Spanish Lessons: Beginning a New Life in Spain

by Derek Lambert

Book Overview

In the shrewd, comical spirit of Peter Mayle and Bill Bryson, Derek Lambert discovers the charms and idiosyncrasies of Spain as he experiences the rewards and frustrations of beginning a new life... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 076790415X
• ISBN13: 9780767904155
• Release Date: May 2000
• Publisher: Broadway Books
• Length: 258 Pages
• Weight: 0.98 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.1" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Envelops the reader in a whole new culture

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

Transported

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!

Nice, but no flair

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.

Spain without the Tourists

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!

A very enjoyable, informative read

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.