As the author – an Austrian-based Englishman- explains, “Six days in Sicily” is not fiction but a reflection of his and his wife’s experiences. There are at least three plot lines:
- seemingly trivial happenings during an enjoyable trip of the author, his wife Doris and their friend John to Sicily
- some of the personality traits of John, some 35 years younger than Philip, which seem to be a bit irritating to Philip
- the authors thoughts on the inner construction of the world and on his struggles to accept spiritual explanations for certain experiences which, on the other hand, seem too unlikely to be explained as mere coincidents or too strongly loaded with personal meaning
In fact, the author reveals that he has dabbled himself with success in paranormal practices and that he had studies them over many decades. But let's get back to his relationship with John, a Vienna-based medical doctor, for whom the author is a fatherly friend. From many comments on John throughout the book we learn that Philip is struggling to cope with some of his friends personality threats. For instance, John always runs late, declines the request of a passenger to change seat in the airplane (so that he could be seated with his children and wife), which Philip interprets as blunt egotism, and drives much too fast on their Sicily-trip (for Philips taste). Philip considers road traffic as a perfect occasion to exercise cavalierly whereas Johns motto is to drive smoothly but avoid breaking. As a result Philip seem to enjoy pulling his friends nose: "… Our friend is having trouble with his weight. …" "… he is thick-set and muscular, but he is sensitive about it, which is understandable, for one could sometimes assume he'd bought his clothes a size too small. …" The author seems to be a bit disgruntled when he reflects on his wife's Doris and John's eagerness to eat out and enjoy good food. When he is explaining his habit of fletcherising his food by trying to chew every bit at least fifty times "to get the last drop of it", which is quite the opposite of John's habit of wolfing the food down him, the reader, having the scene of this uneven diners in front of him, cannot help of sympathising with the author. However, the author shows a lot of humour when he tells us about his habit of losing his reading-glasses and finding them in the most unlikely places.
"Six Days in Sicily" is insight-full and amusing at the same time. It is written in easy to read but sophisticated language – the author was a linguist and English-teacher. The book shows mastery in reflecting on everyday experiences, personalities traits and, last but not least, traveling and eating out in Sicily. If you ever travel to Sicily take this book of timeless anecdotes with you.