Customer Reviews

Spanish Lessons: Beginning a New Life in Spain

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

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.

Something is missing from Spanish Lessons, some kind of energy or heart.

Maybe what's missing is that Derek Lambert is too normal. The very best travel essays and memoirs all have something in common - a narrator who is eccentric, peculiar, a little bit different, whether it's something he does, or just part of his personality. Lambert is just an average guy living in Spain; the crazy things that would happen to Bill Bryson don't happen to him, and the crazy things that Tim Cahill would do aren't done by him.

Or maybe it's something stylistic - Lambert is a fugitive from journalism, and his writing still has that who-what-where-when bluntness, tinged with an all-too-palpable struggle to add some literary flair. That makes this book rather less compelling than it might otherwise be - the narrative just never picks you up and carries you along, and that is essential in travel writing.

It could even be that Lambert just hasn't fallen in love with Spain the way Mayle did with Provence or Mayes did with Tuscany. Spanish Lessons lacks vivid local color and fascinating local history, two things that can really make a living-abroad book. Lambert seems to be reluctant about giving in to Spain, too - he even quits his Spanish lessons after a few weeks. While this kind of restraint may be understandable, it doesn't make for the sort of book that can transport you to a new place.

Probably it's all those things. Lambert has written an essentially normal story - man buys house, man has problems with builders and plumbing, man holds party, etc. - that just happens to be set in Spain, and despite the generous descriptions of food and gardens and colorful local characters, the pedestrian nature of the material comes through.

While this is an interesting light read, and its flaws are minor, it just isn't entrancing. Borrow this book, don't buy it, and look elsewhere for truly hysterical or truly lyrical travel literature.

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 :)

Spanish Lessons by Derek Lambert

Brilliant! This book not only succeeds in what it sets out to do - to show how integration into a foreign culture can be achieved, without tears - but gives much background information on the history, geography and local customs of the area, peppered with humour which keeps the reader chortling to the end.

For my husband and myself it was particularly interesting as we know the area well - we have owned a holiday home the other side of Montgo at Jávea (Xabia) for 17 years and have been frequent visitors. The book is absolutely authentic. Although published in 2000 it would appear to be telling a tale of life 20+ years earlier.

There is much which could also have been included but the author had to draw the line somewhere and he kept to the Spanish aspect of life superbly. For instance, the Chapel at Las Rotas, which was Franco's chapel, has been used for regular Sunday Worship by the English speaking congregation, which is part of the Costa Blanca Anglican Chaplaincy, since 1979.

I shall lend the book to anyone I know remotely interested in Spain. It gives a good insight into life in Spain. We can't wait for our next visit!

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

I read a lot of travel essays and I can honestly say that "Spanish Lessons" is the worst attempt at the genre I've ever picked up. Lambert's attempt at establishing a visual image of rural Spain and it people, is weak at best, and often seems more like an afterthought. He never really convinces the reader to invest any sort of emotion in his characters, even his wife and son are just cardboard cutouts of people set in his book as props for the Derek Lambert show. Unlike the self-effacing Bryson and Mayle; Lambert is the hero of every situation; he can walk into a unfamiliar environment and set it all straight. From winning arm wrestling contests to plumbing, to embarrassing skinflint friends, he can do it all, (he even saves lives!). You even get the impression that his title, "Spanish Lessons", refers more to what he taught the local residents than what he learned living amongst them. I slogged through Spanish Lessons only because I hate not completing a book once I've started, but after reading this work by Lambert, I'm thinking of changing that policy.

It's been said that travel essays and books are more about their authors than the places they visit; this book is testimony to the wisdom of that. There's not really so much of Spain here as there is of Lambert, and that's not a bad thing if you end up liking the guy. The problem is, you might grow a little weary of the author; every Spaniard becomes a *character* to whom Lambert must show great forbearance. Come to think of it, there is a bit of the colonial in the man. (Nevertheless, he's not insufferable, like Theroux can be.) I caught myself glancing at the picture of the author's smiling face on the dust jacket--suggesting a likeable, convivial man--to convince myself that I was being harsh on Lambert. If you're thinking of reading this book to get a unique taste of Spain, well, you'll get that in small doses. But mostly this is the story of a foreign couple and their house woes in Spain. Maybe this should have been titled, "Casa Improvement." Finally, what's the deal with the little seen Jonathan? Is he really four years old? Or fourteen? He isn't around much, is he.

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.

There is nothing really WRONG with this book, but nothing that has not been tried and done just a smidge better in "A Year in Provence" or "Under the Tuscan Sun."

Don't want to be a spoiler, but the usual wise-but-iconoclastic locals show up to eventually impart valuable spiritual and cultural gifts to our semi-bumbling narrator. He's likable, they are likable, and your reading time won't be wasted, but this one won't challenge any preconceptions or expand you world.

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!