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yanailedit's review
After reading a few snippets when I picked it up, my hopes were soaring high. Lee's opening few paragraphs describing Granada are one of the most poignant on the topic. Sadly, his landscape descrptions are the only redeeming quality of his narrative.
We get occasional glints of stunning prose, from inbetween the extravagant sexualiation of school girls and the treatment of women as though they're nothing more than the static decoration to his travels.
This slim travel novel will give you an idealized version of men's lives in Spain of the 50s through the eyes of someone who envies the culture of macho bravado. I doubt he loved Spain as much as he loved gallivating through Spain like one of the lads, invincible in their brotherhood and at the same time declaring himself innocent of their behaviour's implications because he's foreign. I cannot remember an example of a conversation with a woman for the entire book, even though every single male character is given a rhapsodic, almost biblical homage. Other than that, no attempt to understand the ways of life around him is shown.
In essence, it's a game of blending in and playing along. Our author openly revels in it and definitely doesn't skip any opportunity to either sing the praises of the "swaggering" machos with faces like a "gypsy's warning" or to lament how "today their claws are clipped and rhethoric their only weapon".
Beautiful writing. Heartbreaking and ocassionally disturbing message. Not sure why anyone has thought that describing schoolgirls as sexual is a-okay, provided it's done by a poet abroad.
We get occasional glints of stunning prose, from inbetween the extravagant sexualiation of school girls and the treatment of women as though they're nothing more than the static decoration to his travels.
This slim travel novel will give you an idealized version of men's lives in Spain of the 50s through the eyes of someone who envies the culture of macho bravado. I doubt he loved Spain as much as he loved gallivating through Spain like one of the lads, invincible in their brotherhood and at the same time declaring himself innocent of their behaviour's implications because he's foreign. I cannot remember an example of a conversation with a woman for the entire book, even though every single male character is given a rhapsodic, almost biblical homage. Other than that, no attempt to understand the ways of life around him is shown.
In essence, it's a game of blending in and playing along. Our author openly revels in it and definitely doesn't skip any opportunity to either sing the praises of the "swaggering" machos with faces like a "gypsy's warning" or to lament how "today their claws are clipped and rhethoric their only weapon".
Beautiful writing. Heartbreaking and ocassionally disturbing message. Not sure why anyone has thought that describing schoolgirls as sexual is a-okay, provided it's done by a poet abroad.
margaret21's review against another edition
4.0
I found this a painterly and evocative book. My knowledge of Spain is limited to the 21st century, and Catalonia, so very different from 1950s Andalucia. He takes us with him as he travels in leisurely fashion from Algeciras to Granada and back again in the warm winter season. He takes in the landscape, describes towns, communities and individuals who come alive thanks to his vivid way with words. It's a short book, but one to savour, perhaps particularly if you know this area. He's made me want to know it, though the barren landscapes and way of life must be long gone.
bookfrogglin's review
4.0
I have read books that have tried to paint a picture and fallen woefully flat. This isn't one of those.
eclectictales's review against another edition
3.0
I was approved of an ARC copy of this novel through NetGalley. This review in its entirety was originally posted at caffeinatedlife.net: http://www.caffeinatedlife.net/blog/2014/07/02/review-a-rose-for-winter/
What’s really interesting about Laurie Lee’s account is how it provides readers with a glimpse of the region during the Franco era (the book was first published in 1955). There’s not a whole lot of emphasis on the presence of Franco’s regime on daily life, although the consequences of the Civil War can still be felt amongst its population, such as the case of some of the poets Lee comes across who were associated with Federico Garcia Lorca once. There’s a sort of lost romanticism to his account; I can’t imagine anyone doing some of the things he did when he was in Spain during his youth (i.e. horsing around with a thief and a blind man in Algeciras).
Having said that, the book does start off rather dryly; it only started picking up in the second chapter when the author headed over to Seville. Sometimes his narrative gives a sense of place, other times it doesn’t. His observations nonetheless provide an interesting take of daily life in the places that he visits, the poverty that was rampant in the cities, the customs and festivals that the people partake in. The reader also learns a lot about the author along the way–who he is, how he came to Spain years before this volume, his music–that it’s not necessary to read his previous autobiographies to understand this book.
Overall, I liked A Rose for Winter enough. It wasn’t wholly engrossing as I thought it would be, but it was nonetheless informative, especially his Christmas in Granada and the ebbs and flows of daily life in the region. There’s a certain level of melancholy to his experiences in Spain that’s hard not to miss, and as a classic travelogue I’m glad I had the chance to read it.
What’s really interesting about Laurie Lee’s account is how it provides readers with a glimpse of the region during the Franco era (the book was first published in 1955). There’s not a whole lot of emphasis on the presence of Franco’s regime on daily life, although the consequences of the Civil War can still be felt amongst its population, such as the case of some of the poets Lee comes across who were associated with Federico Garcia Lorca once. There’s a sort of lost romanticism to his account; I can’t imagine anyone doing some of the things he did when he was in Spain during his youth (i.e. horsing around with a thief and a blind man in Algeciras).
Having said that, the book does start off rather dryly; it only started picking up in the second chapter when the author headed over to Seville. Sometimes his narrative gives a sense of place, other times it doesn’t. His observations nonetheless provide an interesting take of daily life in the places that he visits, the poverty that was rampant in the cities, the customs and festivals that the people partake in. The reader also learns a lot about the author along the way–who he is, how he came to Spain years before this volume, his music–that it’s not necessary to read his previous autobiographies to understand this book.
Overall, I liked A Rose for Winter enough. It wasn’t wholly engrossing as I thought it would be, but it was nonetheless informative, especially his Christmas in Granada and the ebbs and flows of daily life in the region. There’s a certain level of melancholy to his experiences in Spain that’s hard not to miss, and as a classic travelogue I’m glad I had the chance to read it.
mariadesousa's review
adventurous
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0