Theroux, Paul

Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Capetown

Average customer rating:

Addressing issues too often ignored
An Excellent Read
Excellent
A more accurate meaning for "safari"
Long but revealing

Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Capetown
Paul Theroux
Manufacturer: Mariner Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0618446877

Book Description

In Dark Star Safari the wittily observant and endearingly irascible Paul Theroux takes readers the length of Africa by rattletrap bus, dugout canoe, cattle truck, armed convoy, ferry, and train. In the course of his epic and enlightening journey, he endures danger, delay, and dismaying circumstances. Gauging the state of affairs, he talks to Africans, aid workers, missionaries, and tourists. What results is an insightful meditation on the history, politics, and beauty of Africa and its people, and "a vivid portrayal of the secret sweetness, the hidden vitality, and the long-patient hope that lies just beneath the surface" (Rocky Mountain News). In a new postscript, Theroux recounts the dramatic events of a return to Africa to visit Zimbabwe.

Customer Reviews:

Addressing issues too often ignored.......2007-05-23

In Harvard Professor David Landes book "The Wealth and Poverty of Nations" he points out that a trillion dollars in Aid has been spent in Africa over a couple of decades with little or less to see for it, in Zaire (Congo) the miles of road has shrunk, from 22,000 miles to 1500. To understand this it is necessary to read Paul Theroux book "Dark Star Safari". Theroux makes the case that many Africans have become addicted to Aid. Like other addicts, getting them off their addiction may mean some tough cold turkey, making the NGOs leave. The very important question Theroux poses for countries wishing to alleviate the suffering of this continent rich in natural resources is what will it take for Africans to realize that they have to help themselves, that may mean throwing out the corrupt elites who are kept in power indirectly by Aid workers keeping the poor on the threshold of survival.
Provocative book, a pastiche of impressions well worth reading and reflecting on.The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor

An Excellent Read .......2007-04-20

Paul Theroux takes a sharp knife to political correctness and white Range Rover world of the NGOs with his simple and stark observations. He packs the reader in his luggage and takes her on a hot, lovely, frustrating and all together human journey. I've used this book as a travel guide to plan my trip for safety, interest and patience.

Excellent.......2007-02-09

This is an excellent travel read for the adventure traveller planning the Grand Tour of Africa, or for the armchair traveller who is simply looking to better understand the continent. I highly recommend it. It is impossible to put down.

A more accurate meaning for "safari".......2007-01-02

This is Theroux's account of a journey from the very north of Africa to the very south...but not in tourist style! Buses, rickety trucks, taxis, some trains. Travel guides give "the view from 30,000 feet." Theroux gives what the military call "ground truth." He sees the reality, meets many people. His account is enriched by two things in particular: He had lived and worked in some of the African countries, decades before, spoke some of the languages, so he could form a realistic view of whether things were better or (almost always) much worse: and he is a canny and skilful writer, who knows exactly how to balance description, dialog, and commentary, and packs plenty of punch into a few crisp words. For instance: "My first impression of Addis Ababa: handsome people in rags, possessed of both haughtiness and destitution, a race of aristocrats who had pawned the family silver."

He is generally scathing about the efforts of international aid agencies, whose personnel rush about in white Land-Rovers and end up leaving some useless practice, or object or building that will disintegrate, or need expensive maintenance, or be unsuited to the location, as with the two-story condos built in Harar by a German aid agency. The people, a tall race, did not use them but stayed in their mud huts. Why? "They are too tall. There is no space. They cannot bring their donkeys and goats inside." "Why would they want to do that?" "To protect them from the hyenas." The well-meaning aid people had missed a point or two.

He does, however, pay tribute to certain selfless individuals who work hard directly with the people, teaching or healing. Overall, his opinion is that survival is better assured with the simplest, oldest technology and crops, and living in small traditional villages. Nearly all the cities are basically disasters, and many of the government bureaucracies are incompetent or corrupt, even if sometimes those at the top are trying to make things better.

Now and again we get a really tantalizing throwaway: "Yes, the Bachiga of southwest Uganda and their curious marriage rite, which included the groom's brothers and the bride in the urine ceremony. I could not hear the name of the tribe without thinking of the piddle-widdle of this messy rite." To which the only possible response is, "Do tell!" But he doesn't.

A fascinating tale - a guaranteed page-turner. Incidentally, I noted the really unfavorable review by Carl Owen. It seems to have some reasonable points, but as with some other negative reviews, I felt it wasn't just having issues with the book's content. There seemed to be something about Theroux's personal style that seemed to irritate them. Now I was once annoyed with a Theroux book - I forget the title - when he thoroughly dissed my hometown of Aberdeen in Scotland! But that didn't prevent me appreciating and enjoying his thought-provoking remarks - and the humor!

Long but revealing.......2006-11-23

It is a pleasure to read about a continent that I may never visit. Theroux opens my eyes to a richness and history of this vast continent. I enjoy his geographic descriptions and especially his anecdotes on human character. Some of the political monologues get a bit ponderous, but others might enjoy that. Definitely worth reading to expand your horizons to the richness, the frailty, the wonder, and the difficulties of eastern Africa.

The Last Place on Earth (Modern Library Exploration)

Average customer rating:

A Ripping Good Yarn
Read the notes at the end of the book!
The Last Place On Earth
Well researched, penetrating, a tad biased
The last book on earth...twisted facts, and damn lies

The Last Place on Earth (Modern Library Exploration)
Roland Huntford
Manufacturer: Modern Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Worst Journey in the World
The South Pole
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ASIN: 0375754741
Release Date: 1999-09-07

Amazon.com

On December 14, 1911, the classical age of polar exploration ended when Norway's Roald Amundsen conquered the South Pole. His competitor for the prize, Britain's Robert Scott, arrived one month later--but died on the return with four of his men only 11 miles from their next cache of supplies. But it was Scott, ironically, who became the legend, Britain's heroic failure, "a monument to sheer ambition and bull-headed persistence. His achievement was to perpetuate the romantic myth of the explorer as martyr, and ... to glorify suffering and self-sacrifice as ends in themselves." The world promptly forgot about Amundsen.

Biographer Ronald Huntford's attempt to restore Amundsen to glory, first published in 1979 under the title Scott and Amundsen, has been thawed as part of the Modern Library Exploration series, captained by Jon Krakauer (of Into Thin Air fame). The Last Place on Earth is a complex and fascinating account of the race for this last great terrestrial goal, and it's pointedly geared toward demythologizing Scott. Though this was the age of the amateur explorer, Amundsen was a professional: he left little to chance, apprenticed with Eskimos, and obsessed over every detail. While Scott clung fast to the British rule of "No skis, no dogs," Amundsen understood that both were vital to survival, and they clearly won him the Pole.

Amundsen in Huntford's view is the "last great Viking" and Scott his bungling opposite: "stupid ... recklessly incompetent," and irresponsible in the extreme--failings that cost him and his teammates their lives. Yet for all of Scott's real or exaggerated faults, he understood far better than Amundsen the power of a well-crafted sentence. Scott's diaries were recovered and widely published, and if the world insisted on lionizing Scott, it was partly because he told a better story. Huntford's bias aside, it's clear that both Scott and Amundsen were valiant and deeply flawed. "Scott ... had set out to be an heroic example. Amundsen merely wanted to be first at the pole. Both had their prayers answered." --Svenja Soldovieri

Customer Reviews:

A Ripping Good Yarn.......2007-02-20

I saw a program on PBS about Amundsen and the Northwest Passage and decided I wanted to know more so I bought this book. Much has already been said and thus doesn't need repeating. If you hold to the hero status of Scott then you are apt to be severely disappointed. He does NOT fair well in the cold light of history. Amundsen comes across as someone who was at the peak of his game and was just better at this sort of thing.

One of the best books I've read in a LONG time. Well worth the time spent.

Read the notes at the end of the book!.......2007-02-18

There are simply too many errors in this book to state here. I can only suggest that the reader look at the notes at the end of the book. Huntford derives almost all of his negative comments from two or three people on Scott's expeditions. Why are so few of the comments collected from hundreds of men who loved and supported Scott. I'd hate to have my life judged before the world by the few people I've pissed off out of the many I've known. And just a note in passing---the Markham diary or jornal he keeps referring to? It's not a diary or journal; it is a collection of notes made by a very old Markham years after he encountered Scott on the street (prior to appointing Scott as leader on the first expedition).

Scott certainly made some serious judgement errors and prevaricated occassionally, but Huntford lies on almost every page of his book by omission and deception.

I have no complaints about his description of Amundsen; Amundsen was the better of the two explorers. In fact, Amundson was arguably the greatest of all polar explorers in the heroc age. Some of the best polar explorers appear almost amateurish by comparison.

The Last Place On Earth.......2007-01-12

For those who like to read history, this is very well researched.

Well researched, penetrating, a tad biased.......2006-12-07

I've finished reading both this and Fiennes "Race to the Pole". Huntford clearly spent an enormous amount of time digging through many expedition diaries and personal letter archives. He simply doesn't just quote them, but knits them together in a fine tapestry of interrelated decisions and events. This provides keen insights into the importance of planning, preparation, and attention to detail during operations.

Huntford carefully walks the reader through how Amundsen clearly understood the difficulties ahead of him, while Scott was content to draw hasty conclusions based on faulty testing, prejudice, and unwarranted opinions of the uninformed. Huntford also details the subtle and not-so-subtle difference in the leadership styles of both men, one who built a consensus, and the other who promulgated orders without allowing discussion or feedback.

My only complaints are 1) Huntford descended into the use of terms such as "weak, incompetent, and stupid" for Scott, which was unnecessary and detracted slightly from the rest of his scholarship, and 2) he avoided the use of much of the material that would have reflected positively on Scott, as found in Fiennes book, which is why I only gave this 4 stars.

The last book on earth...twisted facts, and damn lies .......2006-08-10

The central theme of this book, (i.e that Captain Scott was a blundering idiot) has been exposed as nonsense by a series of recent and well balanced books written by expolorers such as Ranulph Fiennes and Antarctic researchers such as Susan Solomon, rather than amateur critics. Read "The Worst journey in the World" if you want a proper account of the Terra Nova expedition. But if you really must buy "The Last Place on Earth" then also read Antarctic explorer Ranulph Fiennes "Captain Scott" which exposes it as a lie.

Average customer rating:

In the heart of darkness, a ray of light
Excellent transaction
Found what he went looking for and more
Greene's geographical foray
Real Life "Adventure"

Journey Without Maps (Penguin Classics)
Graham Greene
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0143039725

Book Description

His mind crowded with vivid images of Africa, Graham Greene set off in 1935 to discover Liberia, a remote and unfamiliar republic founded for released slaves. Now with a new introduction by Paul Theroux, Journey Without Maps is the spellbinding record of Greene's journey. Crossing the red-clay terrain from Sierra Leone to the coast of Grand Bassa with a chain of porters, he came to know one of the few areas of Africa untouched by colonization. Western civilization had not yet impinged on either the human psyche or the social structure, and neither poverty, disease, nor hunger seemed able to quell the native spirit. BACKCOVER: “One of the best travel books [of the twentieth] century.” —Norman Sherry “Journey Without Maps and The Lawless Roads reveal Greene's ravening spiritual hunger, a desperate need to touch rock bottom within the self and in the humanly created world.” —The Times Higher Education Supplement

Customer Reviews:

In the heart of darkness, a ray of light.......2007-03-01

Graham Greene is a famous 20th C novelist ("The Orient Express") who also wrote a few travel accounts. This is his first, when he was 31 years old and left Europe for the first time in his life to experience the uncivilized "dark heart of Africa" by traveling through the back country of Liberia in 1935. It was a 4-week, 350-mile walk, mostly through an unchanging tunnel forest path, ending each day in a primitive village. He had about a dozen black porters who would carry him in a sling, although he walked much of the way.

It's written with a very "old school" perspective, with one foot in the 19th (or 18th) century of romantic colonial imperialism, and one foot in the pre-war 1930s perspective of deterioration, rot and things falling apart. Heavy whiskey drinking, descriptions of the festering diseases of the natives, and plethora of bothersome insects, the run down European outposts and a motley cast of white rejects fill many descriptive pages.

It reminds me a lot of Samuel Johnson's "Journals of the Western Isles" (1770s) when Johnson, who had never left England in his life, decided to go to Scotland to see what uncivilized people were like. Just as Johnson brought Boswell who would go on to write his own version of the trip, Greene brought his female cousin Barbara Greene (who remains unnamed in the book and largely unmentioned), who went on to write her own version of the trip in the 1970s called "Too Late to Turn Back", which mostly contradicts Grahams version.

I can't say I totally enjoyed this book, I found Greene's attitude irritating - but therein lies its value, as a snapshot of prewar European zeitgeist. It is reminiscent of "Kabloona" (1940), another prewar travel account to an uncivilized place (Arctic Eskimos) by a young European aristocrat, who also is deeply inward looking and finds a new perspective and appreciation for the "cave man" people he meets. It's very much a transition period between prewar and post-war attitudes and the fluctuation's back and forth, the sense of things falling apart, but also new-found perspective, make it a challenging but interesting work.

Excellent transaction.......2007-02-06

This book provides and excellent background about traveling in the country of Liberia during the mid-19th century. A well written and interesting travelogue.

Found what he went looking for and more.......2006-09-21

Graham Greene was weary and appalled by the world atrocities of the early 20th century. He decided to go looking for life as basic and unspoiled as it was in the beginning. He chose to do so in Liberia, the African nation that had always been under black rule and not colonized or fleeced by Europe in modern times, though even it was a western construct, carved out of the continent by Americans as a homeland to repatriate freed slaves (or, as Greene says, a place to hide mulatto offspring). His trek on foot lasted the month of February 1935, and JOURNEY WITHOUT MAPS is his account of what became a transformative experience.

The title is derived from the fact that there were no true maps available of Liberia at the time. He relied on a caravan of native porters and a lot of guestimations as to what direction and how far it would be from village to village. Once leaving the ragged European communities near the coast, he and his party plunged into that virgin world he sought. What he describes in exquisite detail is now familiar to us via decades of National Geographics but was then, to someone who had never left Europe at that point, a culture shock. He learned to leave behind his English insistence on time table and surprise at naked, ritually scarred bodies, the persistent sound of drums and the utter poverty of villages. He did not let go his own clothes or whiskey or discomfort over rats and insects. He is eventually waylaid by sickness, and in the healing process comes out with a new, more life affirming personal vision. Though it seems as if the details of the daily marches, the insects and discomforts are so much of the same, by the end you see the impact of the experience. He found what he went looking for and more, and he was not afraid to leave some mysteries unsolved.

Greene's prose is clear as a bell and graceful. His observations of contemporary politics and missionaries, as well as the elasticity of truth in such a setting are valuable today, even seasoned with his candid biases.

Greene's geographical foray.......2006-08-15

I've read a number of Greene's novels, but this little travel book was equal to his other publications. As usual, his attention to detail, people, and culture creates wonderful images that bring us right to the Liberia of the 1930s. I shared the book with my sister who lived in Liberia for 27 yrs. and she was astonished at the accurate reporting. His prose is the best I've read for a book devoted to travel experiences.

Real Life "Adventure".......2001-09-24

Not an adventure when compared to fictional safari tales in which the intrepid travellers fight off fierce lions and savage "natives" in every chapter. Instead, an enjoyable and realistic account of Greene's arduous and near-disasterous trek through Liberia. Greene travelled with his cousin, Barbara Greene, who also wrote an account of their journey--Too Late to Turn Back. Interesting contrasts between the two books if you can find copies of both. I had to order a copy of Barbara's book from a used book store in England.

Average customer rating:

Engrossing ...
Another Paul Theroux adventure
A wonderful travelogue
Most educational travel book I've seen to date
Marvelous, simply marvelous

Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Cape Town
Paul Theroux
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0618134247

Book Description

In the travel-writing tradition that made Paul Theroux's reputation, Dark Star Safari is a rich and insightful book whose itinerary is Africa, from Cairo to Cape Town: down the Nile, through Sudan and Ethiopia, to Kenya, Uganda, and ultimately to the tip of South Africa. Going by train, dugout canoe, "chicken bus," and cattle truck, Theroux passes through some of the most beautiful — and often life-threatening — landscapes on earth. This is travel as discovery and also, in part, a sentimental journey. Almost forty years ago, Theroux first went to Africa as a teacher in the Malawi bush. Now he stops at his old school, sees former students, revisits his African friends. He finds astonishing, devastating changes wherever he goes. "Africa is materially more decrepit than it was when I first knew it," he writes, "hungrier, poorer, less educated, more pessimistic, more corrupt, and you can't tell the politicians from the witch doctors. Not that Africa is one place. It is an assortment of motley republics and seedy chiefdoms. I got sick, I got stranded, but I was never bored. In fact, my trip was a delight and a revelation." Seeing firsthand what is happening across Africa, Theroux is as obsessively curious and wittily observant as always, and his readers will find themselves on an epic and enlightening journey. Dark Star Safari is one of his bravest and best books.

Customer Reviews:

Engrossing ..........2007-05-05

I have always liked travelers who like traveling on a whim and who can spontaneously react to a travel urges. And, if the traveler is as erudite, well-traveled and hypercritical as Paul, then the resulting sojourn will enthrall readers with delectable prose that covers a wide spectrum of topics ranging from spiritual journeys, solitude, despair, sublime happiness, humor to socio-politics. Very few travelers seem to have some many facets.

His epic journey takes him through Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa. The chapter covering his visit to the Dervishes in Omdurman and highlands of Harar are particularly noteworthy. His prose takes on a surreal quality and you won't be able to avoid the vivid imagery from flashing in your mind. Then, suddenly he survives an attack from Shifta bandits on the notoriously-named Bandit Road. Equally hilarious are his interactions with (what he calls) agents of virtues missionaries and aid-workers. One of the best interactions is with a Portuguese-speaking agent of virtue from Ohio who is serving in Mozambique and exacerbating the poor people's (already miserable) lives by making them believe that they are sinners and only the Almighty can absolve (?) them. Amidst all the challenging travel he finds time to pen his erotic novella (wonder if it is out already) while warding of kids teasing him "Muzungu Muzungu"

A couple of years ago, I had written a very critical review of Patagonia Express expressing regret over Paul's critical (bordering harsh) comments and the seemingly missing spiritual side. However, since that review I have undertaken many long & dangerous journeys myself and can relate to his experiences much better. Travel is like exploring unknown realms within the self. It is a journey into the past and also into the future whilst enjoying the present. Travel will dissolve all impurities, break the deceptive veneer and will rejuvenate your mind.

He is up amongst the best travel writers of all times. Kudos!!!

Another Paul Theroux adventure.......2006-06-10

"Being in Africa was like being on a dark star."

Paul Theroux isn't a "travel writer." He is a "traveler who writes." The nature of this beast is that Theroux is totally uninhibited about discussing smells, ugly people, dirty rooms, and sad situations. He is very real in a... Paul Theroux way. Others would have a different approach to describing their travels, and adventures.

On African cities:

"Even at their best, African cities seemed to me miserable improvised anthills, attracting the poor and the desperate from the bush and turning them into thieves and devisers of cruel scams. Scamming is the survival mode in a city where tribal niceties do not apply and there are no sanctions except those of the police, a class of people who in Africa generally are little more than licensed thieves" (p. 93).

"I was in no hurry, I wasn't due anywhere, yet whenever I arrived in an African city, I wanted to leave" (p. 255).

On international aid workers:

"That was to be fairly typical of my experience with aid workers in rural Africa: they were, in general, oafish self-dramatizing prigs, and often complete bastards" (p. 146).

This is Theroux's reputation: a critical and cynical observer of people [I wonder what he really thinks!]. This book should be titled Dark Star Safari for the Thick-Skinned.

A wonderful travelogue.......2006-02-13

I read "Dark Star Safari" on a long plane ride from Asia. It was fitting because SE Asia holds a place in my life somewhat akin to Africa in Theroux's, although unlike him, I get back to Asia on a fairly regular basis.

Theroux's observations and point of view will be familiar to anyone who has lived abroad at a key time in their life and made an effort to get beyond the usual expat and tourist destinations. Like me, Theroux encounters people who have risen in their countries, with varying outcomes. He is clearly dismayed by much of what he sees and gets cranky and, at times, paternalistic. He also reflects on his crankiness and paternalism, which tends to be rare in travel writing. Still, the book is his funniest since "Kingdom by the Sea". He is at his best lampooning foreigners, esp. aid workers, evangelical missionaries and high-end tourists (not to mention Germans and Brits), all suitable targets, in my opinion. The only missionaries who come off well are the Catholic nuns--dedicated people doing difficult work in unglamorous places and clearly enjoying their independence and distance from anything resembling authority. I've known similar Catholic clergy in SE Asia. For the places in Africa I've visited, his portraits of locals and locales are dead-on. He perfectly captures the annoying "my friend, come into my shop" world of tourist Cairo, as well as the oddly depressing sunshine of Hurghada, and the many sides of life in post-apartheid South Africa.

The book is illuuminating because Theroux toured the continent on largely local transportation, with local people, and yet, can draw on the observations of acquaintances like Nadile Goldimer. Readers unused to Theroux's crankiness or his disdain for sliminess on the part of locals or foreigners will not enjoy this book, nor will fans of the NGO movement. Hard ideological partisans of the Left & Right won't like it either. Theroux is able to be blunt, as well as sentimental in his observations, because of his knowledge and affection for the place. A sightseer's travelogue this isn't. For people who truly love the adventure of a journey and those who know what it's like to live some place and know it well enough to love it, the book will be very rewarding.

Most educational travel book I've seen to date.......2005-05-06

Dark Star Safari is a journey through the REAL Africa. From Cairo to Cape Town Paul travels along the worst roads and through the toughest villages that you won't see on a tourist safari, talking with and learning from everyone he meets along the way. From that perspective this was the most educational travel book to date that I've seen.

One of the consistent observations throughout the book is that wherever Paul traveled the detriment brought to Africa by aid workers is quite clear. Aid is not helping, and it never did. It only contributes to the under-development in Africa and only serves to keep the local despots and corrupt, stagnated governments in power. In Malawi, as in the much of the rest of Africa, the NGOs (Non-governmental Organizations) and virtue activists hire away the local teachers (who only make $27 to $67 dollars a month) offering them better pay and conditions to become food distributors. Few of the villages even have teachers any more.

The author speaks with a knowledge and history of Africa that few others possess since he had lived and worked as a teacher in Africa during the 1960s. As Paul states, foreign aid workers "&didn't realize that for forty years people had been saying the same things, and the result, after four decades, was a lower standard of living, a higher rate of illiteracy, over population, and much more disease. Foreigners working for development agencies didn't stand long. So they never discovered the full extent of their failure. Africans saw them come and go."

Labor-intensive projects are extremely rare in Africa because of self-serving foreign "aid" that require "purchases of machinery have to be made in the donor country, or that bids be restricted to firms in the donor country, or that a time limit be placed on the scheme which encourages the tendency towards large contracts and heavy spending on equipment." Paul also verifies what I had first read about in Jim Roger's Adventure Capitalist. All of the used clothing donated to churches to be distributed to "poor Africa" becomes merchandise the second the cargo ship leaves the port. When it reaches its destination it's purchased in large blocks by merchants who resell them. The author picks up some "new" clothes himself in order to avoid looking like a tourist. His T-shirt read "Top-Notch Plumbing". Of course, all this "good-well aid" does nothing but to hurt Africa's economy. There was a time, not too long ago, when some of the best tailors in the world were in Africa. But how can you be a tailor when the West sends clothes over for practically free? Why be a farmer when the West wants to feed you for free? What's the best industry in Kenya? Coffins. Coffin-making is a booming industry. In one area of Malawi the people are growing their own Maize crops but are using hybrid seeds resulting in big plants but sterile seeds. The farmers can't set aside plants as seed corn because they are all sterile! As Theroux says, "Without free seeds each year these people would starve."

What angers me the most though is what I have seen verified in other reports, namely aid workers "were no more than a maintenance crew on a power trip". Other than a Nun or two who had moved to Africa on their own accord, none of the aid workers, in other words the NGO aid workers, were happy to be there or in the slightest bit helpful to the author. They're all too busy driving around in their air-conditioned Land Rovers to get out and actually help people.

The happiest and most self-sufficient villages that Theroux encountered were, in a very consistent pattern, all out-of-the-way such that the government and aid workers ignored then and didn't mess with them.

There is much more to the book though than state of Africa's corruption. The author's adventures are incredible. It's incredible that he actually lived to tell the tale actually. If you want a romantic story of big-game hunters in Africa, ready Hemingway. If you want reality, read Theroux.

Marvelous, simply marvelous.......2004-10-08

I found Dark Star Safari to be one of the best books I have read in a long time. Theroux's sometimes cynical view of Africa is simply delightful. While I must admit that I know very little about Africa, Dark Star Safari has fully dissuaded me from ever visiting or giving to any charities that might operate there. I was prepared for the standard blindly-optimistic evaluation of charities in Africa and I found Theroux's experiences, criticism and realistic assesments to be both sobering and refreshing. In addition to being an engaging travel book, Dark Star Safari is also a thought-provoking journey into the causes, conditions and inevitability of African poverty and misery. I highly recommend this great literary work to anyone with the least interest in Africa, the charities and people there, or anyone else who just likes a good book.

The Old Patagonian Express: By Train Through the Americas

Average customer rating:

From Boston to Patagonia by Train
Another Wonderful Travel Expose by the Inimitable Theroux!
Take a trip
"The journey, not the arrival, matters; the voyage, not the landing."
you can forgive Paul Theroux

The Old Patagonian Express: By Train Through the Americas
Paul Theroux
Manufacturer: Mariner Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 039552105X

Book Description

Starting with a rush-hour subway ride to South Station in Boston to catch the Lake Shore Limited to Chicago, Theroux winds up on the poky, wandering Old Patagonian Express steam engine, which comes to a halt in a desolate land of cracked hills and thorn bushes. But with Theroux the view along the way is what matters: the monologuing Mr. Thornberry in Costa Rica, the bogus priest of Cali, and the blind Jorge Luis Borges, who delights in having Theroux read Robert Louis Stevenson to him.

Customer Reviews:

From Boston to Patagonia by Train.......2007-06-12

What an adventure. As I wrote in my review of the "Great Railway Bazaar," treat yourself to traveling the easy way and read one of Paul Theroux's books.

Peter Mathiessen described the "Old Patagonian Express" perfectly: "Sharp-eyed, honest, and exceptionally well-written...an implacable landscape, conveyed through a series of marvelous encounters."

Another Wonderful Travel Expose by the Inimitable Theroux!.......2007-05-25

Terrific in every way, as all of Theroux's travel books are! Not a word too many, and not an insight overlooked in this adventure through the Americas. Wonderful, beautiful, and a treasured book in my library.

Take a trip.......2006-12-18

One of Theroux's best train trips. You can really feel the shifting landscapes as he moves through the latitudes...

"The journey, not the arrival, matters; the voyage, not the landing.".......2006-06-23

In 1979, Paul Theroux departed from his childhood home in Medford, Massachusetts, and began his train journey from the East Coast of the United States to Patagonia, on the southern tip of Argentina. A seasoned traveler, fluent in Spanish, Theroux brings to life his trip through the northern and southern hemispheres, traveling without a schedule and observing his fellow passengers on the train and people at stops along the way.

In Texas he is astonished at the contrasts between Laredo on the Texas side of the Rio Grande and Nuevo Laredo across the border in Mexico, commenting on society and governments. Traveling through Mexico and Guatemala, he observes the poverty of the Indians and their lack of opportunities. In El Salvador he attends a soccer game and gets caught up in the melee and riots which follow it. In Costa Rica, the cleanest country he has visited, he finds himself stuck on the train with Mr. Thornberry, a New Hampshire tourist so boring that Theroux cannot wait to escape him--only to have Mr. Thornberry "save his life" by offering him a place to stay upon his arrival in Limon. In Panama he meets the "Zonians," from the Canal Zone, and in Cali, Colombia, he meets a married "priest" who cannot tell his devout mother in Belfast that he has "left" the church to marry and have children.

Throughout his trip, Theroux reads classics, particularly enjoying Boswell's Life of Dr. Johnson and Edgar Allen Poe's The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, both of which provide ironic reference points for his own journey. For literature lovers, the most fascinating section occurs in Buenos Aires, where Theroux spends many days visiting blind writer Jorge Luis Borges, who persuades Theroux to read to him. Ironically, one of Borges's favorite novels is The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym. As Theroux takes notes on his meetings with Borges, he becomes Borges's Boswell.

More an observer than a participant, Theroux has an unfortunate air of superiority about what he sees and hears. Sparing little sympathy for American and German tourists, he rarely gets excited about his surroundings, expressing genuine emotion only when he talks with three boys, ages ten to twelve, who live in a doorway and scavenge for food because their rural families have abandoned them. Theroux's self-congratulatory attitude gets a bit wearisome, but the picture of Central and South America, thirty years ago, and the section with Borges are unparalleled. With beautiful, carefully observed prose and a great ear for dialogue, Theroux's Patagonia Express is a landmark travel memoir. n Mary Whipple

you can forgive Paul Theroux .......2006-02-09

A remark that one reads often about Paul Theroux is that he is grouchy, critical of the people he meets, and generally unpleasant. Some readers seem to suggest that this makes him a worse traveller, not being pure-of-heart or sufficiently open-minded. On the other hand, some others suggest he is worth reading as a travel writer precisely because he's not afraid to tell-it-like-it-is. I think it is likely that both of these ideas are wrong.

When Paul Theroux writes a travel book, he is not a journalist writing simply to produce a faithful depicition of the places he visits. He is not a social crusader writing in order educate the reader about the lives of the poor or to stimulate the reader to see the richness of life outside of North American. He certainly not an egotist like Thomas Friedman who writes in order to put himself in a positive light. He is simply an intelligent man who has enough humility to try to write down what he has experienced without drawing too many clumsy conclusions or false symmetries. When he writes that he didn't like a certain person sleeping in his train compartment, he doesn't expect the reader to sympathize with either him or the unpleasant companion. I don't think he means to argue that his dislike has any special significance beyond the fact that it was part of the travel story that he is telling. I like the fact that when Theroux narrates an encounter with someone in his travels he doesn't smooth out the details to make the encounter unambiguously positive or negative. For example, when he describes meeting Jorge Borges, the Argentine writer, he clearly admires Borges' memory and sensitivity and yet he doesn't avoid commenting on Borges' stuttering and his clowning smile. And yet again I don't think Theroux's remarks are meant to be cynical or knowing. When he tells-it-like-it-is he is not trying to steer an intellectual or moral high road and he is not valiantly trying to see past illusions. I believe that when he writes down a conversation or encounter he intends only to include his side as one of the characters in his story.

Theroux has the patience to travel by train across a hemisphere and, thankfully for this reader, he has the patience to delay the moment when the mind can no longer calmly observe and rashly commits itself to streamlined answers and silly pet theories about what one sees and what it 'really' means. His books are, to me, humble because in them he shows us moments when he feels superior and they are wise because he doesn't try to step outside of his story to engage in falsely-wise pronoucements.

It doesn't matter whether Paul Therous is a 'good' traveller or not. Few travellers have the writing ability to produce any sort of record of their travels anyway, whatever their nature. The reason one ought to read Paul Theroux is be reminded of what the world and oneself can look like through the eyes of an ardent traveller who just happens to love books a bit more than he loves people.

Average customer rating:

A gorgeous bit of writing.
Filled with great stuff
Terrific
Excellent travel narrative
The great and small Mediterranean

Pillars of Hercules
Paul Theroux
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0449910857
Release Date: 1996-10-29

Amazon.com

Paul Theroux has developed one of travel writing's most identifiable styles: always the foreigner, always a bit apart, slightly irascible, but perfectly observant. At last he has ventured to one of the most traveled places on earth, and returned with his most exhilarating, revealing, and eloquent travel book. In this modern version of the Grand Tour, Theroux sets off from Gibraltar, one of the fabled Pillars of Hercules, on a glorious journey around the shores of the Mediterranean.

Book Description

"DAZZLING."
--Time
"[THEROUX'S] WORK IS DISTINGUISHED BY A SPLENDID EYE FOR DETAIL AND THE TELLING GESTURE; a storyteller's sense of pacing and gift for granting closure to the most subtle progression of events; and the graceful use of language. . . . We are delighted, along with Theroux, by the politeness of the Turks, amazed by the mountainous highlands in Syria, touched by the gesture of an Albanian waitress who will not let him pay for his modest meal. . . . The Pillars of Hercules [is] engrossing and enlightening from start (a damning account of tourists annoying the apes of Gibraltar) to finish (an utterly captivating visit with Paul Bowles in Tangier, worth the price of the book all by itself)."
--Chicago Tribune
"ENTERTAINING READING . . . WHEN YOU READ THEROUX, YOU'RE TRULY ON A TRIP."
--The Boston Sunday Globe
"HIS PICARESQUE NARRATIVE IS STUDDED WITH SCENES THAT STICK IN THE MIND. He looks at strangers with a novelist's eye, and his portraits are pleasantly tinged with malice."
--The Washington Post Book World
"THEROUX AT HIS BEST . . . An armchair trip with Theroux is sometimes dark, but always a delight."
--Playboy
"AS SATISFYING AS A GLASS OF COOL WINE ON A DUSTY CALABRIAN AFTERNOON . . . With his effortless writing style, observant eye, and take-no-prisoners approach, Theroux is in top form chronicling this 18-month circuit of the Mediterranean."
--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Customer Reviews:

A gorgeous bit of writing........2007-03-21

I have read five of Paul Theroux's travel books: The Great Railway Bazaar, The Kingdom by the Sea, The Old Patagonian Express, Travel Fiend and now The Pillars of Hercules. I can say without a doubt, that this is my favorite travelogue of his. The book is concise and knowledgable and shows erudition lacking in most travelogues.

It is a total learning experience. I have looked up more words in this book than in most books I read. And I really appreciate that. He doesn't write books for people who are looking to read about the surface of a culture, or who just want the interesting bits revealed to them. He writes books for people that are truly interested and will take the time to learn all that he supplies the reader.

And I think this is his crowning achievement!

Filled with great stuff.......2007-03-09

Well, I just enjoy listening to (reading) what this guy talks (writes) about in his travels. An example (just one of many, many) is about the Mafia Monks. Seriously! Their nefarious activities "never prevented their hearing confessions, saying masses, or preaching at funerals - in one case, the monk in question saying a funeral high mass and preaching piously over the body of a man he had ordered killed." And I like the way he talks to ordinary people on the street and gets their point of view. Yes, it's a topsy-turvy world, but it sure beats the artificial world of fiction. I just visited Las Vegas. People wasting their lives chasing the jackpot, the fantasy world. Well, to each his own. But Paul Theroux tells it like it is - nutty, maybe, but that's the reality.

Terrific.......2007-01-14

Paul Theroux's travel books are a unique delight, and "Pillars of Hercules" is one of his best. In it, he travels from Gibraltar to Tangier, the long way, around the Med Sea. It's compelling reading: The places he visits and the people he meets; his 'take' on things. I had never even considered wanting to travel to Croatia or Albania or Syria or Tunisia, but now I'd like to go. But it's PT's take on places I've been to - Spain, France, Italy - that were most enjoyable, for he usually travels to out of the way places. I was pleased that he also noticed how much dog crap is on the sidewalks in France. His conversations with famed writers Naguib Mahfouz (after being stabbed by a fanatical Muslim)in Cairo and with Paul Bowles in Tangier are two of the books best parts. I highly recommend this book.

Excellent travel narrative.......2005-08-18

This is the first of a few Theroux books I have read. I absolutely loved it. The book provides an excellent portrayal of people in the context of their history and culture. He travels to cities and regions along the Mediterranean that many of us wouldn't otherwise give a thought. One really gets a feel for what life is like in each town. This book, like his others, highlight the difference between a traveler and being a tourist.

I've given the book only 4 stars because your ability to enjoy the book will depend on how you feel about Theroux's voice. As other reviewers have indicated, he is a critical individual with a huge ego. If you find this tone off-putting, you may not enjoy the book. He does seem more annoyed in this book than in others, probably because there are more tourists around. Personally, I was so wrapped up in Theroux's excellent prose that I hardly noticed.

I am not sure why reviewers complain about this not being a good guide - it isn't meant to be a guidebook. Look to Fodor's, Frommer's, Rick Steves, or Lonely Planet for European guidebooks.

The great and small Mediterranean.......2005-07-30

In THE PILLARS OF HERCULES, Paul Theroux travels a well-trodden path, for once, and one which has perhaps been excessively romanticized in the past. In contrast to many of the other regions of the world in which he has traveled and of which he has written, the Mediterranean has a long literary history consisting of native writers and expatriates alike. In much of this book, Theroux manages to skirt the most touristed regions of Mediterranea while seeking out the landmarks and icons (some living) of the literary Mediterranean. In some ways, THE PILLARS OF HERCULES is substantially different than any other travelogue published by Theroux.

In other ways, however, this book remains true to the Theroux we have always loved or reviled. How could it not be? Theroux's acerbic pen has not lost its bite, and his misanthropic self is as prominent a character in this book as it is in all his others. Now, however, he is treading a sacred path: one which, for once, may have been crossed by a substantial number of his readers.

Beginning in Gibraltar, Theroux's plan is to circumnavigate the Mediterranean while remaining as close to the water's edge as possible. The plan to stay within sight of the water sometimes causes Theroux (or perhaps it provides the excuse he needs) to miss some of the more popular locations of the Grand Tour, yet it keeps him close to those who make their livelihoods at the shores of the great sea. In one of the most traveled regions on earth, Theroux manages to find those out of the way places--not gems perhaps, but surprisingly untouched by the tourist trade--where we can really experience a sense of place and of culture.

THE PILLARS OF HERCULES ends up being a deeply satisfying work for those who love to travel in a vagabond manner, though perhaps not for those whose travels consist of packaged tours and managed activity schedules (and perhaps not as well for those possessed of eternally sunny dispositions). Whatever your travel preference, I would strongly recommend this book to anyone pondering a Mediterranean vacation. There is bound to be something interesting or entertaining here for anyone.

Jeremy W. Forstadt

Average customer rating:

What would Theroux say today, over 20 years later?
Scrutinizing The Inscrutable
What a trip!
Feels like I was there in China
Notes from a Jaded Traveler

Riding the Iron Rooster
Paul Theroux
Manufacturer: Ivy Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0804104549
Release Date: 1989-03-28

Book Description

Paul Theroux invites you to join him on the journey of a lifetime, in the grand romanttic tradition, by train across Euope, through the vast underbelly of Asia and in the heart of Russia, and then up to China. Here is China by rail, as seen and heard through the eyes and ears of one of the most intrepid and insightful travel writers of our time.

Customer Reviews:

What would Theroux say today, over 20 years later?.......2006-10-13

I read this book over a week-long period, almost 20 years after he rode the Iron Rooster through China. The many commentaries of country life, the weird customs of the people and the constant yearning to shoot birds for food made me wonder if China today is still like it was 20 years ago. I certainly hope it is not, but Theroux's style and detailed observations of miniscule events make this a very interesting, graphic read. I had the sense of where I was in the country, from the barren desert to the freezing mountains and every track inbetween. I didn't want to get off the train.

This was my first Theroux travelogue. I will certainly read many more.

Scrutinizing The Inscrutable.......2006-08-18

For many travel writers, the point is more in the journey than the destination. That is especially true with Paul Theroux here. Whether it is the rubble of the Great Wall, the desolate wastes of Inner Mongolia, or the awe-inspiring vistas of Tibet, Theroux uses the various places of China he encounters by rail as a backdrop for what interests him most, the people.

Published in 1988, as China emerged from the darkness of the Cultural Revolution and just before the Tiananmen crackdown of 1989, "Riding The Iron Rooster" captures the world's most populous nation catching a wave of democratic sentiment, embracing materialism and such symbols of Western decadence as Jan and Dean. Whether government handler or fellow rail passenger, most everyone Theroux meets has regrets about the country's hardline past and doesn't mince words expressing it, in the process challenging his (and our) expectations of encountering a continent of doctrinaire Maoists.

"We can always fool a foreigner" is a Chinese proverb Theroux quotes right off the bat, and he takes it as his job proving otherwise. Better equipped than most Westerners, he has not only been to China before but speaks the language, enough so he can distinguish genuine laughs from politeness or insecure warning, while asking questions that would have gotten him in trouble ten years ago but now evoke amusement and curiosity.

The result is a highly subjective, idiosyncratic blast, of a self-admittedly rude foreigner pushing boundaries in an attempt to uncover deeper truths from a populace unaccustomed to giving them. His admiration of the Chinese is not without frustration. "I hated sight-seeing in China," he writes. "I felt the Chinese hid behind their rebuilt ruins so that no one could look closely at their lives."

Score this one China 1, Theroux 0, but he does put up a noble fight, and provides you with an entertaining glimpse at a country that engages your deeper interest, and admiration for an author always willing to go the extra mile, even in a cold and filthy railcar.

The book does lack some sense of geography; even consulting the map on the flyleaf doesn't help as Theroux expands and contracts the reader's sense of time and space. He may dismiss the terra-cotta soldiers' ranks of Xi'an with a couple of paragraphs, while spending pages on the quality and universality of public spitting. But you wind up with a journey that tells you as much about the complexity of Theroux, a dyspeptic but very talented observer in the tradition of Evelyn Waugh, as it does about the great land he visits here.

"Travel is frequently a matter of seizing a moment," he writes. "It is personal. Even if I were traveling with you, your trip would not be mine." Here, you sort of are traveling with him, and the result is a literary journey as intoxicating as it is educational.

What a trip!.......2006-04-27

I promise you will live this journey! It is incredible how Theroux describes the people, the places. A rail journey through China was nothing short of heroic back then, and I am sure would be nothing short of heroic now. I met the people, sat on the train, ate the strange foods, could taste the strange foods, slept on floors, in what is kindly described as inns. The rail stations, the villages, the towns. And the weather. I cannot imagine freezing like that, or sweating like that. Or can I???

All I know is that I want to make that journey. I was near there not too many years ago, shortly after I read the book for the first time. I was on a boat on the Amur River in the Russian Far East, and looked down toward China and thought of Theroux and his journey.

Riding the Iron Rooster is great literature for anyone who loves adventure travel.

Feels like I was there in China.......2005-11-07

I have become hooked on Theroux travel narratives. This is the third and the best of his narratives I have read so far. And this one is also the most funniest and engaging of them all.

The book deals with Theroux's travels through China in the late 80's. He decided to travel the bredth of the country by trains and in the process comes to appreciate the birth of a new mighty industrialized China. He was able to interact freely with the Chinese and his conversations are funny, insightful and engaging. The Chinese comes across as a rational people who knows what they want from life, even though the goals presented by Theroux deals exclusively with consumer goods. A slight annoyance is Theroux's attempt to define all the Chinese by how they responded to cultural revolution.

Notes from a Jaded Traveler.......2005-10-21

This book relates the experiences of train enthusiast Paul Theroux when he set out to write a book about train travel in China. Theroux has traveled many thousands of miles by train, perhaps more than he would care to remember. In this book, he decides to visit China by train. As he sets out from London in the spring of 1986, he joins a package tour, which takes him across Europe through Poland and Moscow and continues on to China via the Siberian Express. Theroux was fortunate in that his train cleared Eastern Europe before the radiation cloud from Chernobyl blanketed the area with radiation. After a long journey across Russia, he arrives in Beijing and begins his explorations of the Chinese train system. At first, he is saddled with a Chinese escort, (who he demanded be non-English speaking so that he could practice his Chinese), but later he manages to travel independently. Theroux ends his journey with an expedition (by road) to Tibet.

From the very beginning of the book, Theroux comes across as a burnt-out traveler, whose primary goal seems to be completing the journey so that he can write about it. He can't seem to find a single positive trait of his fellow travelers to remark about. He dismisses others he observed along the way with negative terms such as "fatties" or "simians." With this negative attitude, much of the book is a grind to get through, although some readers may see humor in Theroux's attitude, and others may find the information about travel conditions worthwhile. Theroux is a very experienced traveler, and he makes a point not to mention minor ailments such as belly-aches, although he must have had quite a few, considering the food he ate. The text finally comes alive in the last chapter, where Theroux gets off the trains at last and has a real adventure. Die-hard Theroux fans may get a kick out of this book, but others may find Theroux's negative attitude simply dreary.

Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific

Average customer rating:

I feel so lucky to have found Paul Theroux
Terrific reading
A 20/20 view of Oceana
A dismal whinge
On the whole, a satisfying read

Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific
Paul Theroux
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0449908585
Release Date: 1993-10-19

Book Description

"Possibly his best travel book...an observant and frequently hilarious account of a trip that took him to 51 Pacific Islands."
TIME
Renowned travel writer and novelist Paul Theroux has been many places in his life and tried almost everything. But this trip in and around the lands of the Pacific may be his boldest, most fascinating yet. From New Zealand's rain forests, to crocodile-infested New Guinea, over isolated atolls, through dirty harbors, daring weather and coastlines, he travels by Kayak wherever the winds take him--and what he discovers is the world to explore and try to understand.

Customer Reviews:

I feel so lucky to have found Paul Theroux.......2007-02-11

Before starting to read PT's travel books, I had to search for a book to read and I started many which I ended up throwing away after reading a hundred or so pages and I decided to give up on writing negative reviews as a result. Then I read Dark Star Safari and now I want to read all of PT's books.

Theroux mentions so many different things during his travels that it is difficult to tell you just what the books are like, except to say that while reading, it feels like you are there witnessing these people and places with him. I will give just one example from Oceania which I found great fun to read, namely his description of Dame Cath Tizard's way of eating. He wrote, "She scraped food onto her fork, but before she heaved it she nudged more onto the fork with her thumb. And after she ate the forkful she licked her thumb. Once I caught her grinning at me, but she was not grinning. She was trying to dislodge a bit of food that had found its way between her teeth, and still talking and grinning, she began picking her teeth. Having freed the food from her teeth, she glanced at it and pushed it into her mouth. (while talking of her being chosen governor-general)...Her finger was in her mouth, fishing for bits of trapped lamb sinews... And she slurped the food off her finger, and then began scraping the plate...." I'm not saying I have the greatest table manners myself, but I simply revelled in reading this description.

I can understand that there are many people who wouldn't like reading him and who would disagree with Paul Theroux's views. I am saying I find his writing thoroughly entertaining and relaxing because I like to see the world the way it really is, the beautiful as well as the ugly, and this book satisfies my curiosity about much of the South Pacific.

Terrific reading.......2007-01-18

I find Paul Theroux's travel books to be a delight to read, and Happy Isles of Oceania is one of my favorites. Reeling from a split with his wife, PT begins his journey on a book tour in NZ and Australia, and then travels around much of Oceania. He kayaks and camps on most of the islands, and makes many discoveries about the various people and cultures. Most notable is the natives' consistent use of the ocean as a toilet and a garbage dump. He hikes in NZ's southern alps; explores the Aussie bush; attends the unusual Yam-festival in the Trobriands; meets the King of Tonga; insults a politician from NZ; plays Robinson Crusoe for a week; contracts a disease; gets stung by jellyfish; makes friends; drinks kava; wonders what drew Robert Louis Stevenson to Samoa and Paul Gaugain to Tahiti; and visits a Hawaiian island that few are allowed on. If you like PT's other travel books, you'll love this one. If you haven't read any, this is a great one to start with.

A 20/20 view of Oceana.......2006-12-15

This is a good read. Theroux gives it to us straight. I found it refreshing to read the good and the bad of all the islands and I strongly disagree with two of the previous reviews. This is not about Theroux's children and wife and if he does whine his melancholy only enriches his experience.

I did not have high expectations for this book as I picked it up at a library sale for a quarter and a friend of mine that had lived in Tonga said he disagreed with Theroux's perception of that Island. After reading the section on Tonga I felt it interesting, humorous and I felt as if I had been there myself and would have experienced it as Theroux did, the outsider "Palangi", not as my friend did with a two year Peace Corps stint.

Theroux likes some places he visits and dislikes others. I would not have believed anything else and would not have wanted to read a superficial treatment of the area. Not every island is a paradise, certainly not American Somoa but he does reveal the paradise of the Cook Islands, The Marquesas, and the fascination of Easter Island.

Theroux may not be the perfect person but he is very nearly the perfect travel writer and I very much enjoyed seeing Oceana through his eyes.

A dismal whinge.......2006-04-27

This book is a prolonged snivel about the pain of voluntarily going to places the author then found tacky, hostile or boring. By his own account he had not a moment's pleasure from his travels until he reached Hawaii, where it was all American and OK and Not Foreign. The only puzzle is why he did not at a much earlier stage of the trip get on a plane and go there direct; presumably he'd taken an advance from his publisher and had to deliver a book of some sort. The whole thing carries a moral for modern travellers: if you can't engage constructively with the places you go to, then please, please, stay at home - that way you'll be happier, the foreign people will be happier, and you won't needlessly contribute to airline CO2 emissions.

On the whole, a satisfying read.......2005-09-04

To be honest, it took me a while to get into this one. I found the sections on Australia and New Zealand uninteresting and somewhat disorderly, and not any way as compelling as what was to come. The book took off as soon as he hit the north-eastern coast of Australia, camping on the beaches around Cookstown etc., and his subsequent journey to the Trobriands, and on across the pacific. The portrayal of the characters was really excellent, and I found myself sharing in Theroux's humiliation at the hands of the islanders, escpecially the teasing he endured from the children in the Trobriands, frightening really.
Like my title suggests, this was a pleasant enjoyable read.

Average customer rating:

Yangtze thru the eyes of millions

Sailing Through China
Paul Theroux
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin (T)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0395348366

Customer Reviews:

Yangtze thru the eyes of millions.......2000-01-24

A funny account of one man's cruise down the Yangtze with a group of American millionaires... Insightful, biting humor. An accurate description of tour-isms.

Average customer rating:

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER
Comedy and tragedy in the dark night of Haiti
A compelling drama in Haiti
A Novel That Matters
Thoughtful thriller

The Comedians (Penguin Classics)
Graham Greene
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0143039199
Release Date: 2005-01-25

Amazon.com

One of Graham Greene's most chilling and prophetic novels, The Comedians is set in a Haiti ruled by Papa Doc and the Tontons Macoute, his sinister secret police. Just as The Quiet American offered a preview of the coming horrors of American involvement in Vietnam, this novel presages the chaos in Haiti. Classic Graham Greene.

Book Description

Three men meet on a ship bound for Haiti, a world in the grip of the corrupt “Papa Doc” and the Tontons Macoute, his sinister secret police. Brown the hotelier, Smith the innocent American, and Jones the confidence man—these are the “comedians” of Greene's title. Hiding behind their actors' masks, they hesitate on the edge of life. They are men afraid of love, afraid of pain, afraid of fear itself...

Customer Reviews:

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER.......2007-06-15

This is a late review and I won't go over what has already been said about this novel. Papa Doc's reign of terror is now historical fact. But if one reads this tight political thriller and one of Greene's best, you can see history repeating itself in the not too recent Hussein reign of terror or go back on a grander scale to Hitler. It goes on and on and THE COMEDIANS deliberately gives the main characters a "no name" status--common with no first names. They are people who hide themselves behind comedic masks and at times tell funny stories while the terror of the Touton Mocteuc consumes everything around them.

We are fortunate there is a paperback edition of this classic still available in print. It is a must read to learn the valuable lessons of the past. When the book was written, it was immediate and hard hitting. The author has visited Haiti twice and before finishing it, Papa Doc heard of the book and refused him entrance into the country, so the book ends on a boat leaving the country which was probably not the author's original ending due to his inability to enter Haiti again.

A very important book for all. A must read. As I stated, I am not giving plot summary or details that have been written about previously in 20 some reviews, just an overview of the book and the impact it still maintains after 40 years.

Comedy and tragedy in the dark night of Haiti.......2006-10-28

Three men meet on the Medea, a ship sailing from Philadelphia to Haiti, a country then in the grip of the corrupt Doctor Duvalier - Papa Doc - and his sinister secret police, the Tontons Macoute.
Brown is a sixty-year old owner of the hotel Trianon in Port-au-Prince which he inherited from his mother. The place used to swarm with guests, there used to be cocktails and music but now with the Duvalier regime, hardly any tourists come to Haiti. He is a man without roots and often disillusioned because he has lost the capacity to be concerned, Yet subsequent events in the novel show that he is a man who can get involved if the situation requires him to do so, even at the expense of his own safety. In this sense he is a true humanist.
Mr and Mrs Smith are an American couple travelling to Haiti to open a centre of vegetarian cooking in Port-au-Prince. The reality they are about to discover is bound to disappoint them bitterly. These two characters show that a passionate belief in the integrity of the world may not be a simple flaw in character.
And then there is Mr Jones the confidence man whom everyone likes because he can make people laugh despite the fact that little of what he claims can be taken seriously.
These are the comedians in Mr Greene's novel. As the narrator states at one point: as long as we pretend, we escape. The atrocious dictatorship of Papa Doc is vividly portrayed and looking back it seems hardly believable that such an appalling personage was once viewed as a safeguard against communism in Haiti by Washington. The darkness and the terror of the curfew, the telephones that don't work, the Tontons Macoute in their dark glasses, the violence, injustice, torture and poverty, everything is sharply described by the author. And yet despite all the pain there is always time for love and laughter.
This book has been published as an audiobook by the BBC and is read in a superb way by the comedian Tim Pigott-Smith.

A compelling drama in Haiti.......2006-01-19

This great novel is set in Haiti, in the times of the first years of Papa Doc Duvalier's horrific, crazy and totalitarian regime. Brown is an Englishman who has inherited a hotel in Port-au-Prince from his extravagant and licentious mother. As things are getting bad in Haiti, Brown travels to New York to try to find a buyer, but obviously he fails. Meanwhile, Duvalier has tightened his grip on power, surrounded by the Satanic Tontons Macoutes, his political police, whose presence permeates all the novel with sinister undertones. Aboard the ship that's taking him back to Haiti, there come several intriguing characters. Two of them are an exhilarating couple of Americans, the Smiths, who are obviously travelling to a country of which they know nothing. Their object is to have a jolly good time in a Caribbean island and try to establish a vegetarian center. By the way, Mr. Smith had run against Truman in 1948, as the candidate of the Vegetarian Party (he got ten thousand votes), and so throughout the novel he's called "the Presidential candidate". His wife is a woman of enormous coourage, absurd and naive. The Smiths portray the paradigmatical naivete of Americans, but also the decency and cleannes of good people. There's also Jones, clearly a con man, who likes to be called "Commander Jones". He's a colorful guy who is very good at making people laugh and who tells endless stories about his prowess during the war, in Burma. When they reach Haiti, the Smiths take room in Brown's hotel. While they're on their way, a horrified Brown discovers by the pool the body of the Minister of Health, who has committed suicide and to whom the Smiths carried a letter of recommendation. In the following weeks, while Brown gets back with his lover, the wife of a South American ambassador, he also sees how his business collapses, due to the fact that there aren't tourists anymore. The political situation deteriorates and there are rumors of guerrillas in the mountains. For a time, Jones enjoys political favour, thanks to his prospects of doing good business with the government, but then they discover his deception and he is forced to take refuge in Brown's lover's house. Then Jones and Brown are thrown into the political chaos.

Greene's central subjects are here: the fallible individual fleeing from himself and from his past; moral failure and the search for redemption; loneliness, human misery; the stupidity of fanaticisms; the strength of faith and the blurring border betweeen good and evil. Like in "The Power and the Glory", the flight forward allows us to take a look at the bare human condition. It should be mentioned that the novel contains a good deal of sense of humor, of course an ironic one, which makes it all the more enjoyable.

A Novel That Matters.......2005-09-06

Graham Greene did not feel this was his favorite work, and according to Paul Theroux, it's not his best. [Read Theroux's introduction, which should have been called the Afterword, AFTER reading the book.] Yet this novel captures a historic time and the fate of a "failed state" under the spell of a mad dictator, Papa Doc Duvalier, whose obsessions with Voodoo and power engender perpetual terror and ruin, enforced by his personal goon squad, the sunglass-clad Toutons Macoute. Greene brilliantly divides the world into "comedians" and those who actually do something. We meet a rich mix of both, beginning with Brown, Smith, and Jones, the comics, on a Dutch ship with a Greek name, the Medea, in Greek mythology an enchantress who repeatedly resorted to murder to gain her ends, like Papa Doc and others in this enchanting book. Greene weaves a tight narrative, for the most part, where dialog comes at you in staccato fashion, revealing the soft spots, lies, and bluffs of each speaker. Brown, Greene's persona, narrates the book and shows himself to be a brooding egotist dwelling on his lost father and falsely promising youth at the Jesuit College of the Visitation at Monte Carlo, where his mother had abandoned him. He's the jealous, possessive sort, a lapsed Catholic who has replaced his faith with unattainable romance. His lover, Martha, the wife of a South American diplomat, is always in his thoughts, even though he attempts to keep her out. He dwells on her every word. Greene gives their secret affair a real feel of desperation and passion, mixed with distrust and futility. We also meet Mr. and Mrs. Smith, naive American do gooders who absurdly want to open a vegetarian center in the midst of Haiti's nightmarish capital. Then there's Jones, a grifter who is the victim of his own comic farce. The "doers" are Dr. Magiot, a closet communist who sincerely tries to save lives in the name of humanity, and Philipot, who starts off as a poet and ends up in the mountains with a ragged band of rebels trying to overthrow the beast.

Greene also shows us in a sweeping gesture the disastrous policy of the US in Latin America, as President Johnson, in an attempt to keep communism out of the region, backed the lunatic Duvalier with troops, to the utter dismay of his victims. Greene was long onto America's mischief and meddling here and elsewhere, to the point where the FBI, for 40 years, had monitored his statements and his movements, according to Theroux. In this sense, this novel is relevant to today's naive global comic and tragic American policies of ridiculously attempting to "democratize" the world, while moving American corporations into these so-called liberated nations. Greene would have very much howled about Bush's "faith-based" missteps across the globe, and he would have found plenty of failed states and shady comic and tragic characters to write about.

Above all, here is a novel that "counts." Because it exists, Duvalier's Haiti is preserved in its hothouse cruelty and lurid details. Although Brown's brooding is sometimes self-centered and indulgent, you will still walk away from this novel richer for having read it. The misery it vividly portrays still stalks the earth, particularly in Africa and the Middle East.

Thoughtful thriller.......2005-08-18

Maybe "tense drama" is better than "thriller" for this one, but it has its fair share of taut moments. Brown owns a hotel in Haiti, where he hosts Mr. & Mrs. Smith as they seek to build a vegetarian center sponsored by the government. Together, they catch glimpses of the elusive Jones, who is consistent only in constantly changing what he appears to be.

Greene successfully highlights the terror of the Duvalier regime in Haiti and the mythology that arose around it. He draws on characters that could be stereotypical (the idealistic Smith, the opportunistic Jones, and the realistic Brown) but manages to give them enough personality to feel real. As he does so, he explores what it means to be truly genuine, to care for a cause, and what ideals are worth fighting for (and how it makes sense to fight for them).

This novel is thought-provoking, engaging, and provides an important glimpse of history.

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