Book Review: Notes from a Very Small Island, Anthony Stancomb (4 coffee beans)
Map of Vis, a Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea
Author Anthony Stancomb provided me with a copy of his book, Notes from a Very Small Island, in exchange for a review. I doubt if I would have learned about this book on my own, so I’m grateful for the chance to read the story of Anthony and Ivana Stancomb’s move from England to the Croatian island of Vis in the Adriatic Sea.
I was fascinated early on by the back story of the move. Croatia has been at war with, or under the thumb of, a variety of governments throughout history. Ivana Stancomb is of Croatian descent and speaks the language. She and husband Anthony brought medical equipment to a rebel army that was fighting with almost no supplies. While the convoy was being ferried around the Adriatic, avoiding shelling, the couple spotted Vis and were struck by its natural beauty. They vowed to move there one day.
Several years later, the Stancombs chucked their life in Britain and made the move to Vis. The author was hampered not just by culture, but also by language, with his wife interpreting until he learned enough Croatian to manage on his own. The early trials and tribulations of making such a momentous move were fascinating, as was the history of Croatia’s many governments and their mismanagement of the country, and how these Brits learned to bend to the will of a corrupt and indifferent current government.
I found the early, large issues to be very interesting, but as the book continued, about halfway in, the topics got smaller and smaller. I admit to getting bored with the squabbles between the local villagers. Towards the end, the book picked up again with stories about trying to start a business under those difficult government regulations, and the pros and cons of joining the European Union. It was also a hoot to see British family friends move to Vis, and this time as an observer rather than a participant, watch these two new families struggle to fit in.
Notes from a Very Small Island is carried along by two voices. The first, of course, is the author, Anthony Stancomb, with his off-beat humor and sense of fun. The second voice, which begins most chapters, is that of Dario, a talk show jock, with amazingly sharp and snappy summations of local, national, and international issues. I found myself wishing I could hear his radio program, although I would certainly be hampered by not knowing a single word of Croatian.
Overall, I enjoyed this peek into a very different world, especially the occasional literary references.
Warning: Notes from a Very Small Island was not proofread well. My pet peeve in particular was the number of mashed-up words e.g., “bringingnations”; “goingshopping.” I also think there was some speech-to-text software in use because I found a few sound-alike errors (isles/aisles). Personally, I am such a fan of non-fiction, personal accounts, that I kept reading, pretending to myself that it was all the fault of English versus American linguistic differences.
