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halfmanhalfbook's review against another edition
4.0
In 1933, at the age of 19, Fermor decided that he wanted to walk across Europe to Constantinople. Starting in Holland, after catching the boat from London, he has his passport, a little money, a small bag of belongings and a new pair of hob-nailed boots.
He is in no rush to reach his destination, and with his easygoing manner makes friends easily as he walks. People are always sharing food or putting him up for the night, or he sleeps down in barns. He immerses himself in the culture of the places he walks through, taking time to see the sights. He is fortunate to sometimes stay with Counts and Barons across Germany, who are delighted to welcome a wandering soul. Most of the people he meets are warm with their greetings and generous with their time, food and shelter. He has his bag stolen at one point, but he is issued with a new passport, and is lent £5 by the consulate to be paid back when he is able to do so.
This point in history is where Europe had mostly recovered from the shattering First World War, and people have more or less gone back to their previous way of life. He provides a rare snapshot of what it was like in this period of calm. But in Germany the Nazi party is starting its steady rise to power and there are odd one or two individuals that have a problem with him being there.
He writes with such eloquence and detail in the book. The descriptions of the towns and villages, as well as the Rhine and the Danube are so evocative. He meets such interesting people too, from the German nobility to the country peasants, and acquires the odd hangover after nights spent in bars.
Just about to start the sequel now.
He is in no rush to reach his destination, and with his easygoing manner makes friends easily as he walks. People are always sharing food or putting him up for the night, or he sleeps down in barns. He immerses himself in the culture of the places he walks through, taking time to see the sights. He is fortunate to sometimes stay with Counts and Barons across Germany, who are delighted to welcome a wandering soul. Most of the people he meets are warm with their greetings and generous with their time, food and shelter. He has his bag stolen at one point, but he is issued with a new passport, and is lent £5 by the consulate to be paid back when he is able to do so.
This point in history is where Europe had mostly recovered from the shattering First World War, and people have more or less gone back to their previous way of life. He provides a rare snapshot of what it was like in this period of calm. But in Germany the Nazi party is starting its steady rise to power and there are odd one or two individuals that have a problem with him being there.
He writes with such eloquence and detail in the book. The descriptions of the towns and villages, as well as the Rhine and the Danube are so evocative. He meets such interesting people too, from the German nobility to the country peasants, and acquires the odd hangover after nights spent in bars.
Just about to start the sequel now.
msstaud's review against another edition
2.0
I struggled to get into this book, and ultimately gave up…
jonfaith's review
5.0
At school some learning by heart was compulsory, though not irksome. But this intake was out-distanced many times, as it always is among people who need poetry, by a private anthology, both of those automatically absorbed and of poems consciously chosen and memorized as though one were stocking up for a desert island or for a stretch of solitary.
The evidence of the "amazing" rating in this instance is that I sat raptured and read all day long.
It wasn't a diversion or an escape from tedium.
No, reading Fermor was enthralling. Most people now know the context where an 18 y/o Fermor in 1933 decides to walk from Holland to Constantinople. So he does. He wrote this trilogy of account over thirty years later and there is a bit of refocusing and jumping outside of the actual experience. That makes a compelling narrative as does his insertion of actual diary entries during his pilgrimage. His mind is filled with poetry, with architecture and painting. he meets interesting people who gloss over thousands of years of history with terse but bold erudition. There isn't a great deal of self doubt here which is possibly a result of mature editing but somehow I think he was simply more purposed. He creates a social event in one singular instance as he fears he is an affront to his potential hosts. he wasn't but isn't able to step back into the situation. he has to proceed with the farce. that is on the instance I encountered and I marvel at that, especially in in reflection of my own life and travel.
I just bought several more volumes of his and am considering sitting by the mailbox in anticipation.
The evidence of the "amazing" rating in this instance is that I sat raptured and read all day long.
It wasn't a diversion or an escape from tedium.
No, reading Fermor was enthralling. Most people now know the context where an 18 y/o Fermor in 1933 decides to walk from Holland to Constantinople. So he does. He wrote this trilogy of account over thirty years later and there is a bit of refocusing and jumping outside of the actual experience. That makes a compelling narrative as does his insertion of actual diary entries during his pilgrimage. His mind is filled with poetry, with architecture and painting. he meets interesting people who gloss over thousands of years of history with terse but bold erudition. There isn't a great deal of self doubt here which is possibly a result of mature editing but somehow I think he was simply more purposed. He creates a social event in one singular instance as he fears he is an affront to his potential hosts. he wasn't but isn't able to step back into the situation. he has to proceed with the farce. that is on the instance I encountered and I marvel at that, especially in in reflection of my own life and travel.
I just bought several more volumes of his and am considering sitting by the mailbox in anticipation.
inga_lara's review
4.0
Frásögnin í þessum fyrsta hluta ferðasögu gönguhrólfs frá Rotterdam til Konstantínópel á árunum 1933-34 er lifandi og fjölbreytt. Þar eru einstakar náttúrulýsingar, vísanir í heimsbókmenntir og þjóðsagna heim svæðanna sem farið er um, lýsingar á byggingarlist og listaverkum af þekkingu og næmi og öllu því margbreytilega fólki sem hann mætti á ferðum sínum og greiddi götu hans eftir efnum og aðstæðum. Þó sumt hafi farið fyrir ofan garð vegna þekkingarleysi var lesturinn skemmtilegur.
tsmcgrath's review against another edition
5.0
Great time window for a travelogue.
Loved the flavor of that time and the slow travel philosophy. Makes me want to walk through a season too. Good mix of upper and lower economic class experiences with people he met. But a bit one-sided. He clearly is slumming it for fun. Great writing. Though a bit over the top at times.
Loved the flavor of that time and the slow travel philosophy. Makes me want to walk through a season too. Good mix of upper and lower economic class experiences with people he met. But a bit one-sided. He clearly is slumming it for fun. Great writing. Though a bit over the top at times.
colinlusk's review against another edition
4.0
Europe, in the last months before the second world war, is described beautifully by an educated, observant, interesting writer. He's out there in nature, sketching the people and places while all the time the pressure is building for war - Nazism is taking hold in minds and social Democrats are fighting fascists in the street. Powerful stuff.
shekispeaks's review
3.0
Good in parts.
An aimless rambling journey at times overtly luxurious due to the connections of an educated English man. He was welcomed into many a schlosses, hardly faced a hardship.
Still a journey and fun in parts. Does drag on a bit though, and the language a bit archaic.
An aimless rambling journey at times overtly luxurious due to the connections of an educated English man. He was welcomed into many a schlosses, hardly faced a hardship.
Still a journey and fun in parts. Does drag on a bit though, and the language a bit archaic.
abeanbg's review
3.0
This never really caught me. Honestly, a lot of the references that Fermor was so full of were rather lost on me. I did not have an early 20th Century British Public School background and have little sense of what that might've entailed, so I'll just have to write this one off.
_bb's review
3.0
I enjoyed this first half of his travelogue and intend to read the second book. While the writing is often dense and slow paced (the small font size doesn't help) it's in a casual, pleasant way. Like overhearing an interesting story in a cafe. Sometimes I skimmed, but not with bad feeling, the digressions of extensive information and detail (about artists, architecture, history, etc) that I know aren't going to stick in my mind. He comes off well as a traveler and person. The kind you'd be happy to sit next to on a bus, plane or train and be amazed and humbled by their stories.
If it's to be believed that the excerpts from his journal in the later part of the book are direct and mostly unedited, then he had a talent for writing that was well developed early on.
If it's to be believed that the excerpts from his journal in the later part of the book are direct and mostly unedited, then he had a talent for writing that was well developed early on.