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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
Thought provoking. He is right about the fact that something needs to change because forty years or so of whatever it is people have done have failed. So maybe it is time to change what we are doing.
To what I don't know but I am not the person called upon to solve this issue.
To what I don't know but I am not the person called upon to solve this issue.
Interesting travel in harsh parts of Africa. Bits of travel philosophy and lessons interspersed. Oh and I am not intending on an Angola trip, ever.
Bleak, but that's the area, and detached at times in a way I'm not used to from Theroux. Also funny, introspective and opinionated, as you would expect.
This is not your typical heartwarming cultural comedy of errors travel memoir; it sobering, depressing, and at points, downright frightening. Theroux journeys through South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, and Angola to see how much Africa has changed in the ten years he was there last. The verdict? He cuts his trip short. Africa has always been a land of extremes and today it is even more so. There are pricey resorts where people can stay with a herd of elephants, but all of the elephants are in captivity-- not roaming free. Wealthy neighborhoods surrounded by slums and a rising business of slum tourism. Great disparities of racial equality. The iconic lush African landscape juxtaposed against post-apocalyptic cities and villages where electricity and running water are intermittent. English teachers that cannot tell the difference between fiction and nonfiction. The greatest disparity of all is Angola, a country that brings in 1 BILLION dollars every five days from its oil revenue, but about 90% of its population is unemployed and in poverty. While there are glimmers of hope, they are only mere glimmers that are eclipsed by the great socio-political movements of corrupt governments and an uneducated people. Theroux tackles many of the problems facing Africa, looking for answers. Often no answers arise. This is not an easy book to read. It is a cautionary tale of how corruption and economic inequality can destroy a land and its people.
When Paul Theroux says it’s his last train ride, I feel sad. I’ve traveled with Theroux across the east side of Africa, across Asia, and now down the west side of Africa. This was not a happy trip for him. He seemed to grow more and more morose as he stopped in various cities across Africa. The poverty, the filth, the despair of the people...all these worked together to bring Theroux’s mood down lower and lower with every stop. Finally, he cut the trip short and went home. It’s possible he may never travel again.
I understand, but I can’t help but wish that he would try again, with a brand new location and fresh outlook. I count on him to take me places. I hope he knows that, and I hope he rests and gets back on the road.
I understand, but I can’t help but wish that he would try again, with a brand new location and fresh outlook. I count on him to take me places. I hope he knows that, and I hope he rests and gets back on the road.
I am not going to do a review so much as an explanation of why I found this book worthy of five stars.
* I have always liked Paul Theroux's non-fiction travel books, starting with The Great Railway Bazaar. Some of been better than others - this one was very good.
* His previous travel book for the eastern part of Africa, Dark Star Safari seemed a book reflecting more of his personal unhappiness (or something) than observations about where he was. I suppose I should go back and read it again (ten years later) but that is how I recall I felt at the time about it. Like all good travel literature, this is as much about the author as about the places visited and the people met and so on, but now it all fits together better.
* I liked it although it isn't particularly uplifting in most ways in how it presents many aspects of Africa.
* Theroux has strong opinions about some things that he expresses directly. That's OK with me. Even the ones that I am not sure I agree with entirely.
* In particular his travels in the northern part of Namibia and in today's Angola are to places that no one writes about - but Theroux, in something like bibliographic essay sidebars, talks (briefly - this is not a bibliographic essay generally) about some of the books he did find that talked about these places. As I librarian, I was amused. And pleased.
* From time to time Theroux has sentences that take your breath away. He also occasionally says things that literally cause you to stop. And think. About what you just read.
* The last section of the book was a little too much of the "here's what I think" following his description of his travels. But he is obviously very invested in Africa and one can always breeze through that part of simply skip it.
* I have always liked Paul Theroux's non-fiction travel books, starting with The Great Railway Bazaar. Some of been better than others - this one was very good.
* His previous travel book for the eastern part of Africa, Dark Star Safari seemed a book reflecting more of his personal unhappiness (or something) than observations about where he was. I suppose I should go back and read it again (ten years later) but that is how I recall I felt at the time about it. Like all good travel literature, this is as much about the author as about the places visited and the people met and so on, but now it all fits together better.
* I liked it although it isn't particularly uplifting in most ways in how it presents many aspects of Africa.
* Theroux has strong opinions about some things that he expresses directly. That's OK with me. Even the ones that I am not sure I agree with entirely.
* In particular his travels in the northern part of Namibia and in today's Angola are to places that no one writes about - but Theroux, in something like bibliographic essay sidebars, talks (briefly - this is not a bibliographic essay generally) about some of the books he did find that talked about these places. As I librarian, I was amused. And pleased.
* From time to time Theroux has sentences that take your breath away. He also occasionally says things that literally cause you to stop. And think. About what you just read.
* The last section of the book was a little too much of the "here's what I think" following his description of his travels. But he is obviously very invested in Africa and one can always breeze through that part of simply skip it.
I've followed Theroux around the world and enjoyed with him his many trips. One of the best things about his writing is that it's highly emotional, meaning that his current emotions come through in his descriptions and writing. One I got from this travelogue is that he's tired. Which, jesus dog, he's 70 years old, of course he's tired. But he's also tired of seeing the same slums and the same poverty and the same corruption.
And I do want to address something that I found particularly fascinating. I have also recently read [b:Deep South: Four Seasons on Back Roads|23719344|Deep South Four Seasons on Back Roads|Paul Theroux|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1428630703s/23719344.jpg|43328884] but had to bail pretty early on because it just was so uncomfortably racist. That book was published about two years after this one. But here's the thing: why I have I never gotten that feeling of racism in any other book of his? I kept thinking about how Deep South made me feel vs how this made me feel and it was completely different. There are two things going on here, I think, (1) that I'm more aware and thus more uncomfortable about racism directed at Americans and (2) Theroux is much more self-aware and willing to explore his biases and judgements when writing about people from other countries. I didn't get a bit of self-awareness in his book that was set in the United States. Maybe I would have if I had kept reading and this book has made me think more about going back and finishing Deep South.
But all in all, Theroux is still one of my favorite authors. I will miss him desperately when he does wander off on a final trip.
And I do want to address something that I found particularly fascinating. I have also recently read [b:Deep South: Four Seasons on Back Roads|23719344|Deep South Four Seasons on Back Roads|Paul Theroux|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1428630703s/23719344.jpg|43328884] but had to bail pretty early on because it just was so uncomfortably racist. That book was published about two years after this one. But here's the thing: why I have I never gotten that feeling of racism in any other book of his? I kept thinking about how Deep South made me feel vs how this made me feel and it was completely different. There are two things going on here, I think, (1) that I'm more aware and thus more uncomfortable about racism directed at Americans and (2) Theroux is much more self-aware and willing to explore his biases and judgements when writing about people from other countries. I didn't get a bit of self-awareness in his book that was set in the United States. Maybe I would have if I had kept reading and this book has made me think more about going back and finishing Deep South.
But all in all, Theroux is still one of my favorite authors. I will miss him desperately when he does wander off on a final trip.