Customer Reviews

Iberia

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

For my hundredth review, I wanted to describe a book that meant something very special to my husband and me. Although "Iberia" was originally published in 1968 (and spent the next seven months on the "New York Times" best seller list), we used it eleven years later to plan our first trip to Spain. It had not gone out-of-date. If it had aged at all, it was in Michener's less-than-balanced account of the Spanish Civil War (of course the same could be said of Hemingway).

"Iberia" is a massive, thousand-page love affair with Spain, part history, part travelogue, and part parador-and-tapa-bar guide. It is not 'merely' a tour guide to Spain, any more than Rebecca West's "Black Lamb and Grey Falcon" is 'merely' a tour guide to Yugoslavia. With the possible exception of his Pulitzer Prize winning "Tales of the South Pacific", I believe this to be Michener's finest work.

My opinion (or prejudice) is based on our unforgettable journey through Spain. Michener took us places we never would have found in the standard tourist guides. We pigged out in his tapa bars-"first comes the seafood--- the anchovies, eel, squid, octopus, herring, shrimp, salmon, five kinds of sardines, five kinds of fish; next come the boiled eggs, deviled eggs, egg salad, potato omelets cut in strips, vegetables, onions, salads; third are the cold meats in great variety, including meat balls, York ham, Serran ham, tripe, brains, liver in a variety of styles, beef, pork and veal; and finally the hot dishes..."

I booked us into many of the paradors that he recommended. Paradors are combination hotel-museums, which serve some of the best food in Spain---"Where practical, the paradors are housed in ancient buildings, such as old convents, monasteries, castles no longer in use, hospitals dating back to the age of the Catholic Kings, or inns in which Columbus may have slept."

In Merida, we stayed in a parador that is housed in the 500-year-old Convento de los Frailes de Jesus (Michener's personal favorite). Then there was the castle-parador, the parador that is built within the Alhambra, and the modern, ski-resort parador on the slopes of Monte Perdido. We stumbled across the last-mentioned resort while lost in the Pyrenees, and had it literally to ourselves (and one other couple), since the season was late spring.

My one regret is that we did not get to attend the ancient horse fair that follows Holy Week in Seville, and is so lovingly described in "Iberia." This fair dates back "two thousand years to the days when Romans came here to buy horses for their generals...If a man likes horses, this rough-and-ready market with no rules and little order would delight him. It is conducted under a blazing sun and has about it a strange and ancient quality. I have attended at three different times and found it difficult to believe that I was in the twentieth century..."

If you are planning a trip to Spain, book yourself into the paradors well in advance of your trip (at least a year in advance if you plan to visit during or immediately after Holy Week), try to attend Seville's ancient horse fair, and above all, buy and read Michener's "Iberia."

I just finished reading Michener's Iberia, and it's unlike any other book I've ever read -- unlike Michener's novels in that it doesn't follow a real plot, only a very tenuous outline of his travels in Spain; and unlike any other book I've ever read, really, in how he portrays the land he so obviously loves.

Michener sets out with a tale of his first sight of Spain and his first voyages through the impoverished rural lands in the 1930s. He then proceeds to examine Spain, bit by bit, starting with Extremadura in the Southwest and finishing up with a grand pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia. Every step of the way, he recounts his experiences in fresh prose, not so much concentrating on major tourist sights, though these are described, but the places, the festivals, and the events of his personal odyssey in Spain that demonstrate something about the land.

Michener describes many important festivals, like Pamplona's famous fería de San Fermin with its running of the bulls. He visits landmarks both well-known, like the Prado, and obscure, like the wildlife preserve at Las Marismas. Most interesting for me, he describes time and again his conversations with the Spanish, and he met a lot of them, from the poorest peasants to one President of Spain and a tertulia, a group of the nation's most distinguished intellectuals. It is in conveying a sense of the Spanish people that this book really shines.

I read this huge travelogue in preparation for a trip that will take me through Spain, and I was consistently impressed by Michener's ability to select anecdotes that demonstrate something important about the land. The further you read, the more convinced you will become that Michener is a brilliant man, able to perceive the things in Spain's art, in its cuisine, and in its music, that make it really spectacular. Only he could have written such a book, and he did it with obvious relish. The result is a brilliant portrait of Spain.

As an avid fan of Michener's fiction, I decided to pick this book up to see how Michener dealt with nonfiction. I can without hesitation say that Michener is at his best in this genre. "Iberia" is a stunning achievement of meticulous care and fascinating recounting of events.

His account of Spain, though dated now by thirty years, made me feel as if I were there travelling side by side with Michener. It is wonderfully detailed and always engaging. There are long sections that are just descriptions of art and architecture, and being the art philistine that I am, these became a bit tedious. Still, my appreciation of these passages came less from the art described than from the obvious passion with which Michener describes them...

This book is a must-read.

I borrowed this book when i was in vacationing in Austria this year and I found it very informative abound Spain even though I have not finished the book as of yet. I am a big Michener fan. It is very wide in scope. I recommend this book.

I rather like the un-Michener form of this personal travelogue. It's a fun break from his usual format. Moreover, you can tell throughout the book that he was profoundly moved by Spain. His observations at times have profound clarity and hs writing in parts soars to pinnacles of great beauty. However a certain arrogance and petulance also shine through. The most trying times are when he is expressing the very partisan views of the French historian Louis Bertrand. These tend towards the extreme pro-conquistador and anti-moorish who dismisses mesoamerican civilization out of hand and explains the origin of Spanish personality quirks (at least in stereotypes) as having come from the moors. I prefer a little more balance, and a bit more support if one does make sweeping statements. But I still found it to be an enjoyable glimpse into Franco-era Spain.

More than twenty years ago, James Michener's historically based novels Chesapeake, The Convenant, and Centennial provided the catalyst for a lifelong obsession with history as recorded in books; an obsession that quickly made ample room for non-fiction. As the spark for this terminal appetite, Michener continues to possess sentimental value though I've long ago completed his impressive list of novels. Iberia, a non-fictional piece of travel writing, had long sat upon my shelf awaiting the day that some stimulus would prompt me towards an in-depth view of Spain. When the moment arrived, I wasn't quite sure what to expect.

Iberia was written in the mid-60's and is, in truth, an amalgamation of Michener's myriad trips to the region beginning in 1936. It is evident throughout that Michener was deeply in love with Spain. It is also evident that the scope of his intellect was profound. There isn't a facet of Spanish life - it's government, history, architecture, customs, cuisine, and geography - of which James Michener wasn't intimately aware. His ability to converse effectively on such a wide range of topics is beyond commendable, even if his opinions, on occasion, may grate.

If there's a downside to Iberia it's Michener's fixation with architecture. I, for one, do not enjoy detailed architectural description without accompanying photography or drawings. One can only absorb so many arches, statues, transepts, apses, bastions, crenelations, cloisters, etc. without a picture to look at. Another minor, though memorable, disappointment is Michener's defense of bullfighting. Yes, yes, bullfighting IS Spain, an art form, a tradition, but tormenting an animal to death played better 40 years ago than it does today.

At nearly 800 pages, Iberia is an abundance of finely crafted detail. It is beyond question worth the investment in time, though beyond question a dated look at a fascinating peninsula perched between the Old World and the New.

Michener is known for sweeping novels that capture a place throughout time (Hawaii, The Source) but "Iberia" is a travelogue and personal reminiscence, not a novel. I found his description of Pamplona interesting; I visited Pamplona in 1999, but his book dates back from the 30's to the 60's. Still, much is the same and his rant on the cathedral in that city is a worthy critique of architecture. The black and white photos illustrating the text are evocative. If you like opinionated travelogues such as written by Paul Theroux, you will probably like "Iberia."

Bought this book for reading while on a recent trip to spain. Ive lived there on and off for a long time, and was hoping that Michener would paint a picture that would add to my trip, and my love of the area.

Warning- this is NOT a typical michener book. This is a personal travelogue, and has nothing to do with the other novels we all love- Chesepeake, Alaska, etc. As a travelogue, it shows Michener not as the compassionate individual we would all come to expect, but as a whiny, sexist, individual I would NEVER want to have dinner with, let along travel in Spain with.

This book mostly features Michener whining about how Spain does not live up to his mythical image of what it should be. He complains that the flamenco is not genuine enough. That the mosques are despoiled. The only way this book is interesting is as a period piece- not about spain, but about american paternalistic, patronizing, and generally obnoxious attitudes when it was written.

I was hoping this book would make me love spain more deeply, and become more interested in Michener as an individual. It did the exact oppostite. Luckily I know enough about spain to see through it. If you do want a book to make you love Spain, and with a genuine warmth for the people who live there, I like "For Whom the Bell Tolls" by Hemmingway.

Written over a period of 30 years, this is really a timeless piece of work about how Spain shaped Michener, the young man and later, the successful writer. Of course, other writers and artists have also influenced by Spain, such as Earnest Hemmingway and Orson Wells. But few books about Spain provide a deeper understanding and appreciation of the country's history, under Islam and Christiandom, as well as it political and modern day pace of life.

A massive and informative book that I recommend to anyone who wants to travel in Spain or study its culture. The writer's vast knowledge on Spain is told in an interesting manner which includes conversations with Spaniards of all backgrounds. He covers everything from Spanish art to betting on soccer matches.