Customer Reviews

Snowball Oranges

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

 

 

I bought this book at LA Airport just before flying to the UK, and I have to say that reading it made short of the long journey.  I read it in one go, and my outbursts of snickering and laughing must have had my fellow travellers wondering if I was a few oranges short of the pound.
 
This book is unique in the travel genre in that the writer has a wonderful ability to tell his story as though it were a novel instead of just a travelogue.  His sharply-observed portrayal of rural Majorcan characters and his vivid descriptions of the island's scenery and cuisine are so realistic that you can almost feel the sunshine, taste the food and smell the orange blossom.
 
I enjoyed the book so much that I bought the sequel, 'Manana, Manana', as soon as I arrived in the UK, and it lived up to my expectations and more.  Next day I booked my first vacation to Majorca, and I can't wait to visit the places so graphically depicted in these books.  You can bet I'll be first in line to buy the third in the series whenever it's published.  Estupendo, Don Pedro!

I bought this book two days ago and have to say that I have strugglled to put it down since. For anyone with an interest in travel and the charismatic characters one meets this is an essential read. It is written in almost a novel format and whilst this does much to enrich the individual chapters I did feel that this style did mean that some of the warmth of the principal characters was lost.In this sense it fell short of other books in the genre, notably Chris Stewart's Driving over lemons. However, Kerr's detailed descriptions of his neigbours were a pleasue to read. At times it is laugh out loud funny and just looking at the next paragraph would prompt another outburst. A good read. Now where is my passport?

If you find yourself fantasizing about living in Spain, love everything to do with Spain you'll like this book. The only thing that slightly frustrated me was trying to figure out the era; finally I deduced it was between 1990-2000 because of the references to pesetas and raves. Anyway, I'm moving on to the others in this series in the year in Mayorca now. Also I should mention the humour is very British, or as the author would probably prefer I say, Scottish. So beware.