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The Olive Harvest (CD): A Memoir of Life, Love and Olive Oil in the South of France | 
 enlarge | Author: Carol Drinkwater
Publisher: Orion
Category: Book
Buy New: £24.40
New (3) Used (1) from £15.00
Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 686136
Format: Audiobook, Cd
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Items: 5
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 5.4 x 5 x 1
ISBN: 0752867741
Dewey Decimal Number: 910
EAN: 9780752867748
ASIN: 0752867741
Publication Date: October 21, 2004
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 don't give up the acting October 23, 2008
Elsey (UK)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
How I managed to finish this book is quite puzzling. I kept hoping that something of substance would appear within its pages but unfortunately it never did. Bland with many cliches and written in an old fashioned and annoying style. Perhaps one should always be wary of an actor turned author just like a spice girl turned author, famous for something else but the publishers get a head start with all their marketing. Not recommended unless one wants to start growing an olive grove, in which case it has a few do's and don'ts.
A bit of a muddle October 13, 2008
Joshua J Dog (Northumberland)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I feel terrible writing this as someone who grew up with and loved All Creatures Great and Small, because I am sorry to say that this book should never have found its way into print in its current state. I should add that I have just read the hardback edition for our bookclub, so some of the hilariously glaring errors may have been tightened up a little. Bees are not, for example, "furry anthropods". Anthropod is a word that Carol made up herself, probably meaning arthropod, but which conjures up a really quite bizarre image in my mind -- bees with little human legs? How cool would that be?! Bees are described in three different ways within a page, yet each word is invariably prefixed by the word "furry". How could the editor let this, and the many other instances of "creative-writing-evening-class" style, go unchecked?
Carol is not averse to conjuring up some bizarre comparisons (when did you last immediately have the image of otters swimming through liquid metal when looking at a stream?). The book is littered with these slightly bizarre "called to mind" moments.
Carol seems to live in a world where people speak in really quite a florid and unnatural way -- I can't believe that the conversations are reported as they happened most of the time. Perhaps I'll run into Carol in a Mougins cafe one day -- it'd be interesting to see how she comes over in person, or whether she really talks the way she writes conversation (and how I imagine it sounds) -- RP and stilted like a 1940s British movie!
Another rather irritating feature is Carol's insistence that we need the odd French word slipped into the narrative... along the lines of we were preparing our petit dejeuner, when in fact I would personally have been happy enough to know that it was breakfast being prepared. If pushed, I probably could have done without knowing that interesting fact! However, mixing of languages in this sense doesn't add to the flow of the narrative.
Carol also enjoys slipping in "facts" every so often to bolster the story line. I wouldn't like to swear that these are always 100% accurate. I also found them slightly patronising in some places. Again -- a break in the narrative flow that was not always welcome.
Some parts of the book (the trip to the Camargue) are dull to the point of tears and characters are introduced who seem pointless and do not engage. I think that it reads like a diary that has been quickly knocked together to add an extra chapter.
On top of all that she is trying to fit into a "rural" French commununity (I know the area around Opio very well, in fact from the description I can probably guess that she lives in the Grasse, Maganosc area), which is actually fairly upwardly mobile, close to Cannes and Nice. I can't help but feel that the whole "rural struggling to make ends meet" aspect is being played up a little. She is actually sitting on a hugely valuable piece of real estate in the middle of, if not a millionaires play ground, then certainly a rich persons playground. Therefore interesting aspects of how traditional French life in the Alpes Maritimes has been squeezed and compromised by the influx of rich foreigners and urban growth are not really covered in a sensible way. Wild boar penetrate the region deeply, and have to be controlled in areas where protected olive trees are planted (and in that area you are in big trouble if you root up an olive tree). She wears her anti-hunting/sanctity of life feelings on her sleeve yet goes into a description of a beef sausage in the Camargue. I would ask her to describe how exactly the beef sausage was made without an animal being harmed in the process!
Finally, and again I do feel like I am kicking a puppy here, Carol does not come across at all sympathetically. She is a bundle of neuroses which she is disarmingly honest about, however the book reads like its been written for therapy. She simpers and flits her way from crisis to crisis. She appears to be so chaotic in her approach to living and writing that I find it difficult to believe in her as a reliable narrator. We never really understand whether Michel leaves her because of a character change following a head injury or whether he just couldn't stand being around her for a moment longer!
A year in Carol's life is dissected in spectacular detail, yet the potentially more interesting second year when Michel returns is skimmed over in a matter of pages at the end. Somewhat rushed given the pace of the book to that point -- publishers deadline perhaps? Overall, I'm afraid that this book has contractual obligations and publisher deadline written all over it. I am not tempted to read the previous books by Carol, but know that they are liked and well-reviewed.... just not for me.
Designer? I don't think so. June 11, 2008
Christine Housley (spain)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
I too bought all three of Carols books, not for myself, but my husband. He berates me for reading fiction but in the case of the Olive trilogy I think the line is somewhat blurred. It's a case of been there (Spain though, not France),done that (350 olives, 100 citrus, and 50 stone fruit)got the T-shirt (in this case I think, less designer, more, Made in Taiwan)
Where's the fun, the sometimes hilarious mistakes, the essential enjoyment of living a new life. I found all three of the books depressing, what a miserable life, constantly broke and unhappy,
The inaccuracies I'll forgive, some were corrected in the last book, but some of what I read just didn't ring true. Sorry Carol.
 Discovering olives! September 20, 2007
Amandla, Jo'burg (south africa)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I am just discovering these books. I started with The Olive Route which I thought was terrific and then I read this one. She writes so well that I feel as though I am there with her, sharing her stories, living the adventures. I can feel the Mediterranean from her descriptions and I thought this one was so sensitive too
 Oh dear rather boring Carol! July 12, 2007
Lotman46 (Lot, Southwest France)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
When we moved to France a while back, I purchased a number of books including The Olive Farm, Olive Season and the last The olive Harvest.My past remarks on previous books remain. As a common thread throughout all three books written by Ms Drinkwater they become Fragmented,boring and at times very annoying.The issue of the Car accident was never resolved in the book...Did Carol and Michel press charges? True there are parts which I personally found interesting with regards to different aspects of Southern french life style. The worst is her inapt ability to handle her emotions with husband Michel. As a reader I felt he moved to Paris to avoid her overkill reactions to his wellbeing!! At times I felt I wanted to shake her and tell her to get a life! Sorry to labour the point but frankly I rated this book 2. There are far better personal story books about living in France. Sorry Carol!
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