is truly a love story between a woman and her dog and what all Justine learned about love from Marcus. It is a sweet, charming and funny book which will keep you turning the pages until the very end. A great read from beginning until end.

Had a bad day at the office? Justine van der Leun had more than a few plus seven years of living in New York City, and she wanted a change. When an acquaintance invited her to spend a month in his village, Collelungo, Italy, she couldn't pack fast enough. Thus began a life changing adventure for her and a warm, hilarious, head-on honest memoir for us. MARCUS OF UMBRIA will enchant from the first page. After meeting a handsome musician/gardener, Emanuele, during her first visit to Italy Justine decides to move there permanently in hopes of finding "a great love.....a new place and a new way to live." Now, Collelungo (population 200) was a new place for her but in actuality an ancient city in the heart of Umbria. The people were farmers, quite set in the ways of their predecessors and happy to follow them. Emanuele's family, the Crucianis, took her in - albeit they found her odd. For her part, Justine attempted to adapt,, helping where she could, gamely following their habits, and attempting to learn the language. But she found that much of the fabric of life for the Collelungoese had been woven centuries ago and she could not change a stitch "This was a culture of women who took care of men from birth to death, and of men who feigned incapability until they actually became incapable." (ie Justine once saw an aged woman carefully making her way across the piazza carrying a stack of starched and ironed shirts - after all, "she had been ironing her son's shirts for seventy-five years.") Justine found herself "unable or unwilling to do what society dictates an Umbrian woman should do - including incessantly cleaning up after a man, killing chickens with my bare hands, and cooking lasagna and wild boar." However, in addition to finding that she and Emanuele were not meant for each other Justine did find the love of her life to date in a small pen attached to the horse barn - a badly neglected puppy whose ribs she could easily count. She immediately made him her own and named him Marcus. As it turned out he was a she and a purebred English pointer. Caring for Marcus in a place where dogs were treated as livestock and often died by the age of three. Nonetheless, she persisted much to the consternation of the Cruciani family. Speaking of that family, the author has created unforgettably vivid verbal photographs. It is as if her words were a camera clearly imaging mother Serenella (who worked 14 hours a day and then came home to prepare a feast in 20 minutes); father Fabio with his ever present cigar who is usually found in a seated position, Emanuele's siblings and diverse relatives. Hopefully some day MARCUS OF UMBRIA will become a film as these people are too wonderful not to be brought to mind again on a wide screen. Justine van der Leun has given us a memoir to savor, a sampling of the Old World vis-a-vis the new, a candid remembrance enriched with life lessons, laughter, and the ever changing faces of love.

My husband once asked me, "Another dog book?" But there are no regrets with "Marcus of Umbria." What could be better than a true life story like "Under the Tuscan Sun" with a loving pooch. Although the human love story did not quite work out, Justine and Marcus did make it into a fantastic tale of found love. Justine went to Italy to help work on a book and felt an instant attraction for a sexy gardener, Emanuele. She ended up moving in with him and that in Italy is an invitation to join his family. Justine's memoir is full of surprising details about Italian families and images of the beautiful Italian countryside. While there, Justine learns the idiosyncrasies of rural Italian life, which unfortunately included their so un-American treatment of dogs. Dogs were just treated just like any farm animal and most of them were caged or tied. They were not seen as pets and not allowed in the house. When Justine finds Marcus penned up and covered with fleas, she is appalled and takes the dog as her ward. The whole village thought she was crazy but it turns into the best relationship Justine has ever had. When faced with the reality that Justine had to go back to America, she is torn between leaving Marcus in the world she knows or take her excitable new friend to unfamiliar surroundings. This story shows how a dog can cleave into a person's heart and show what true love is all about.

The protagonist of this memoir bugged me a little at first, but over time I grew to appreciate her, flaws and all. The problem was she seemed a bit callow and insensitive when she talked about her New York magazine job or desire to bed an Italian hunk, and I didn't know if I wanted to keep reading her story. The sheer escapist novelty of it all, however, drew me in, and I ended up loving her vivid and engaging depiction of her boyfriend's Italian farming family and their culture in the small Umbrian village where adult children stay close to home and often see their mothers every day. It was touching to learn more about the author's background with a single mother and to better understand her very human awkwardnesses and insecurities. I started to like her and sympathize with her, especially when she found and saved the abused dog Marcus and her relationship with her boyfriend began to fray. I also learned a huge amount about the Italian way of life and farming practices, making ricotta, harvesting olives, training horses, and raising sheep, things I think about now when I pour olive oil on my lasagna or pass on by the lamb chops. The book is interesting, moving, funny, and a wonderful window on Umbrian rural culture, reminding me a little of James Herriot's stories. As for the emotional- memoir part, I think it might have been even more affecting if the author had revealed more about her relationship with her boyfriend (there's way more on life with his family and on the farm) and the writing work she was doing in Collelungo for an Italian businessman since almost nothing is even said about that. I felt the whole time at a bit of a distance from her and the TOTAL story, as if we were being treated magazine-style to only certain parts. I also wish there'd been more at the end about what happened to Justine and Marcus. I guess that means I'm ready for the sequel and to see more from this author!