SOS PODCASTS

Mancini offers a memoir of an American mom living in small-town Germany.

Married to a man in the Italian Air Force, the author reluctantly left her home of New York for Italy. Life in Rome was mostly enjoyable, but then the couple was stationed in Geilenkirchen, Germany, where the cold-averse Mancini shivered at the famous but chilly Christmas markets and shuddered at a restaurant that used Gouda instead of mozzarella on pizza margherita (the author is of Italian heritage as well). Though she had two children, Mancini felt isolated in a place with an alien culture where she couldn’t speak the language. (Furthermore, the town had “more cows and sheep than people.”) Luckily, podcasts saved Mancini’s sanity. Having voices in her ears provided instant connection and supplied comfort, instruction, information, and much-needed humor. From podcasts, the author learned how to cook meatless dishes like zucchini pie and chickpea pancake and how to prepare a whiskery vegetable called celeriac. The upbeat and lighthearted podcast Skimm This, narrated by and targeting millennials, helped Mancini still feel relevant and cool as she aged. Another podcast, Dear Sugars, was “like putting a soothing ointment” on the guilt she felt as a daughter after her father’s death. This chronicle is a handy resource detailing the wide range of podcasts that Mancini sampled, which are compiled at the book’s end. Writing in an informal, diaristic manner, Mancini often tries to persuade the reader (or herself?) that she’s behaving acceptably (“I wasn’t nerdy, really, I wasn’t”); this approach generally comes off as engaging and funny. In her voice, universal subjects (including bad weather, religious faith, childbirth, and not fitting into a group) become compelling and entertaining. However, the writing sometimes can feel self-indulgent, as when the author recounts petty feuds with her mother-in-law and mocks the size of German women’s shoes. Likewise, the end of the book, in which Mancini outlines her future plans (such as reprising her physical therapy), gets a bit too solipsistic.

An informative and amusing account of an expat finding solace in the world of podcasts.