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Promenade of Desire: A Barcelona Memoir
Maria Isidra is a proper Catholic girl raised in 1960s Spain by a strong matriarch during a repressive dictatorship. Early sexual trauma and a hefty dose of fear keep her in line for much of her childhood, but also lead her to live a double life. In her home, there is no discussing the needs of her growing body. In the street, kissing in public is forbidden.
Upon the dictator's death in 1975, Spain bursts wide open, giving way to democracy and a cultural revolution. Barcelona's vibrant downtown and its new freedoms seduce Maria Isidra. She dives into a world of activism, communal living, literature, counterculture, open sexuality, and alcohol.
And yet she knows something is missing. Longing to reconnect with her body--from which she has felt estranged since childhood--she finds a surprising home in a rundown salsa club, where the lush rhythm sparks a deep wave of healing. Transformed, she sets off on a series of sexual and romantic misadventures, in search for what she has always found painfully elusive: true intimacy.
Promenade of Desire is a rich journey into the life of a woman once contained, who finds a way to set herself free.
Upon the dictator's death in 1975, Spain bursts wide open, giving way to democracy and a cultural revolution. Barcelona's vibrant downtown and its new freedoms seduce Maria Isidra. She dives into a world of activism, communal living, literature, counterculture, open sexuality, and alcohol.
And yet she knows something is missing. Longing to reconnect with her body--from which she has felt estranged since childhood--she finds a surprising home in a rundown salsa club, where the lush rhythm sparks a deep wave of healing. Transformed, she sets off on a series of sexual and romantic misadventures, in search for what she has always found painfully elusive: true intimacy.
Promenade of Desire is a rich journey into the life of a woman once contained, who finds a way to set herself free.
- GenresMemoir
304 pages, Paperback
First published October 11, 2022
About the author
Isidra Mencos
3 books36 followersI was born and raised in Barcelona. In my twenties I experimented with the new freedoms afforded by the end of Franco’s dictatorship while immersing myself in books and salsa dancing. I also freelanced for publishing houses, traveled the world as a tour leader, and worked for the Olympic Committee.
In 1992 I moved to the US to earn a PhD in Spanish and Latin American contemporary literature at UC Berkeley, where I taught for twelve years. I also worked as a writer and editor for Spanish-speaking media and did a ten-year stint in the corporate world as Editorial Director of the Americas for BabyCenter, the leading global digital resource for parents. In 2016 I quit my job to dedicate myself to writing.
Since then, my essays have been published in literary journals like Diálogo, Chicago Quarterly Review, The Penmen Review, Newfound, The Manifest-Station and Front Porch Journal. My piece “My Books and I” was listed as Notable in the Best American Essays Anthology. My work has also appeared in widely read online publications like The Huffington Post, Wisdom Well, WIRED, Jane Friedman’s Blog, and Better After Fifty.
Today I live in Northern California with my husband and son. Promenade of Desire is my debut memoir.
In 1992 I moved to the US to earn a PhD in Spanish and Latin American contemporary literature at UC Berkeley, where I taught for twelve years. I also worked as a writer and editor for Spanish-speaking media and did a ten-year stint in the corporate world as Editorial Director of the Americas for BabyCenter, the leading global digital resource for parents. In 2016 I quit my job to dedicate myself to writing.
Since then, my essays have been published in literary journals like Diálogo, Chicago Quarterly Review, The Penmen Review, Newfound, The Manifest-Station and Front Porch Journal. My piece “My Books and I” was listed as Notable in the Best American Essays Anthology. My work has also appeared in widely read online publications like The Huffington Post, Wisdom Well, WIRED, Jane Friedman’s Blog, and Better After Fifty.
Today I live in Northern California with my husband and son. Promenade of Desire is my debut memoir.
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December 8, 2022
[This review was first published under the title "Promenade of multitudes" in Catalonia Today magazine, Dec. 2022.]
A really good book is a universe away from its marketing. One vibrant new piece of nonfiction, “Promenade of Desire, A Barcelona Memoir” is being promoted as “a sensual coming of age story: From Catholic virgin to Mata Hari as Spain moves from dictatorship to democracy.”
All true enough, but as well as getting a grip on the massive changes in Barcelona from the 1960s until just after the Olympic games in the early 1990s, the author Isidra Mencos charts a deeply internal arc.
Apart from the apparent honesty, what I like most about this raw account of an individualist's first few three decades is the richness of self-discovery it contains. The author’s sexual desire is undeniable but so is her lust for experience itself. With an equally powerful bravery, she plunges into a subculture of horny squatters, for a while, finding herself most at home with the homeless. We also witness other improvised or adapting versions of her: as an uncertain teenager and then young adult, still racked with a punishing guilt.
Born to an affluent, emotionally-cold lawyer family (from the city’s high up Sant Gervasi-Bonanova area) who slowly fell on hard economic times, Mencos tellingly relates how her closest childhood at home was with their housekeeper/childminder/cook. Quica, a semi-literate Andalusian woman who'd lost a husband and ten of her fourteen children during their infancy, was an anchor for the inquisitive young girl even during night-time bad dreams. Mencos’ pure affection for this kind of person (who makes it possible for the rich to live like the rich) is touching. It’s a clear sign that she transcended at least a snobbery of neglect. The words, ”I bawled at her death as I had not done for my lost grandparents,” poignantly ends one section in the book.
Looking at wider themes, identity is a major one. The author puts herself in the category of a “good girl,” even a “girlie girl” with “a quiet demeanor that dissolved with the ice cubes at the bottom of [her] second drink. Out came a fearless woman who declared her literary opinions with confidence and subjugated a man with a swing of her hips.”
In fact, alcohol became a major problem for her and some of the men who were her live-in lovers. Violence and abuse followed. The details are harrowing but also somehow instructive and a kind of balance comes in the shape of a new half-American half-Japanese female friend. “A role model for me because I still lived at half speed, with a split personality,” writes Mencos.
As Barcelona remodeled and replenished itself for the 1982 Olympics, the author herself was doing something similar as a part-time translator of articles for the official games committee. Then she set a routine for passing TOEFL and SAT exams so she could do a PhD in the USA.
Ultimately, she is healed: by herself, by quality therapies, probably too by discovering a genuine, transporting passion for the “unique vocabulary and no fears, no confusion” of salsa music and dance. Here, we see a Barcelona that would've even been foreign to many locals, an immigrant/latin underworld of afflicted aficionados and slaves to a beat that was new to these European shores.
One of the great quality of this book is that we also see a person who is now unafraid of so much she had been.
A really good book is a universe away from its marketing. One vibrant new piece of nonfiction, “Promenade of Desire, A Barcelona Memoir” is being promoted as “a sensual coming of age story: From Catholic virgin to Mata Hari as Spain moves from dictatorship to democracy.”
All true enough, but as well as getting a grip on the massive changes in Barcelona from the 1960s until just after the Olympic games in the early 1990s, the author Isidra Mencos charts a deeply internal arc.
Apart from the apparent honesty, what I like most about this raw account of an individualist's first few three decades is the richness of self-discovery it contains. The author’s sexual desire is undeniable but so is her lust for experience itself. With an equally powerful bravery, she plunges into a subculture of horny squatters, for a while, finding herself most at home with the homeless. We also witness other improvised or adapting versions of her: as an uncertain teenager and then young adult, still racked with a punishing guilt.
Born to an affluent, emotionally-cold lawyer family (from the city’s high up Sant Gervasi-Bonanova area) who slowly fell on hard economic times, Mencos tellingly relates how her closest childhood at home was with their housekeeper/childminder/cook. Quica, a semi-literate Andalusian woman who'd lost a husband and ten of her fourteen children during their infancy, was an anchor for the inquisitive young girl even during night-time bad dreams. Mencos’ pure affection for this kind of person (who makes it possible for the rich to live like the rich) is touching. It’s a clear sign that she transcended at least a snobbery of neglect. The words, ”I bawled at her death as I had not done for my lost grandparents,” poignantly ends one section in the book.
Looking at wider themes, identity is a major one. The author puts herself in the category of a “good girl,” even a “girlie girl” with “a quiet demeanor that dissolved with the ice cubes at the bottom of [her] second drink. Out came a fearless woman who declared her literary opinions with confidence and subjugated a man with a swing of her hips.”
In fact, alcohol became a major problem for her and some of the men who were her live-in lovers. Violence and abuse followed. The details are harrowing but also somehow instructive and a kind of balance comes in the shape of a new half-American half-Japanese female friend. “A role model for me because I still lived at half speed, with a split personality,” writes Mencos.
As Barcelona remodeled and replenished itself for the 1982 Olympics, the author herself was doing something similar as a part-time translator of articles for the official games committee. Then she set a routine for passing TOEFL and SAT exams so she could do a PhD in the USA.
Ultimately, she is healed: by herself, by quality therapies, probably too by discovering a genuine, transporting passion for the “unique vocabulary and no fears, no confusion” of salsa music and dance. Here, we see a Barcelona that would've even been foreign to many locals, an immigrant/latin underworld of afflicted aficionados and slaves to a beat that was new to these European shores.
One of the great quality of this book is that we also see a person who is now unafraid of so much she had been.
May 8, 2023
TITLE: Promenade of Desire: A Barcelona Memoir
AUTHOR: Isidra Mencos
PUB DATE: 10.11.2022 Now Available
SYNOPSIS: Swipe Above
HONEST
MESSY
FIERCE
I recently read Isidra Mencos’ memoir, a beautifully rendered story of her life, a coming of age tale of a young woman growing up Catholic in Barcelona, Spain in the 1960’s during Franco’s regime and dictatorship. Mencos beautifully painted a picture of the political and social backdrop and how each of these affected her during her formative years. The memoir covers three decades of growth, pain, hardships, and ultimately through self-discovery and self love Isidra Mencos comes away with this not unscathed but even stronger for it.
I loved the wonderful historical backdrop that made me long to visit Spain and dance the night away.
AUTHOR: Isidra Mencos
PUB DATE: 10.11.2022 Now Available
SYNOPSIS: Swipe Above
HONEST
MESSY
FIERCE
I recently read Isidra Mencos’ memoir, a beautifully rendered story of her life, a coming of age tale of a young woman growing up Catholic in Barcelona, Spain in the 1960’s during Franco’s regime and dictatorship. Mencos beautifully painted a picture of the political and social backdrop and how each of these affected her during her formative years. The memoir covers three decades of growth, pain, hardships, and ultimately through self-discovery and self love Isidra Mencos comes away with this not unscathed but even stronger for it.
I loved the wonderful historical backdrop that made me long to visit Spain and dance the night away.
Read
November 21, 2022Born in Spain in the late 1950s, Isidra Mencos grew up under Franco’s repressive regime but her teenage years came with protests and demands for democracy and her young adulthood coincided with a new constitution and commitment to democracy. In her memoir A PROMENADE OF DESIRE: A BARCELONA MEMOIR, Mencos parallels the changes in Spain with her own development in a compelling and raw account of her tortuous journey finding faith in herself.
In Franco’s Spain, Catholicism was the only recognized religion and social and political repression was the norm. (Mencos’ mother received a ticket for honking!) At home, her family of twelve had only superficial conversations, and she was taught to be ashamed of her body.
Once Franco died, Spain sped towards “el destape” (taking the lid off). As Mencos is in her late teens/early twenties, birth control and abortion became legalized, while the government decriminalized divorce and homosexuality. Many young couples cohabitated and/or had open relationships. Mencos dives into the newly permissive activities, in part trying to assuage her feelings of being unloveable and overcome her estrangement from her body.
After years of troubling and even dangerous relationships and alcohol use combined with a sense of adriftness regarding her career, Mencos took stock and recharted her future.
This memoir was fascinating to read. It’s very open and honest, and her frankness about her mistakes and issues with self-esteem engender a connection with readers. I also appreciated learning more about Spain in general and Barcelona in particular during this period. The book also is infused with two of her loves: literature and salsa dancing!
Thanks to @booksparks and @isiramencos for a gifted copy of this book! Check it out if you enjoy memoirs!
Gun laws in Spain are quite restrictive, unlike in the US where yesterday a gunman (suspected to be Anderson Lee Aldrich), according to the NYTimes entered Club Q in Colorado Springs, “wearing body armor, and began firing with an AR-15 style rifle” killing 5 and wounding 18. Support @everytown!
In Franco’s Spain, Catholicism was the only recognized religion and social and political repression was the norm. (Mencos’ mother received a ticket for honking!) At home, her family of twelve had only superficial conversations, and she was taught to be ashamed of her body.
Once Franco died, Spain sped towards “el destape” (taking the lid off). As Mencos is in her late teens/early twenties, birth control and abortion became legalized, while the government decriminalized divorce and homosexuality. Many young couples cohabitated and/or had open relationships. Mencos dives into the newly permissive activities, in part trying to assuage her feelings of being unloveable and overcome her estrangement from her body.
After years of troubling and even dangerous relationships and alcohol use combined with a sense of adriftness regarding her career, Mencos took stock and recharted her future.
This memoir was fascinating to read. It’s very open and honest, and her frankness about her mistakes and issues with self-esteem engender a connection with readers. I also appreciated learning more about Spain in general and Barcelona in particular during this period. The book also is infused with two of her loves: literature and salsa dancing!
Thanks to @booksparks and @isiramencos for a gifted copy of this book! Check it out if you enjoy memoirs!
Gun laws in Spain are quite restrictive, unlike in the US where yesterday a gunman (suspected to be Anderson Lee Aldrich), according to the NYTimes entered Club Q in Colorado Springs, “wearing body armor, and began firing with an AR-15 style rifle” killing 5 and wounding 18. Support @everytown!
August 28, 2022
Win an advanced copy of this book in a sweepstakes.I love memoirs and this book does not disappoint.Page turner!
October 16, 2022
Isidra and Spain tasting freedom!
Isidra Mencos and her country, Spain, came of age at the same time, and their parallel stories make this a fascinating, exuberant memoir. We see through Isidra’s eyes how Spain opened up as it lurched from a lock-down fascist state to a nascent democracy, and how the democratic freedoms opened her up as she emerged into womanhood. Mencos captures the thread of desire that runs through her life perfectly at each stage of exploration—from a little girl in a strict Catholic home, to a rebellious teenager, to a brave young woman plunging into Barcelona’s new world of sensuality and living for today. Her weaving of historical context and personal reflection creates a rich, satisfying narrative, beautifully told.
Isidra Mencos and her country, Spain, came of age at the same time, and their parallel stories make this a fascinating, exuberant memoir. We see through Isidra’s eyes how Spain opened up as it lurched from a lock-down fascist state to a nascent democracy, and how the democratic freedoms opened her up as she emerged into womanhood. Mencos captures the thread of desire that runs through her life perfectly at each stage of exploration—from a little girl in a strict Catholic home, to a rebellious teenager, to a brave young woman plunging into Barcelona’s new world of sensuality and living for today. Her weaving of historical context and personal reflection creates a rich, satisfying narrative, beautifully told.
September 7, 2022
This memoir had me turning pages quickly as the author shared her emotionally raw, uncensored, & moving journey of from sexual/sensual repression, both cultural & personal, to embracing her own sensuality. She flawlessly interweaved her own personal journey, while simultaneously giving the reader a glimpse into the Franco regimes crumbling hold on Spain at the time. Well written & a great read!
September 25, 2022
First of all, thank you so much to Isidra Mencos, She Writes Press, and Netgalley to provide me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Wow, this book was quite a journey. Knowing that this is a memoir just makes it all the more intense.
Isidra went through quite a life in so many ways, this is a page-turner.
I loved the reference to Portugal and the dictatorship (because I'm Portuguese) and the book had such good detail about how the social/economic/political context of Spain integrated and messed with her generation and life stability in general.
Her traumas are so visceral and you turn every page wanting everything to resolve itself (but I can't give spoilers). Her relationships, with herself, with her lovers and family, and even with jobs, are so complex and it just makes it all the more human.
The writing is so raw, but well written, that it just feels like you're with an old friend and she's retelling all of her life.
Wow, this book was quite a journey. Knowing that this is a memoir just makes it all the more intense.
Isidra went through quite a life in so many ways, this is a page-turner.
I loved the reference to Portugal and the dictatorship (because I'm Portuguese) and the book had such good detail about how the social/economic/political context of Spain integrated and messed with her generation and life stability in general.
Her traumas are so visceral and you turn every page wanting everything to resolve itself (but I can't give spoilers). Her relationships, with herself, with her lovers and family, and even with jobs, are so complex and it just makes it all the more human.
The writing is so raw, but well written, that it just feels like you're with an old friend and she's retelling all of her life.
Read
October 6, 2022I read the synopsis for this book, and it scared me a little, so I knew I had to read it. Memoirs have a way of giving you perspective of a different way of life, even if you don’t totally agree with all of the author’s decisions.
This book is beautifully raw and honest. I was shocked by Isidra’s stories at times - I didn’t want to put this book down! Isidra Mencos’s writing is wonderful. She pulled me into her experiences even though they were so different from my personal life. I think that’s a true sign of a great author! The asynchronous timeline kept the book interesting and made it feel more like a friend was sharing her stories with me.
Content warnings include: sexual abuse, emotional abuse, suicide, alcohol abuse
Thank you to Book Sparks for giving me an advanced readers copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
This book is beautifully raw and honest. I was shocked by Isidra’s stories at times - I didn’t want to put this book down! Isidra Mencos’s writing is wonderful. She pulled me into her experiences even though they were so different from my personal life. I think that’s a true sign of a great author! The asynchronous timeline kept the book interesting and made it feel more like a friend was sharing her stories with me.
Content warnings include: sexual abuse, emotional abuse, suicide, alcohol abuse
Thank you to Book Sparks for giving me an advanced readers copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
September 23, 2022
For anyone who is curious as to what it’s like to live in a society, in which women have no designated career paths other than marriage and childrearing, and abortion and divorce are heavily stigmatized and even criminalized, definitely check out "Promenade of Desire." If you don’t view yourself as a feminist or care much for politics, pick up Mencos’s memoir anyway.
In addition to unadulterated, melodic, beautiful storytelling that takes place in her native Barcelona, Mencos’s memoir is a bold coming-of-age story about a young woman who reclaims her sexuality and political power in the face of familial and societal stigma. Mencos shows how a woman’s sexual desire, exploration, and independence are all tied to her political standing in a society.
In addition to unadulterated, melodic, beautiful storytelling that takes place in her native Barcelona, Mencos’s memoir is a bold coming-of-age story about a young woman who reclaims her sexuality and political power in the face of familial and societal stigma. Mencos shows how a woman’s sexual desire, exploration, and independence are all tied to her political standing in a society.
September 21, 2022
Promenade Of Desire is a frank, revealing and sensuous coming of age journey. An engrossing page turner until the end!
October 10, 2022
Mencos recounts her growing up in Spain at the cusp of the social revolution in the 1960s and 1970s.
She openly writes about her numerous relationships, fleeting or serious, along with the changes in the landscape of politics.
She comes for a large family, but wasn’t really close to any of her siblings or parents.
It was interesting reading about the loosened social mores in another country during last few decades of the 20th century.
Thanks to She Writes Press and NetGalley for the early read.
She openly writes about her numerous relationships, fleeting or serious, along with the changes in the landscape of politics.
She comes for a large family, but wasn’t really close to any of her siblings or parents.
It was interesting reading about the loosened social mores in another country during last few decades of the 20th century.
Thanks to She Writes Press and NetGalley for the early read.
October 10, 2022
I began reading "Promenade of Desire" with intrigue. What was it like to grow up in a fascist dictatorship? And then to have it unravel as you came of age? Isidra Mencos takes us on a fun, sexy, smart, delicious odyssey set in post Franco’s Spain, Barcelona to be exact. Her masterful storytelling, boldness, and sincerity made this a memoir that hooked me right in and then kept me yearning for more.
November 28, 2022
I strongly recommend this book! I picked it up out of interest in its coming of age story, but quickly found myself fascinated by its many other layers, including (but not limited to): the history of Spain as it moved from dictatorial rule to democracy; a daughter’s struggle to liberate herself from her mother’s rigid rule; the isolation among the author’s ten siblings; the journey from shame to free expression; and lastly, the struggle to find intimacy. The author should be applauded for her candor, reflection, and writing talent!
June 27, 2022
The Promenade of Desire is an honest, empowering, and raw account of one woman’s journey to freedom and awakening following a repressed upbringing in Spain. This engaging exploration of the heart and soul is told through the lens of the author’s experience coming of age in post-Franco Spain.
I devoured this memoir.
The writing is vivid, and I felt at times that I was involved in this family's life. As someone who grew up Catholic in the United States at the same time as the author was being raised Catholic in Spain, I found the differences fascinating. I am grateful to have received an advance review copy and I highly recommend it!
I devoured this memoir.
The writing is vivid, and I felt at times that I was involved in this family's life. As someone who grew up Catholic in the United States at the same time as the author was being raised Catholic in Spain, I found the differences fascinating. I am grateful to have received an advance review copy and I highly recommend it!
November 11, 2022
As Spain ends its dictatorship and transforms to freedom in the 1970s, Isidra is caught up in the new freedoms for youth exploding in Barcelona. She writes vividly about her sexual awakening and her desire to throw off her inhibitions, which manifests on the dance floor and in her relationships. A combination of the times and her emotionally distant family complicates her journey as she struggles to find her way in the world.
This is an excellent memoir that weaves all these threads together as we watch her become her true self.
This is an excellent memoir that weaves all these threads together as we watch her become her true self.
October 10, 2022
🇪🇸 B O O K R E V I E W 🇪🇸
Promenade of Desire
Author: Isidra Mencos
Tomorrow is #pubday for this enlightening and honest memoir about coming of age in a country rebuilding itself after a repressive dictatorship.
Fun fact about me: I spent almost a month in Spain my junior year of college @queensuniv as part of its international travel program, and I had the time of my life traveling to seven major cities, and ending it in the gorgeous and historic city of Barcelona, known for Las Ramblas, Gaudí architecture, La Sagrada Familia, among so much more.
Barcelona is at the center of this memoir, as it is where the author was born, came of age, and discovered herself, and I loved reliving some of those places I visited on my trip nearly twelve (😱) years ago. (@bookmarkedbypage, remember our Spain trip??)
I was truly immersed and connected well with the author of this memoir. She grew up in a repressive Catholic household with nine other siblings, in a family culture where your physical needs were met, but there was no deep emotion or affection. It broke my heart and resonated with me when she said things like that her mother only complimented her when talking about her to someone else, the family never truly knew each other, they were like “passing cruise ships”, and I loved her honesty in how an upbringing like that could lead to some of the decisions she made later on with men.
Against a backdrop of a pivotal and tumultuous part of Spanish history, Isidra Mária becomes Isadora, a promiscuous and confused young woman in her twenties and early thirties, who has many relationships with men as she becomes “addicted to being loved”. Even though sometimes her decisions start to become repetitive and you start to wonder when she will start to have some personal growth, you have to also admire her forthrightness and realize that when you don’t make an effort as a parent to make a child feel loved and special in your eyes, he or she will seek that feeling elsewhere, which is exactly what happened to this author.
Truly a remarkable memoir!
Thanks @BookSparks for a copy of @isidramencos #PromenadeofDesire in exchange for an honest review!
Promenade of Desire
Author: Isidra Mencos
Tomorrow is #pubday for this enlightening and honest memoir about coming of age in a country rebuilding itself after a repressive dictatorship.
Fun fact about me: I spent almost a month in Spain my junior year of college @queensuniv as part of its international travel program, and I had the time of my life traveling to seven major cities, and ending it in the gorgeous and historic city of Barcelona, known for Las Ramblas, Gaudí architecture, La Sagrada Familia, among so much more.
Barcelona is at the center of this memoir, as it is where the author was born, came of age, and discovered herself, and I loved reliving some of those places I visited on my trip nearly twelve (😱) years ago. (@bookmarkedbypage, remember our Spain trip??)
I was truly immersed and connected well with the author of this memoir. She grew up in a repressive Catholic household with nine other siblings, in a family culture where your physical needs were met, but there was no deep emotion or affection. It broke my heart and resonated with me when she said things like that her mother only complimented her when talking about her to someone else, the family never truly knew each other, they were like “passing cruise ships”, and I loved her honesty in how an upbringing like that could lead to some of the decisions she made later on with men.
Against a backdrop of a pivotal and tumultuous part of Spanish history, Isidra Mária becomes Isadora, a promiscuous and confused young woman in her twenties and early thirties, who has many relationships with men as she becomes “addicted to being loved”. Even though sometimes her decisions start to become repetitive and you start to wonder when she will start to have some personal growth, you have to also admire her forthrightness and realize that when you don’t make an effort as a parent to make a child feel loved and special in your eyes, he or she will seek that feeling elsewhere, which is exactly what happened to this author.
Truly a remarkable memoir!
Thanks @BookSparks for a copy of @isidramencos #PromenadeofDesire in exchange for an honest review!
October 29, 2022
As someone who hears people’s stories often, I couldn’t be more impressed with the transparency with which Isidra Mencos tells her story in Promenade of Desire: A Barcelona Memoir. She openly and courageously shares what most would keep private, confirming her defiance of religious, parental and self-imposed oppression. In this coming of age story, we experience Isidra lifting herself from the emotionless silence, superficiality and lack of connection that she experienced growing up.
As Isidra shares her unique and dynamic experience, I think anyone reading will find moments that remind them of their own coming of age. Although this is a woman’s perspective, I think any reader would be triggered to remember something of their youth through her tale and to probe a bit deeper into their own journey. By sharing of herself so candidly and honestly, she makes it easier for readers to do the same.
I loved that it took place in Barcelona and its surroundings. Isidra’s descriptions are vivid, and it made me curious to walk down the same streets to see if any of her favorite spots were still there. The writing is impeccable, and it’s truly a page turner.
As Isidra shares her unique and dynamic experience, I think anyone reading will find moments that remind them of their own coming of age. Although this is a woman’s perspective, I think any reader would be triggered to remember something of their youth through her tale and to probe a bit deeper into their own journey. By sharing of herself so candidly and honestly, she makes it easier for readers to do the same.
I loved that it took place in Barcelona and its surroundings. Isidra’s descriptions are vivid, and it made me curious to walk down the same streets to see if any of her favorite spots were still there. The writing is impeccable, and it’s truly a page turner.
November 4, 2022
This is a fascinating story about a young woman's sexual awakening during a fraught time in Spain's history. I give the author high marks for her bravery, and I highly recommend the book for women of all ages.
October 29, 2022
After the first few chapters I almost discarded the book thinking it really wasn't for me. However, I kept reading and became enchanted with Isadora as she plowed through her life trying to find something unknown. Her character was revealed in layers and had more depth than I expected. Barcelona's history was important in her story and was just as fascinating to learn about.
October 22, 2022
Could not put this book down, it is such a beautifully, unabashedly written “Becoming Isidra” story. From catholic school education and passing summer vacations at their exquisite family retreat, over free love adventures, heavy drinking and salsa dancing while navigating difficult relationships with boyfriends and family members to professional success and leaving the country for a PhD program in US/CA. Isidra also weaves the simultaneously occurring political turmoil of the fall of the 40 year Franco dictatorship into her reflections. All in all, a thought-provoking account on free love, feminism, political agency, charity, living abroad, to only name a few. Highly recommend this book for all these reasons. And recommend you also get Isidra’s (free) private guide to Barcelona to round out the picture.
April 29, 2022
In Promenade of Desire, Isidra Mencos explores issues of family, communication, shame, and love. She skillfully weaves her poignant personal story of sexual shaming, emotional distance, and trauma as a child with the repressive politics of the Franco regime in Spain. The country was liberated around the same time as the narrator came of age, throwing off the restrictive rules of Catholicism and the Franco regime and replacing it with the wild abandon of salsa dancing, drinking, and sexual liberation in tune with the mood of the country post-Franco. Her childhood repression and trauma informed her choice of male partners and prevented her seeking and accepting a truly loving long-term partner. However, every failed relationship was a step to necessary learning on the road to finding herself. She took refuge in literature and writing as she had as a child. This well-crafted coming of age saga reminds us that whatever our culture, whatever our sexual orientation, we all seek love and attachment but must first find love and acceptance for ourselves.
June 4, 2022
I received an advance reader copy of this book, it will be released in the fall. The author of this fascinating memoir interweaves the awakening of freedom in Spain following Franco's death, with her own sexual awakening, in cinematic, descriptive prose that makes you feel like you are there with her. We experience Spain's social, political, and cultural evolution up close, and in honest terms, viewed through the lens of a young woman. Meanwhile, a patina of shame and conflict born from repression and the lack of true intimacy colors her family and love relationships. The protagonist's struggle to be loved, accepted, and simply seen creates unintended consequences that many readers will relate to. Exploring a means of connecting, the author discovers salsa music, an important step in embracing her own passions-- and coming to terms with accepting herself. I truly enjoyed this tale of Isidra's evolution.
May 19, 2022
Promenade of Desire, a Barcelona Memoir is a candid account of one woman’s journey from sexual repression to sexual freedom which parallels Spain’s trajectory from repression under Franco, to freedom under a new democratic government. The author’s descriptions of the artist/bohemian life of the 70s and 80s is atmospheric and fascinating. Reminiscent of those early twentieth century European intellectuals and artists, such as Sartre and Simone de Beauvois, this page turning memoir is well worth the read.
October 11, 2022
I loved this book! It is raw and honest and brave and captivating. I couldn’t put it down . I want to know what happened next!
April 28, 2023
I’m finding myself loving memoirs more and more and this one didn’t disappoint!
Born in Spain in the late 1950s, Isidra Mencos grew up in an emotionally-cold catholic family, and her teenage years were filled with protests and demands for democracy and a social revolution. She had nine other siblings and her family didn’t show emotion or affection and while reading this it broke my heart. She wrote that she didn’t feel like she new her family, and the only compliments she ever heard , was over hearing her mother talking about her to someone else. This type of relationship led her to making some decisions in her future with men. We follow Isidra as she becomes Isadora, a confused woman in her twenties and early thirties that is promiscuous that has many relationships with men and becomes “addicted to being loved” in her own words. We see through her eyes when a child doesn’t feel love or wanted this affects their future and leads them down a road looking for love in the wrong ways and places. After years of dangerous relationships and alcohol use Mencos sees she needs to change and finally sees she deserves a future. This was raw memoir that deserves to be read! Thank you for sharing your personal story with us Isidra.
Born in Spain in the late 1950s, Isidra Mencos grew up in an emotionally-cold catholic family, and her teenage years were filled with protests and demands for democracy and a social revolution. She had nine other siblings and her family didn’t show emotion or affection and while reading this it broke my heart. She wrote that she didn’t feel like she new her family, and the only compliments she ever heard , was over hearing her mother talking about her to someone else. This type of relationship led her to making some decisions in her future with men. We follow Isidra as she becomes Isadora, a confused woman in her twenties and early thirties that is promiscuous that has many relationships with men and becomes “addicted to being loved” in her own words. We see through her eyes when a child doesn’t feel love or wanted this affects their future and leads them down a road looking for love in the wrong ways and places. After years of dangerous relationships and alcohol use Mencos sees she needs to change and finally sees she deserves a future. This was raw memoir that deserves to be read! Thank you for sharing your personal story with us Isidra.
May 6, 2023
"Promenade of Desire, A Barcelona Memoir” by Isidra Mencos is intriguing. The Genres are Memoir and non-fiction. The backdrop for this book is set in Spain, during different political climates. This is a coming-of-age book, and the author is experimenting, coming to terms with her sexuality, and exploring her relationships with her family, friends, school, and work.
The author describes her dysfunctional large family and their conflicting and complicated environment. Isidra Mencos was a young Catholic Spanish girl in 1969 under Franco’s rule. After Franco’s death in 1975 brought new freedom and a “cultural revolution.” The author had friendships, at times, with questionable people. She seems to be ambivalent during certain periods of her education and jobs.
The author finds herself happiest with books, writing, and dancing salsa to express her feelings. The author writes honestly and reflectively. I would recommend this book to those readers that enjoy the memoir genre.
The author describes her dysfunctional large family and their conflicting and complicated environment. Isidra Mencos was a young Catholic Spanish girl in 1969 under Franco’s rule. After Franco’s death in 1975 brought new freedom and a “cultural revolution.” The author had friendships, at times, with questionable people. She seems to be ambivalent during certain periods of her education and jobs.
The author finds herself happiest with books, writing, and dancing salsa to express her feelings. The author writes honestly and reflectively. I would recommend this book to those readers that enjoy the memoir genre.
May 25, 2023
There are four things that really stood out to me in this memoir in which Isidra shares her life from her childhood in 1960s Spain through when she moves to the US in 1992 to get her PhD.
The first is the complexity of Spain’s political system at the transitional time between dictatorship and democracy.
The second is her relationship with family with a focus on her mother.
The third is the freedom Isidra experiences by salsa dancing.
The fourth is the connections Isidra made with the men in her life and how she managed and mismanaged her happiness.
I liked the fact that Isidra doesn’t stay in a straight timeline and shares her chapters by going back and forth between childhood and young adulthood. The chapters are marked by date, place, and subject so being non sequential is not a problem to understand.
Isidra gives us a glimpse of Barcelona life in the 1970s and 1980s. She shares how traditions and expectations guided her while at the same time impeded her.
The first is the complexity of Spain’s political system at the transitional time between dictatorship and democracy.
The second is her relationship with family with a focus on her mother.
The third is the freedom Isidra experiences by salsa dancing.
The fourth is the connections Isidra made with the men in her life and how she managed and mismanaged her happiness.
I liked the fact that Isidra doesn’t stay in a straight timeline and shares her chapters by going back and forth between childhood and young adulthood. The chapters are marked by date, place, and subject so being non sequential is not a problem to understand.
Isidra gives us a glimpse of Barcelona life in the 1970s and 1980s. She shares how traditions and expectations guided her while at the same time impeded her.
April 16, 2024
Promenade of Desire was a page turner. For me, it was a nostalgic visit to the 70s, as I came of age at the same time in similar circumstances, albeit in the US. The author’s descriptive prose made me feel like I was there with her in her youth at her family’s beautiful summer home in the country, wandering the streets of Barcelona and taking in her favorite clubs and other places she frequented as an adult. I read the book with my phone in hand so that I could check out the neighborhoods and spots she referenced. I was taken with how she continued to dance throughout the challenges she encountered, she knew that dancing was the way to stay in touch with her authentic self. Her honesty, forthrightness, and courage came through as she told her story, and I was impressed with her recall since this story took place decades ago. If you enjoy coming-of-age memoirs, especially those set in the 70s, you’ll enjoy this book.
November 9, 2024
I am totally enthralled by the book, Promenade of Desire: a Barcelona Memoir by Isidra Mencos. The memoir feels like a slow dance through Barcelona’s streets, where personal revolution and growth meets cultural renaissance. Mencos captures the sultry pulse of a city—and her own heart—learning to live and love without restraint. It’s a memoir that’s as seductive as it is smart, offering readers both the thrill of freedom and a taste of Spain’s fierce post-Franco spirit. Bold, beautifully honest, and hard to put down, this is the story of a woman coming of age, her family, friends and lovers, a city, and all the electric sparks between them. Even if I grew up oceans apart from Mencos, the Philippines was colonized by the Spaniards for 400 years, so I find her story relatable. We inherited a lot of customs and traditions, especially the influence of the Catholic church and family. I highly recommend this book. It was mesmerizing, historical, powerful and sensual.
June 1, 2023
This was an awesome and exciting memoir. From page one, the author draws you in as she tells of her life and of Spain. The details of Spain’s scenery and food descriptions makes Spain come alive and creates a desire to want to visit this country. As you read this book and learn of how Spain was dealing with dictatorship, our country was living a sexual revolution. Isidra is a woman not afraid to show her sexual desires, be promiscuous, and dance to the beat of her drum. This memoir was more in depth than I expected. Growing up not feeling love, she actively seeks it in many wrong ways. When she finally starts to understand what love is, how to find it, and how to live it, she progresses to a different person. At the same time the author tells her story, she bares her soul, and shares her personal story in such a raw, honest and emotional way that you can feel her pain. Excellent book and I would definitely recommend it. #suzyapprovedbooktour
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