Ciao, America!

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"When Beppe Severgnini and his wife rented a creaky house in Georgetown, they were determined to see if they could adapt to a full four seasons in a country obsessed with ice cubes, air-conditioning, recliner chairs, and, of all things, after-dinner cappuccinos. From their first encounter with cryptic rental listings to their back-to-Europe yard sale twelve months later, Beppe explores this foreign land with the self-described patience of a mildly inappropriate beachcomber, holding up a mirror to America's signature manners and mores. Succumbing to his surroundings day by day, he and his wife find themselves developing a taste for Klondike bars and Samuel Adams beer, and even that most peculiar of American institutions - the pancake house." "The realtor who waves a perfect bye-bye, the overzealous mattress salesman who bounces from bed to bed and the plumber named Marx who deals in illegally powerful showerheads are just a few of the better-than-fiction characters the Severgninis meet while foraging for clues to the real America. A trip to the computer store proves just as revealing as D.C.'s Fourth of July celebration, as do boisterous waiters angling for tips and no-parking signs crammed with a dozen lines of fine print." --Book Jacket