Travel to Spain

Driving Over Lemons: An Optimist in Spain

Format: Paperback
Author: Chris Stewart
ReleaseDate: 08 May, 2001
Publisher: Vintage
Rating:

Does Exactly What It Sets Out to Do
I just came out of National Poetry Month here on the NH Seacoast -- six weeks (it's expanding in both directions from April) of poetry readings with a festival of jazz and poetry as its centerpiece. What a pleasure it was to read this book. I attended, hosted, read at, and otherwise participated in nearly 30 events during this period. When it was over, I needed a break; my brain hurt. At that point, I ran into a bus-driver friend who is also a reader. I asked him what he was reading and he recommended Driving Over Lemons. I usually plan my reading months ahead of time; but this time I bought it on impulse. What a treat. Totally laid back. Exciting but not sensationalist. Interesting but not preachy. A cast of genuinely quirky characters -- thankfully, not a "normal" one among them. And sheep, dogs, herbs, heat, flies. All bisected by a willful river. If you approach this book desiring anything more than something that is a simple pleasure to read, you're doing it a disservice. It certainly got my mind out of poetry long enough for me to regain my balance so I can now go back in fighting.

Not Provence or Tuscany either
Though Stewart's reporting of his experience as an ex-pat living on a rustic farm in Spain is serviceable and may be useful to someone planning a comparable adventure, the book never achieves the transporting quality of the best of this genre. I opened this book with great anticipation because of my previous happy trips to Provence with Peter Mayle and Tuscany with Frances Mayes. When I closed it (half-way through), I missed enjoying that delicious sense of having made a trip to a new place without leaving my own armchair.

On the Sunny Side of Life
As a teenager attending one of the most prestigious boarding schools in England, he played drums in the very first incarnation of the English rock band Genesis (Phil Collins was the fourth drummer). Chris Stewart has led a life many of us only dream of. One imagines Peter Gabriel being attracted to Stewart's optimism more than his drumming ability. Unlike drummer Pete Best of the Beatles, however, Stewart quit the band rather than waiting to get fired. He went on to become a sailor, sheep shearer, travel writer, marry an attractive (and understanding) woman, and father a beautiful girl. And now pen a bestselling book on rural life in southern Spain.

I was cautious upon purchasing this book, as I couldn't imagine yet another member of Genesis achieving artistic and commercial success. But there must have been some fairy dust sprinkled over those schoolboys from Charterhouse School long ago, because "Driving Over Lemons" is a thoroughly well written and enjoyable narrative. It deals with Stewart's pie-eyed zest for simple, earthy living, and his follies and foibles trying to make a go of farming in a foreign country. Stewart succeeds with this book because we can relate to his naivety, and the humor in his narrative is natural and understated. He writes with ease and affection about his Spanish neighbors, fellow expatriates, cats Brenda and Elfine, building bridges, and channeling irrigation ditches.

If you can't chuck it all for the agrarian life in rural Spain, like Chris, at least pick a sunny day, find a cozy hammock, and read his book. It's as close as most of us will ever get to being there.
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