I received this ARC through the Goodreads giveaway program.

I received an advanced uncorrected paperback proof copy of The Italian Teacher by Tom Rachman through the Goodreads Giveaway program.


Below is my honest, unbiased review of The Italian Teacher by Tom Rachman.


I first began reading The Italian Teacher by Tom Rachman in June of 2019, but kept putting put off finishing it for other books until this year. My initial beef with this novel was I couldn't stand the secondary character of Bear Bavinsky. Bear Bainsky is an artist on the level of one of the great masters and he is a major narcissist/jerk! Bear Bavinsky is a womanizer and is married several times throughout the novel and cavorts with many different woman. We learn by the end of the novel that he has a total of 17 children by several different women. Bear isn't a good husband or father for that matter as everything is always all about himself.


The main character for The Italian Teacher is Charles 'Pinch' Bavinsky. Pinch (Charles's nickname) is Bear Bavinsky's son. The novel is about Pinch's life from early boyhood in the 1950s until his death in 2018. The Italian Teacher is told from Pinch's point of view. Pinch stands in the shadow of his father's greatness trying to make something of his own life. Pinch's parents divorce early on in the novel. Additionally, Pinch's mom, Natalie, is a minor artist in her own right, but she comes across as scatterbrained and worn down trying to raise her son on her own. Pinch continually tries to garner his father's love, attention, and approval throughout his entire life to no avail as Bear rebuffs any attempts at closeness or to even show any kind of fatherly love. Bear remains distant and aloof, never giving much praise or attention to Pinch or any of his children that I can tell.


Interestingly enough though, Pinch becomes his father's favorite child as Pinch appears to be the only one of Bear Bavinsky's children to have direct access to their father. Additionally, Pinch is the only child to inherit anything from their father upon Bear Bavinsky's sudden death. This sets Pinch at odds with his other half siblings. Essentially, Pinch becomes his dad's favorite child because he kowtow's to his father's whims.


Tom Rachman is a good writer. There are lots of unexpected twists and turns in The Italian Teacher, especially the last half of the novel. Pinch may never have become the person he expected/wanted to become, but he does become successful in his own unexpected way by the end of the novel.

I left this book inside the LFL.