How Not to Live Abroad: Surviving Rustic Bliss in the Spanish Countryside

by Shaun Briley

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 080652586X
• ISBN13: 9780806525860
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Citadel Press
• Length: 282 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.8" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Enlightening and Hilarious Misconceptions/Misadventures of a couple who moved from UK to Spain!

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".

Great book!

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.

I still laugh when I think of this book!

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!

A Travelogue of Sorts

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.

Excellent "Report" on Life in Rural Spain as a Transplant

I'm not much of a book reviewer, but I picked up this book recently, merely on the attraction of the title "How NOT To Live Abroad". Hmm, I tought that looked pretty interesting. I was not disappointed, it was a compelling read all around.The basic premise of the book is that Shaun Briley (the son of Jon Briley, who scripted the "Gandhi" movie blockbuster) and his girlfriend are living uncomfortably with her mom in the UK, and so decide to go on vacation to Spain to escape the mom. Totally unplanned they end up buying a rural farm house in deep Spain, thinking this would be eternal bliss of sun and coctails. The book cronicles the pair's misadventures in adjusting to that rural life (no modern amenities we take for granted such as electricity, bathroom, etc.), while at the same time describing the ups and downs, and ultimate demise, of the couple's relationship. Briley writes with a great sense of humor, and the pages fly by. As a transplant myself (but not to a rural setting), I took an immediate liking to the book, and found it hard to put down. I highly recommend as perfect beach reading for the coming summer!