The Green Season

By: Robert Isenberg

Narrated by: Robert Isenberg

A dynamic collection of essays and reportage, The Green Season illustrates daily life in Costa Rica, a tiny Central American nation dedicated to peace and teeming with tropical life. With his trademark humor and observation, Robert Isenberg describes the people, culture, and biodiversity that make Costa Rica so unique, from a centuries-old indigenous ceremony to a remote jungle crisscrossed by crocodile-filled canals. Isenberg explores the country head-on, fighting his way through San Jose traffic, mingling with venomous snakes, and even making a cameo in an epic soccer film at the height of World Cup fever. Richly detailed and tenderly written, The Green Season is one expat's love letter to his adoptive homeland.

©2015 Robert Isenberg (P)2016 Robert Isenberg

Slice of life!

I bought this to listen to before a trip to Costa Rica in a few months and I think it was worth the time and money. It's not a guide book, or a tour prep, or anything like that but it did kind of serve that up. It's a collection of vignettes from a US man and moving to CR and his experiences after making the move. He lets you in on his work as a writer for the Tico Times, touches on a few social and political topics, allows you to vicariously visit places you might not see on a quick vacation. A little history, a little cultural information, a little weather primer, it's a little bit of Costa Rica to experience before you get there. I enjoyed it.

Great intro to a country, really unlikeable author

My wife and I like to read or listen to a book about the country we are about to visit. This book was everything we were looking for. It gives you a taste of what influences the country and culture. The author talks about different regions and events. I felt like it was a great introduction to a people and culture which can be very different from the United States.

That said, the book is told from the view of the author. This means that reading the book requires you to spend time with a whiny, pretentious squish. This guy talks down about tourists as if he isn't one. He discusses the locals as quaint and cute. He really only takes himself seriously and spends a good amount of the book doing so.