The Archeology of a Good Ragù

Guernica World Editions (GWE Creative Non-Fiction)

9781771835534

285 pages | May 1, 2021

John Domini's The Archeology of a Good Ragù is a warm and rollicking account of a writer tracing lineages through time, and deep into the heart of Naples, in order to find a path back to himself—and to gain a more robust understanding of his roots. In the layered and complex city of Naples, meditations on art, romance, masculinity, violence, and family secrets collide in this captivating memoir.

Laura van den Berg, author of The Third Hotel and I Hold a Wolf By The Ears

I readily confess to a hot passion for John Domini's memoir, The Archeology of a Good Ragù — his inspired sentences like switchback staircases, his paragraphs sipped like the finest grappa, his chapters a Mediterranean feast. Domini devours Naples, its magic and sensuality and ambiguity, with a gastronome's vitality, and if you told me Mr. Domini and Elena Ferrante are cousins, I'd say, Of course!

The Archeology of a Good Ragù offers lively and illuminating insights about both the city of Naples and the process of discovering your roots. John Domini’s exquisite prose braids together past and present, revealing the rich strands of memory that connect world history, urban lore, family narratives, and personal transformation. A stirring, remarkable, and multifaceted memoir.

Jeff Jackson, author of Destroy All Monsters

Neither archeology nor autobiography, so much as "an attempt to capture the aroma, flavors, and sounds of the city’s cobblestones. Call it an extended meditation on the Neapolitan.

Brevity

• “A Restless Sensibility”: Marcus Pactor Talks to John Domini, Author of THE ARCHEOLOGY OF A GOOD RAGÙ
• The Secret History of Naples, Then and Now: An Interview with John Domini
• Summer Series: Books
• Goodreads
• A Thumbnail Archeology in Brevity Mag

The Big Other Book Award for Non Fiction - Finalist