Yes, he is a curmudgeon - but I still love his books.
This one in particular fed into my wish to " someday" travel. I was a poor student who thought travel was only for the rich. I didn't realize you could do it cheaply - if you don't mind a few discomforts. It gave the information I needed to take journeys that expanded my world view.
The book reads like a diary of his travel from Boston to Tierra del Fuego, most of the time by train. Along the way he meets both ordinary & famous people - most of whom he dislikes. At the beginning of his train trip he meets a self-centered young woman who gives him a rundown of her dietary needs and "sensitivities." She is a the first of many people who will annoy and confound him. He also manages to meet luminaries like Jorge Luis Borges. Even Borges doesn't distract him from train" schedules", breakdowns, people, and misunderstanding that - he thinks - exist only to thwart his enjoyment. He hates everyone and everything but manages to describe it all in hilarious prose.
I know many people dislike his grouchy persona - they wonder why he even travels. Give him a break - he is like one of those old - fashioned uncles (at least in literature) who fill your head with wonderful images of far away places while complaining about the most trivial problems. You know he's finicky, so all you take in is the wonder of discovering new places.
I will always love this book and Mr. Theroux for leading me out of small, Midwestern-town-USA. How else would I have found myself hitching a ride to Otoval market (ECUADOR) on top of a precarious truck carrying vegetables & chickens? Two Japanese sisters made the trip even more fun as we screamed & laughed all the way. A trip of a lifetime on a shoe string budget. Luckily I was young enough to ignore discomfort so that I could enjoy new vistas and people.
I will always keep my worn copy of this book. I give it 5 stars for inspiration, hilarity, and practical advice.
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Travelogue of a railway journey that is no longer possible
Theroux journeyed from Boston, Mass., to Esquel, Argentina (Patagonia), mostly by train (where political conditions permitted), when such a journey was still possible. I'm given to understand that it is no longer. The book is a chronicle of the experience of railway travel during the first decade of Amtrak, when routes and services were slimmed down. Into Central and South America, the experience is more exotic. The peoples who live in those countries feel differently about their trains because, for them, the arrival of the railroads was a different story than for the USA. Theroux rarely interviews people he meets formally because there's so little time but recounts conversations he has with various people, some of whom are, frankly, unsavory. I got the impression that Theroux didn't care much for most of the people he met on his journey, except for Jorge Luis Borges, the one man whom he regarded as his intellectual equal. I'm not sure that "entitled" is really the word but Theroux comes off as a bit of a Yanqui, sometimes. I do like his descriptions of landscapes which are graphically vivid enough for me to conjure images in my mind. Theroux is not a railfan; he's a travel-fan. The train is nothing noteworthy in itself; it's a just a mode of travel. I wish there had been more detail about the locomotives and cars, and the histories of the lines, but I can't fault Theroux for that. I got the sense that I read a small but significant piece of history, as this journey is no longer possible. It's a good book, though not a great one.
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DCarter
Travel writing at its best
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 3, 2023Amazon Customer
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Reviewed in India on August 27, 2023
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Reviewed in India on August 27, 2023
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