audiobooks

For those of us who have dared to live the dream, there is Provence. But for those of us who need to let someone else do the heavy work, there is the insight and wit of Peter Mayle. After spending two months in Europe without an English book, I stumbled on this one by accident in a little shop in Avignon and read it cover to cover in four hours. Peter's tales of French life according to food, complaining, boules and his inability to complete the work on his home in a timely mannor left me laughing out loud for both the truth of it and his casual downhome ability to tell us about it. This is easily the best slice of life or fish out of water story that I've read since "'Round Ireland with a Fridge."

This book tells the story of the author's purchase of a large country home in the south of France. His experiences during the first year are recounted chronologically January through December. I have been aware of this book for a long time but did not get around to it until my own vacation to Provence.

Mayle's house is very large and has a significant plot of land around it which is farmed by a neighbor in exchange for a part of the crops (share cropper?) Mayle describes the usual colorful neighbors and workmen that are standard fare in such a book. All the old clichés are trotted out: the eccentric plumber, the tradesman who supervises his young assistant while he doesn't lift a finger, the psychotic antisocial neighbor with the ferocious dogs. There's an irritating passage where this neighbor is encountered hunting fox and a nonsensical recipe for fox stew is reproduced in its entirety! Hard working salt of the earth peasants type are duly described. There are assorted oddball visitors from back home coming unannounced and uninvited, mooching free hospitality to save hotel costs.

I found his telling strangely impersonal. He does not explain how he acquired the means to purchase such a house; it evidently cost a small fortune. Nor does he explain how he came to have a year at leisure. He apparently does no work during the entire year described. His activities seem to consist entirely of eating rich meals at Michelin-starred restaurants or supervising the slow and seemingly endless restoration of his new home. His wife is mentioned often but without ever once mentioning her name or her background. I couldn't even tell from the narrative if the writer was middle aged or a senior citizen.

I read this book during a trip to Provence to get a perspective that was different from tourist guidebooks. I was disappointed and felt I knew less about the region than I did after reading similar books by Frances Mayes and Eric Newby about Italy. Mayes self-centered perspective gives little insight into the region or it's people. I can't account for all the good reviews this book has received: mass hypnosis compounded by rampant me-tooism?

Fun AND FUNNY! It was like going on vacation... with someone else's money! :-)