3.5 out of 5 stars

The publisher provided a copy of this, free of charge, in return for an honest review.

Normally memoirs follow a timeline of events in a person’s life, with some flashbacks to add context. However, this memoir is unlike any other memoir that I have read before. Instead, it is a collection of figments and fragments of memories written in short essays, poems and snippets of prose.

He recalls the memories from his childhood when his mother separated from his father. He moved in with his new stepdad and hated being there to begin with, but slowly he got used to it. There are stories of love lost and gained as he heads off with an on / off girlfriend to the place where every young couple is making out; the beach. He soon discovers that sand gets everywhere…

Forest fires are a common occurrence in the region. He notes that people either stop and stare at the flames in fear or are captivated by them. There are those that are moved to warn others and pass buckets of water in the vain hope of extinguishing the flames. I didn’t know this, but it is an ancient country; there are dolmens in the hills from thousands of years ago. They are near pine forests where men occasionally go to kill themselves.

There are some real gems in here. I particularly like what he did when taking photos of tourists who were full of self-entitlement. However, as much as this book is about him and his experiences, he manages to capture the essence of Catalonia in this short book. It is a region of Europe that isn’t quite Spain and isn’t quite France but has its own strong identity in the region that crosses the border. I liked the mix of pieces in here, the longer essays work well with the shorter prose. I did feel that I didn’t get to know the author that well in this book, I only got to see glimpses of him in this kaleidoscope of his life. Well worth reading though

 

Three Favourite Essays

A Woman’s Death

Scriptorium

A Rough Calligram of a Silhouette of my Town

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