A Perfectly Beautiful Place

Lisa Arsenault is an elementary-school teacher in Ajax, Ontario.

If a person had no desire to travel, reading this book would change his
or her mind. It recounts the travels of the author, his wife, and his
little daughter in Europe. Despite bearing witness to unfortunate
events, falling prey to unscrupulous individuals, and documenting the
defacement of the beauty spots of Europe, Elcock’s passionate love for
travel consistently shines through.

The book is divided into two distinct sections. The first describes
Elcock’s experiences in the late 1980s as he followed loosely in the
footsteps of his father, a bomber pilot in World War II. The second half
deals with the trials and tribulations he encountered in the early 1990s
when he and his family lived in Seville while he worked on developing
Spain’s Expo ’92. The tone of each section is very different. The
first is elegiac, packed with anecdotes and fascinating vignettes of
World War II. Elcock seeks out and also often encounters serendipitously
individuals in small towns and villages who lived through the war and
recount (mostly harrowing) tales of Nazi conquest and rule. Every bit as
sombre are his impressions of life in Eastern Europe, visiting as he is
at the end of the Cold War. By contrast, the hot Andalusian sun of
Seville simmers through the second half of the book, infusing it with
the frayed tempers and frustrations that seem to surround the halting
progress of preparations for Expo ’92.

Whether telling sad tales of the past or commenting on technological
and financial failures of the present, Elcock never loses his ebullience
and zest for travel. He always finds the best in the people he
encounters, while being honest about their shortcomings. He sums up the
murderously casual, almost banal, nature of war with superb erudition.
He seethes over the concrete-box hotel blight that has ruined the beauty
of the Costa del Sol, but is able to write lyrically about human-made,
as well as natural, beauty spots.

This is a wonderful book. I only wish the two halves had been published
as separate volumes. There’s enough material to justify two volumes,
and the sections are not connected in any significant way that needs to
be maintained.