Review: Roller Skaters and Wine Makers by Nick Leonard

Roller Skaters and Wine MakersThis self-printed slim volume is a series of twenty-two short vignette-y articles written by Mr. Leonard, a British visitor to San Luis Obispo, California for several months at the end of 2009.  The stories are interspersed with photos — including one of the disgusting “Chewinggum Alley”, which I know from experience actually makes you dry-heave — and the sort of aggressively witty writing that you sometimes have to be in the right mood for.

Mr. Leonard’s tales meander from subject to subject, although he spends an awful lot of time in the land of bicycles and wine-making…probably not enough, if you’re a fan of those two activities, but given that he doesn’t repeat any of his other subject material, the constant returns to grapes and Bike Happenings become a bit overdone.  That said, he has an eye for finding the amusing in the mundane, so he throws out a gem of observation right when it could start to become tiresome.

Mr. Leonard finds himself inhabiting a small Airstream trailer (breathe a collective American sigh of awesomeness) in some willing friends’ driveway, immersing himself in California culture; he takes a trip to Esalen to get his chakras aligned, visits Paso Robles to watch roller derby, and ruminates on the strange American custom of Halloween. This last essay was my favorite, because Australians don’t get why we make such a big deal out of Halloween either, and because he has such a wonder-filled-yet-satirical observational perspective on the whole inflated-pumpkin mess.

He hits a lot of the right notes in his writing: it resounds with a wry wit, and a friendly community feel that is so endemic in San Luis Obispo (affectionately called SLO, pronounced “slow”, by its denizens).  The occasionally heavy-handed abstractions used to tie up the end of each vignette reminds me a bit of South Park from time to time, but otherwise, this is a pleasant read and a pretty good way to get a slice of Californian life through the eyes of an Englishman.  Also, 50% of proceeds from the book go to the Cardiomyopathy Foundation, so you get to read some fun stuff while supporting charity.

Posted by | Comments (1)  | June 15, 2010
Category: Destinations, Images from the road, North America, Travel Writing, Vagabonding Life


One Response to “Review: Roller Skaters and Wine Makers by Nick Leonard”

  1. Rebecca Says:

    The book has a catchy title! It sounds like an interesting read. That’s great that 50% of the proceeds are being donated. So many of us want to give back and this is one way to do it.