Post University, Jason Webster has little idea of what he wants to do, other than discover Spain and immerse himself in flamenco. He succeeds in doing this, meeting some unlikely characters on the way, and becoming involved in illegal and dangerous activity too. I found Webster and his obsessive pursuit of flamenco hard to identify with, but this very obsessiveness means that the book from time to time conjures up vivid pictures of Spain and the Spanish.

I'm not going to try very hard to find any more books by Webster. ( )

This is not Webster's best work about Spain, but the story is good and his vivid descriptions manage to capture the magic of the country that continues to draw outsiders into its grasp. ( )

I felt really disappointed with this book. I don’t know why exactly I didn’t connect with the characters or the writing, I tried, I love music the enjoy music and dancing in the book but it doesn’t move you, you don’t merge in Jason's world. ( )

This is a coming-of-age tale about a young man going to Spain after university to discover himself through flamenco. Webster, in this his first book, tells of the two years he spent in Spain, drawn there by the passion and freedom of flamenco. He is looking for that indefinable 'duende', the heady mix of emotion, pathos and truth that all the very best flamenco music has. He wants his soul to be touched and to understand the how and the why. From day one he is an oddity, a blond Englishman amongst dark Spaniards, and he wants to learn to play flamenco guitar. Driven by an unrelenting teacher, slowly with aching wrists and bleeding fingers he learns the rhythms and palos. He stumbles from one crisis to another, from Alicante to Madrid and then Granada, playing guitar so much he finally has the stooped shoulders of the guitarists he admired on his arrival in Spain. He falls in love, falls in with gypsies, and sees the dark side of Madrid, but still he feels an outsider - not a Spaniard, not a gypsy, nor a true flamenco artist. It is an honest tale told unselfconsciously, he bares his emotions, shares his mistakes and his glee at the small triumphs. Finally, he discovers what 'duende' means to him.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/ ( )

Having recently moved to Spain, I'd bumped this up my TBR pile. Duende is the author's move to Spain in search of 'Duende', a hard to define concept at the heart of Flamenco.

He arrives in Alicante, where he has a contact, Pedro, and between learning Spanish and finding work he looks for a flamenco guitar teacher. At his school he meets sultry, but sulky, Lola, the boss' wife, who dances flamenco with a group of friends. She introduces him to this group, Jason has found his way in.

This could be read as a travelogue of Spain, a certain part of Spain, the one connected with flamenco. Jason moves between 3 regions: Alicante, the popular sun-seekers' destination, one of Madrid's gypsy communities and Andalusia, the homeland of the poet and flamenco aficionado Lorca.

It could also be seen as a coming of age book, though Jason is not a child when the book starts. Having finished university, he is offered the opportunity to stay in academia, but, with a broken-off relationship behind him, and a thirst for something new, he goes in search of flamenco and adventure. He makes a new life for himself, many mistakes as well, but without these mistakes, how can you grow up? By the end of the book, he has made it through the other side, and is ready to settle down.

I did enjoy the book, the not as much as Andalus, though probably because the latter had a more interesting topic to me. Flamenco is the glue that binds the narrative together, brings people closer, and Webster does manage to show us this world, a world which is often only glimpsed at by 'guiris' at tourist shows. The quest for 'duende' was also fascinating, how can you describe such a personal feeling. Each culture has some words that are concepts which can only be described by long-winded phrases in another tongue, like 'Saudade' and 'Cozy'.

This book is for people interested in Spain and want to see another side of it, or for people who enjoy travelogues. ( )