The White Island

Review by Philip Blazdell

Not having been to Ibiza or ever expecting to visit the island, as the idea of taking part in a beer, birds and Brits on the booze type holiday fills me with absolute horror, I didn't hold up much hope that I would enjoy this book. However, I was entirely wrong, and by the time I had finished the book I was ready to call my travel agent and book myself onto the next flight.

Until I read this engaging, and sometimes amusing book, I had imagined that Ibiza was an island of drunk Europeans with low morals (well, according to my friends anyway). But according to Armstrong, who clearly seems to have done his research, the reality of the island is very different. It is, and always has been, a magnet for hedonists. Armstrong, who has been travelling to Ibiza since he was eight, weaves a skilful narrative, which is part memoir, part psalm for the island and part travelogue describing the island's chequered history and turbulent present. It is, he assures us, whilst sipping another beer at Café del Mar, a history of pleasure itself. The Carthaginians established a cult there to Tanit, their goddess of sex, Roman centurions in need of a bit of down time between campaigns would go to Ibiza to get their kicks and over the centuries virtually every culture around the Mediterranean has used the island either as a playground or as a dump for the kind of people who didn't quite fit in back home, but who you'd probably quite like to meet at a party.

The strength of this book is not just the polished prose, the engaging wit of the author or the fact that this book is exceptionally well researched but the writer, who could have so easily painted a portrait of the infamous side of the island, delves deeper into the place and actually manages to make the island seem exotic and tempting. Such is the beauty of his descriptions that when I read paragraphs out to friends they immediately wanted to travel there and soak up the considerable beauty that Armstrong describes.

Undoubtedly, Armstrong knows the island well and whilst sipping another beer describes how Ibiza encapsulates every stage of his life - from bucket-and-spade family holidays, through years of hedonism, to eating out in today's array of upmarket restaurants tucked into tree-lined courtyards. This book is clearly a labour of love.

However, as much as Armstrong tries to embrace the hedonistic culture (and his descriptions of clubbing on Ibiza are simply stunning and worth the cover price alone) he ultimately fails to fully submerse himself into the party ethic and remains just on the edge of the hedonism. It is this, perhaps, that allows him to be the subjective and precise observer that he is.

This is a beautiful book and one which will interest anyone who has ever watched, with increasing horror, news reports of drunken Brits running wild in the sun and wondered if this is all Ibiza is about. It will also appeal to those who dream of slipping away to a sun-drenched island and living a true bohemian life.