Words leave imprints in your mind like footprints in the sand...
2000s -A good beach read which acts as a really good guide around the island of Mallorca! Maybe not a guide of happy family living but that’s why fiction is good – its not real life! And you get to visit a place they nickname ‘Pigpen’
An American family goes for a two-week vacation to Mallorca.
They’re off to celebrate: Franny and Jim are observing their thirty-fifth wedding anniversary. Their daughter Sylvia, has just graduated from high school.
The sun, sand and sangria should therefore herald the perfect backdrop to the feel good factor within the family. However it soon becomes obvious that all is not well – for the family has carried more baggage to Mallorca than the suitcases containing their clothes. When this emotional baggage is unpacked bit by bit, well, stand back….
If Paradise can ever be described as a dysfunctional setting then this is the book that does it. A family of misfits talking and arguing amongst themselves makes you grateful your own life is not like that or even if it is, it’s almost probably not as bad.
The setting, despite its nickname of Pigpen and everything that conjures up, is idea for a vacation – even the drive up to the house is the perfect introduction to the island for the reader as much as it is for Jim –
Within the island of Mallorca, as the family try at least to have some sort of holiday, their visits to the supermarkets such as the grocery store in Palma reveals much of Spanish culture and cuisine –
Where the novel shines however, is the setting. The sense of the island of Mallorca is what captures the imagination and we can honestly say that we discovered a lot about the place that makes us want to visit – the mountains, the beaches, the villages with the usual names. The family have a day out in Deià – to visit the house of Robert Graves, the poet and writer of many novels such as I, Claudius. He was born in London to an Irish father and German mother and spent much of his married life in Deià, Mallorca until his death in 1985 –
Used as a guide to the island of Mallorca, this is a useful one!
Susan @thebooktrailer
This book is a booktrail classic in many ways as it is practically an informal guide to not only the island of Mallorca but the customs, food and weather of Spain as a whole.
I could taste the albóndigas as I read it -little meatballs swimming in tomato sauce; patatas bravas, fried potatoes of cream run back and forth over the top, pa amb oli, the Majorcan answer to Italy’s bruschetta.s
And just be pleased that you are not a member of the Post family. With highly dysfunctional families, it’s great to take such great characters that make your head spin, people that you get to know in ways you wish you hadn’t and people you’re just pleased that you are not on holiday with yourself.
Sit back on your deckchair or your armchair and enjoy your time with the vacationers.
