- Paperback: 224 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; Open market ed edition (26 July 2001)
- Language German
- ISBN-10: 0140283730
- ISBN-13: 978-0140283730
- Product Dimensions: 17.6 x 11 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,151,545 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
Peter Mayle's account of his escape from the grey skies of London to the infinitely more appealing prospect of Menerbes in Provence. It has now been made into a BBC TV series starting early 1993 with John Thaw and Lyndsay Duncan.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
THE YEAR BEGAN with lunch. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
THE YEAR BEGAN with lunch. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A blissful life-style and the complications that creating one brings, is explained in this short book. The way French countryside is presented is beautiful.
6 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A Year in Provence ought to be subtitled "Mr Mayle's Well-Padded Diary". Its 12 monthly chapters focus on the renovation of an old house. The book's Big Question is, "Will the work be finished by Christmas?" Why shouldn't it be finished? Mayle's builders had only the universal fault of not coming when they said they would. They did not rip him off, leave him with "cowboy" problems to sort out or behave badly. In the end, they do finish the house (of course) and they club together to present the author with a huge antique stone planter as a farewell gift.
Too much builder's bottom is as unappealing a sight in Provence as it is in Pontefract, so Mayle gives his readers a welcome break by talking about food and wine - and taking them shopping for the same. Then, as his year rolls on, he visits various places around and about and observes different social customs and behaviour. Tourists - French (ie, Parisian), German and English - are mocked and used to contrast his idyllic part of Provence with other places that are swamped and irretrievably spoiled by them.
For Mayle, the most interesting people in his universe are local characters - including, of course, those builders. They are dealt with gently and uncritically. His dealings with his neighbours are good and they are also seen as "good" people. This, of course, is the key to paradise for any English reader! Mayle claims that he really does have good, genuine neighbours - but careful reading shows that he doesn't actually see them very often...
There are obligatory comments on the state of French lavatories (foul and really Turkish!) and French driving habits (universally aggressively bad except after a good meal and a bottle or two). For serious seekers-after-information - would-be expats, for example - there's some warning stuff about dealing with French bureaucracy.
I found A Year in Provence contrived and superficial. Death gets a "passing" mention and burglary is referred to as a problem but is never seen to be one. Apart from that, everyone seems to be living in a demi-paradise of bonhomie, fuelled by excellent food, refreshed by superb - and cheap - wine, untroubled by unemployment, poor public services, old age, illness, loneliness, poverty, etc, etc. In fact, having read the book, I can easily imagine Your Average Middle-Class Man on the Clapham Omnibus putting down his copy, turning to his "missus", and saying, "Sounds just the place for us, Cherie..."
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
162 reviews
71 of 75 people found the following review helpful
Like vacationing in the South of France . . .
28 April 2000
Format:Paperback
When I was a sophomore in college, I spent a semester in Aix-en-Provence, France. While I was there I discovered that many of my fellow classmates had read "A Year in Provence" and were captivated by Mayle's account. Once I returned to the US, my parents bought it for me and I devoured it quickly. I loved this book -- and since I spent some time in Provence, I could relate to the various characters and adventures that Mr. Mayle writes about. His talent is definitely in the writing -- you certainly feel as if you are in Provence with him, searching out truffles or lamenting over his stone dining room table. I read this book (as well as its sequel, "Toujours Provence") over and over again, whenever I want to reminisce about the four months I spent abroad, or just for a few quick laughs. It truly is like taking a vacation, and taking a peek into Peter Mayle's charming quaint Provencal life. I highly recommend this book to anyone . . . and I promise that you will want to visit the South of France immediately!
38 of 39 people found the following review helpful
a Charming Divertissement
20 Jun 2000
Format:Hardcover
I generally abhor travelogues, but this defies the genre and isn't really a travelogue per-se anyway. It describes a destination rather than a journey. Mayle and his wife arrive in Provence with full expectations of living la dolce vita and end up embroiled in a series of catastrophes that require them to reshape their entire characters and perform some serious attitude-adjusting. The English, like their American cousins, are accustomed to time and labor operating at peak efficiency. When someone tells us a job will be done in two weeks, we expect it done in 10 days. When we listen to weather reports, we want to know how long a particular pattern will last. We don't want to be told, "Maybe two days, maybe two weeks, maybe two months." As Mayle reports, things are done a bit differently in Provence. Time operates in a different dimension. If time is even considered, it is contemplated in terms of seasons, rather than hours, days, or weeks.
Mayle's (and his wife's) adaptation to the Provencal lifestyle is sometimes painful, other times poignant and telling, but almost always extremely funny. He is a born raconteur, a master of the amusing anecdote, expert at rendering a farcical tableau.
The cast of characters of A Year in Provence are priceless. He describes them vividly and each lends color to the overall impression of les Provencals that we eventually come away with. Mayle pokes gentle fun at them and obviously has warm feelings towards them, even his fox-eating neighbor, Massot. Every inhabitant of the region has a strong opinion on a variety of subjects, and these opinions are often at odds with those of their neighbors. About the only thing everyone agrees on is the importance of food. Mayle's decsriptions of his gastronomical forays are rendered so vividly that I have started combing the supermarket here in Pinehurst for ingredients (pale imitations for the most part, sadly).
I was fortunate to find the unabridged tape of this book at my library. David Case did a great job at rendering the English disposition slowly succombing to the pace and timbre of Provencal life. Mayle is great company. I look forward to hearing more from him.
41 of 43 people found the following review helpful
Read it and see for yourself!
24 April 2000
Format:Paperback
A French national, 4th generation "provençale" (from Provence), I couldn't help being both surprised and annoyed by the controversy around Peter Mayle's book. I loved his work and so did my whole family, still living in Provence. We found it refreshing to see our little world seen through a British eye, and got a real kick out of all the anecdotes. My (American) husband along with his parents read the book as well before discovering Provence and my family for the first time and enjoyed it tremendously.My advice to you, potential reader: do not pay attention to negative comments about this book. Read it and make your OWN opinion. You may love it or not.And if you end up touring in Provence, you're in for an unforgettable experience, especially if you avoid Summer months (Anyway the light in September is THE best), and if you get to know locals. This is better than any guide book. it is Provence from within... Enjoy!
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