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Title: Pamplona: Running the Bulls, Bars and Barrios in Fiesta de San Fermin by Ray Mouton ISBN: 0-9721223-0-3 Publisher: Quinn Publishing Pub. Date: 01 September, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.94 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (10 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A Love Letter
Comment: Some come to Pamplona in early July and fall in love with a festival, the Festival of San Fermin. Some poor souls go away without San Fermin capturing their heart. Many arrange their lives around their return to the eight days of Fiesta. This book is almost a love letter to Fiesta.
I recognize the feeling. I have not missed a day for over 25 years. Although slower, I still run with the bulls at every opportunity.
Ray Mouton enthusiastically came the first time and now returns time after time. Mouton presents a mix of factual and personal comments, reminiscences, and anecdotes about some of his friends. Through a personal prism, this book provides a good way to understand the attachment that someone can come to have to an annual event.
Rating: 5
Summary: At Last! The Essence of Fiesta
Comment: I have been to the Fiesta of San Fermin every year since 1976. I studied and worked in the city, speak Spanish and know the place quite well. This is quite simply the best thing written on the fiesta of Pamplona in the English language since Mitchener put pen to paper. Why? There are three reasons.
It is accurate. Here you will find ancient history and modern day lore that is plainly written and true. Mouton has gone back to the historical sources and not relied on hearsay. Of course there are anecdotes about the lives of Americans known to him who have passed through fiesta, such as the legendary Philadelphia born bullfigher John Fulton. But in this book the City of Pamplona and its inhabitants are the stars of the show. He describes the Amercian influence as "a drop of Coca-Cola in a barrel of wine". Perfect.
It is beautifully written. The reader will find plain language but also subtle and moving prose poetry. He makes the whole experience come alive. Not just about the bullfight and the daily bull running but also the little things such as the booming of the drums and the way the dawn creeps up on the unsuspecting revellers. Page after page I smiled and thought.
" I wish I had written that".
It is superbly edited and designed. The photographs are world class.
My advice is simple. Don't buy a copy. Buy three. One for yourself, one for a friend who loves Spain and one for a friend who has never been.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Benchmark Has Been Set
Comment: "A Day in the Life of Fiesta" is another way to think of Mouton's account of the sometimes-overwhelming sensory experience of the Fiesta of San Fermin, a.k.a. the Running of the Bulls. The author's descriptive and literary talents allow one to vicariously experience both a day and the entire week of the infamous fiesta. It is perhaps cliché to say that Mouton has hit a home run or a bull's-eye with this book, but it is also highly accurate. I've attended fiesta many times over the past two decades and can confidently say that Mouton has brought this world-renowned fiesta to life with words - and as any veteran fiesta-goer will tell you, this is no easy accomplishment.
In reading this book you will come as close as possible to feeling the immense energy of fiesta, of smelling, tasting, dancing, hearing and rejoicing in the fiesta experience without actually being there. For veterans it will spark fiesta flashbacks and a longing to return. For potential fiesta goers it may just provide enough of a description to catalyze you into finally buying that plane ticket.
I first attended fiesta upon graduating college and those first few years were a blur of collegiate-style binging and revelry. Luckily I could remember enough about each year that I kept coming back. I had been infected with the fiesta spirit. In hindsight my only wish is that I had had a book like this one to read back then. What has taken so many years to learn and appreciate about the joys and beauty of fiesta would have been learned much faster with this account of and guide to the fiesta experience.
Most people who have attended fiesta will usually avoid trying to explain the experience to the potential traveler and will respond with "Just go and see for yourself. You will love it." At last there is an excellent piece of writing to do justice to the "what is it like?" question. Mouton's literary accomplishment is highly commendable. The benchmark has been set. Veteran fiesta goers will have many "ah-ha" moments as they read and potential newcomers now have a starting platform from which they can maximize their first fiesta experience.
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Title: Running with the Bulls: Fiestas, Corridas, Toreros, and An American's Adventure in Pamplona by Gary Gray ISBN: 1585744077 Publisher: The Lyons Press Pub. Date: 01 November, 2001 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: 100 Things to Do Before You Die: Travel Events You Just Can't Miss by Dave Freeman, Neil Teplica, Whatsgoingon.Com ISBN: 087833243X Publisher: Taylor Pub Pub. Date: October, 1999 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Run To The Sun - Pamplona's Fiesta de San Fermin by Jim Hollander, Inge Morath, Francisco Rivera Ordonez, Javier Solano, Joe Distler, David Pierce, Dennis Cole ISBN: 0972077804 Publisher: MasterArts Press LLC Pub. Date: 25 June, 2002 List Price(USD): $80.00 |
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Title: Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway ISBN: 0684800713 Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: 01 March, 1995 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: White Wall of Spain: The Mysteries of Andalusian Culture by Allen Josephs ISBN: 0813010136 Publisher: Univ of West Florida Pub. Date: October, 1990 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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