Customer Reviews

How Not To Live Abroad

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I read this in two days!The author documents his move to a small rustic town in southern spain in which he and his girlfriend buy a small home. The accounts of the people he meets and much of the miscommunications between him and the people are very personable and humorous. The author is an English-American so he comes from a mixed viewpoint which means you can identify both with his reflections as well as his initial impressions of the people he meets. I still laugh when I think of his misadventures!

I think the author wrote this book as an act of revenge for what his girlfriend did to him while they were living together in a rural farmhouse in Spain.

It makes for thoughtful reading on what can go wrong if you live far away from the creature comforts of life with electricity, water & food on tap and take it for granted. The author lives in an outlying rural region without any connection to electricity and tap water is from a well. To confound things, the land is not very fertile, as summers can be very hot and rains are not frequent. Only certain types of vegetation can thrive.

I would label this book as "Survivor with Realism" theme. Not your normal "Survivor" series, but what is actually required of you given the constraints of nature. It is not your normal expatriate living abroad squabbling with builders, engaging with townfolk though there is some episodes on that, enjoying wine types of Peter Mayle's world.

A good read if you want to know how the rest of rural Spain lives.

If you are looking to read a book about living as an ex-pat in Spain that 1) will make you laugh AND 2) leave you somewhat envious of the author and his life abroad then this book is definitely not for you. Instead, I would heartily recommend Chris Stewart's books, Driving Over Lemons, A Parrot in a Pepper Tree, and The Almond Blossom Appreciation Society.

If, however, you a are looking for a book about living as an ex-pat in Spain that 1) makes you laugh, and 2) makes you grateful that it wasn't you then read How Not To Live Abroad. It took me awhile to appreciate this book because I was expecting another Chris Stewart book. Once I got past that and accepted the book in its own right I enjoyed it very much. The author comes across as likeable. I especially enjoyed the scenes that included Emilio (a sage), Myrtle (an American ex-pat who was eccentrically hilarious), and Antonio the Schoolteacher (hilarious pronunciation of English).

If you enjoy travel narratives and are also interested in Italy, I cannot recommend the Extra Virgin series by Annie Hawes enough. The three books in the series are simply wonderful.

I give this book 3 stars only because I finished it, so it kept my interest enough to read the end. Of course, I did skip the middle third of the book and found it didn't make one difference as there is not much breadth or depth to the story. The only thing I apparently missed was the introduction of the eccentric character Myrtle, but she wasn't hard to figure out.

The rest of the book is a series of adventures based on self centered, self indulgent twenty somethings who seem to have some of their own money to spend, and a lot of mommy and daddy's. I daresay most people who go on vacation find themselves in a moment of fantasy wishing this was their real life. But most people also have enough of a foothold in reality to at least put some forethought and planning into their desire to live out that fantasy. So while others see this book as humorous and adventurous, I read it with an air of incredulous disbelief. Who buys a house without realizing there is no toilet or kitchen?

I had so much fun reading this book.I love hearing of personal experiences and reading of other cultures,so I thought this would be a great book to read about both combined since it is a book about a young couple who move to a vastly different country.

This book had me laughing out loud so much while at the same time giving great insight to some pitfalls to expect/avoid. The author is genuinely funny,and I doubt I will ever forget his writing that he and his girlfriend had to give up on the idea of sunbathing on their new patio they built because "it felt too much like cremation",LOL!

Reading about their trials with trying to get electricity,the goats and the almond orchard,and really just everything,was as much fun as watching the movie,The Money Pit!

For anyone who ever loved an entertaining teacher who had the talent to mix great humor with their lessons, I highly recommend "How Not To Live Abroad".

This was a great story of the adventure for a young couple who fall in love with Spain, buy a farm and try to make a life without modern conveniences. I laughed out loud many times while reading it and was sorry to have their adventure, and the story, end.