Outdated and no storyline.

As a Travelogue it is out of date to the modern reader. There were some interesting tidbits along the way but this book is not why most readers pick up a Michener book....To be carried away with a storyline that reveals history. This is an outdated observation list by a great author and reminds me of boring high school history classes taught in the 1970s. I love the authors other books and read this one too help me understand Spain because I am living in Spain for a couple of years and wanted to know if it's past and how it effects the present. With no storyline I was left with a list of events that took place and his opinion or his observation of someone else's opinion. Too much time needed to read it (listen) to be worthwhile in my opinion.

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Michener's Masterpiece

Michener's masterpiece takes the reader through an epic journey through Iberian history and experience. Iberia is a must read for any history enthusiast.

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Great history

Listened to this book before an 8-day trip to Spain. Helped a lot. Lots of great backstory on history of Spain.

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slow is an euphemism

read poorly it is also the worse Michener’s book I read. Slow and boring, the speaker adds to the dispear of the book.

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Disappointed

I love Michener and Larry McKeever but I was disappointed to discover Iberia was more a Travelogue of Spain. I wanted story lines and Michener characters.

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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.

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Monolithic

The book wasn't terrible, it was just dated overall. Some parts were great reflections on Spanish cities and countryside, other parts reported on Spanish life in the 50s and 60s. Those parts don't really stand the test of time. It would be an appropriate book for any student of Spain, European history, or Michener fan.

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4 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

A Travelog, not fiction

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Someone interested in travelling mid-20th century Spain

What do you think your next listen will be?

Anything else.

Which character – as performed by Larry McKeever – was your favorite?

There were no characters

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

No, it is completely dated and useless unless you time travel

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So so.

This is a travel journal from the mid-1960’s. Had a hard time relating to it as I wondered how different Spain must be today. Love Michener though and plan to give another go.

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Slow speaker had to turn it up to 2.0 for it to enter my faced paced brain

Book was superb. Speaker was slow. Had to speed it up in order to stay awake on the road

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