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Summary: Spanish Lessons by Derek Lambert
Review: Ditto on rkrb's review. I normally do not read travel books and picked this one up on a whim. I was immediately transported to Alicante, Spain, where I remained until I grudgingly finished the last page. Isn't that what a good travel book is about? Having just returned from living in a foreign country myself, every word struck true and brought back warm memories of my own experience in an entirely different part of the globe. For a great literary escape, buy this book!
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Summary: Transported
Review: Ditto on rkrb's review. I normally do not read travel books and picked this one up on a whim. I was immediately transported to Alicante, Spain, where I remained until I grudgingly finished the last page. Isn't that what a good travel book is about? Having just returned from living in a foreign country myself, every word struck true and brought back warm memories of my own experience in an entirely different part of the globe. For a great literary escape, buy this book!
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Summary: Spain without the Tourists
Review: Having read a lot of travel books I immediately cring at books advertised to be "like Peter Mayle" because most of them are anything but! Hurray, in Spanish Lessons, the spirit of Peter lives on. The ability to see the humor in a difficult situation and to enjoy,not condemn customs and habits foreign to him are well in evidence here. The book is amusing, well written and punctuated with laugh alouds. Lambert takes on the Spanish with a limited vocabulary and a house renovation job that would make most of us cring and comes out if not the better, at least even. I enjoyed the book and its insight into life in a small Spanish village, its characters and its culture. All this and not a jug of Sangria in sight! Encore!
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Summary: Spain without the Tourists
Review: Having read a lot of travel books I immediately cring at books advertised to be "like Peter Mayle" because most of them are anything but! Hurray, in Spanish Lessons, the spirit of Peter lives on. The ability to see the humor in a difficult situation and to enjoy,not condemn customs and habits foreign to him are well in evidence here. The book is amusing, well written and punctuated with laugh alouds. Lambert takes on the Spanish with a limited vocabulary and a house renovation job that would make most of us cring and comes out if not the better, at least even. I enjoyed the book and its insight into life in a small Spanish village, its characters and its culture. All this and not a jug of Sangria in sight! Encore!
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Summary: A very enjoyable, informative read
Review: I am not a big fan of the travel memoir, of any sort. I read this only because I have become increasingly interested in traveling to Spain and wanted to read something fairly recent which deals with Spanish culture.I am quite surprised by the previous review. Perhaps I'm a bit more open minded, but I never caught a glimpse of the author's "imperialist attitudes." The only instances that _may_ have been interpreted as such were when Lambert was expressing distrust of locals he had just met...but who wouldn't? One fellow in particular had a habit of either not being fully forthcoming or bending the truth a bit. If this is one of the first people you meet, I would expect that you might be leery as well! I think one of the strong points of this man's story is that he moved to a country and had to work at adjusting and allowing those around him to adjust to him. He said that they would try leaving in Spain for a year, then weigh out whether they had adapted AND were accepted by the locals. Only then would they decide whether to stay or not. Along the way, Lambert describes the many obstacles and cultural faux pas which he encountered making his dream of living in Spain come true. By reading this book with an open mind, I think that it is apparent by the outcome of the many subplots (particularly those having to do with Lambert's relationship with the workmen doing the construction and upkeep on the house) that Lambert and his wife were accepted after working at it for a year. I wholeheartedly recommend this book for those interested in Spanish culture away from the sangria and the flamenco, or those eager to learn more about breaking in to another culture. Very educational.
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Summary: a refreshing anti-mayle
Review: i disagree with one of the above reviews which opines that this is similar to mayle's provence series...perhaps the storyline is similar but the attitude is much less egotistical...lambert focuses more on the people and place than did mayle and provides a more genuine rendering of travel and of life abroad than the aforementioned franchise...granted lambert had a better country to work with :)
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Summary: A Glass of Moxie Tonic
Review: I picked up Spanish Lessons while visiting Spain and quickly became engrossed in the storyline alternately laughing, smiling, and even frowning. As Lambert and family settle into a small village in Spain, they're faced with language barriers, a different work ethic, unexpected climate changes, new foods as well as different traditions, beliefs, and ways of living. Still with all the differences shown in the book there are striking similarities such as acceptance and the need for it, friendship, and love of family that the Lambert family discover in their adjustment to their new home. A smile comes to the face when reading stories that paint the author as so heroic to give the reader the impression of fiction especially as these stories seem to be there to demonstrate his taking on some of the habits of those he's met along the way. Lambert creates a story that envelops the reader in a whole new culture right along with his family and him
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Summary: Envelops the reader in a whole new culture
Review: I picked up Spanish Lessons while visiting Spain and quickly became engrossed in the storyline alternately laughing, smiling, and even frowning. As Lambert and family settle into a small village in Spain, they're faced with language barriers, a different work ethic, unexpected climate changes, new foods as well as different traditions, beliefs, and ways of living. Still with all the differences shown in the book there are striking similarities such as acceptance and the need for it, friendship, and love of family that the Lambert family discover in their adjustment to their new home. A smile comes to the face when reading stories that paint the author as so heroic to give the reader the impression of fiction especially as these stories seem to be there to demonstrate his taking on some of the habits of those he's met along the way. Lambert creates a story that envelops the reader in a whole new culture right along with his family and him
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Summary: Good writing, bad attitude
Review: I should have enjoyed this book more. It had pace, and the book is full of witty observations and clever uses of language. I even caught myself laughing a couple of times. The one thing that kept me from liking this book more, with all due respect to Mr. Lambert's work, is the main character, which is to say the author and narrator. Frankly, the entire book is laced with a condescending attitude towards "the natives" that populate the village. Maybe it's the British imperialist attitude to which I cannot relate, but the narrator's treatment of some of the main "characters" (Angel, the gardener for one) infuriated me. That having been said, the book did paint a pretty accurate portrait of the pace of and attitude towards life in rural Spain.
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Summary: Spanish people are not like that
Review: If you pick up this book hoping to get some info on Spain, its culture, its people, BEWARE: the cartoons depicted in the book are only that, cartoons. If i were to write a book about my adventures in the US, using "Spanish Lessons" as a model, it would turn out looking like the Beverly Hillbillies. Mr. Lambert cannot shake off his condescending tone, but was he even trying?
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