Iberia

De: James A. Michener

Narrado por: Larry McKeever

“Massive, beautiful . . . unquestionably some of the best writing on Spain [and] the best that Mr. Michener has ever done on any subject.”—The Wall Street Journal

Spain is an immemorial land like no other, one that James A. Michener, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author and celebrated citizen of the world, came to love as his own. Iberia is Michener’s enduring nonfiction tribute to his cherished second home. In the fresh and vivid prose that is his trademark, he not only reveals the celebrated history of bullfighters and warrior kings, painters and processions, cathedrals and olive orchards, he also shares the intimate, often hidden country he came to know, where the congeniality of living souls is thrust against the dark weight of history. Wild, contradictory, passionately beautiful, this is Spain as experienced by a master writer.

Reseñas de la Crítica

“From the glories of the Prado to the loneliest stone villages, here is Spain, castle of old dreams and new realities.”—The New York Times

“A dazzling panorama . . . one of the richest and most satisfying books about Spain in living memory.”—Saturday Review

“Kaleidoscopic . . . This book will make you fall in love with Spain.”—The Houston Post

Informative and Enjoyable

I listened to this in prep for vacation to Spain, Andalucia and Madrid. It was worth the time, and I gained a better understanding of many parts of Spain I didn’t know anything about. Loved the section about the Prado! And I enjoyed that it was his own personal story!

Stilted delivery, truly dated content

What did you like best about Iberia? What did you like least?

I read other books by Michener long ago (_Hawaii_ is the only one I can recall) and thought his mode of really digging into a locale's formation and development was really interesting and engaging. I'm going to Spain and thought Michener's approach might inform our trip. I've never _listened_ to one of his books but audio often works for me for dry content. Here, though, the narrator sounds like he is reading and it's distracting. Also the time frame in which the work is set starts after WWII and the material does not age well. "A woman's slip, four dollars in America" is a sample (slightly paraphrased) statement. It's jarring. As to insight into what the culture of Spain is like _now_, I have zero confidence I'd find it in this book. I've listened to the first chapter and have no interest in continuing on.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Something more interesting and relevant, I fervently hope. I'll probably go back to fiction.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

He had an old fashioned sound to his voice, if that makes sense. Maybe it was his accent or his style of reading. It was ponderous.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Nope.

Any additional comments?

It's the author's (and the narrator's) job to pull me in and pull me along. I am no longer interested or willing to work hard at extracting content from a book. I'm not a philistine, but there are millions of books out there, and I only have so much time.

Old ways of Spain

This book gives you a view of Spain and the way it used be 60 years ago. It is a great description of the old ways and maybe still new ways of this beautiful country. However, I should have read how old it was before I bought it.

Great read!

James Michener is always a great joy to read and Larry McKeever does a wonderful narration!

Too much insignificant detail.

Struggled to finish. Way too much uninteresting detail. Worst of the authors books that I have listened to.