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3.45 AVERAGE
3.45 AVERAGE
funny
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
The first book off my list of ChatGPT generated reads. Perfectly fit the bill for something that I wanted, a travel journal from South America— very funny, historical, has a narrative that comes back around to itself and you end where you began. I liked it but probably wouldn’t read it again, and don’t find it very easy to remember? So I think it struggled to keep my attention.
I had wanted to read this book for decades, and am glad I finally did. Chatwin takes you along on his journey through Patagonia, describing the astonishingly beautiful land and the fascinating people he meets. I was today years old when I found out that Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, and Etta Place were real people, not just characters in a movie.
Find criticisms of other GR users that this is not a travelogue perverse. There are plenty of books like that out there. This is something different.
I also don’t see this as a defence of Colonialism, but rather a naked portrayal of its stupidity and cruelty. But then, there is something of ‘Heart of Darkness’ about this book - and Chatwin does seem to indulge a little in the free indirect style he uses to express the voices of murderers.
I also don’t see this as a defence of Colonialism, but rather a naked portrayal of its stupidity and cruelty. But then, there is something of ‘Heart of Darkness’ about this book - and Chatwin does seem to indulge a little in the free indirect style he uses to express the voices of murderers.
I was slow to get into this book, despite it being a highly regarded travel log. I thought it showed its age (1977), but that wasn't necessarily a downside. In fact, it made me wonder how Patagonia has changed in recent decades, but didn't really inspire me to want to visit. It was still an enjoyable read, and I learned a lot about Patagonian history!
medium-paced
It’s probably best to quote Chatwin himself writing in In Patagonia - “Some of the yarns are a bit disordered and repetitive”.
Fascinated by Patagonia since an early childhood lust for Grandma's scrap of hairy Giant Sloth skin, Chatwin's also intrigued by odd miners and the log cabin built by Butch Cassidy in Cholila. In 1977 the London Observer called it "a brilliant travel book," and while Chatwin's no longer alive (he died in 1989), his book still glows. From Rio Negro to the southernmost town of Ushuaia, Chatwin depicts all in writing as spare as the Patagonian desert itself, and as vibrant as the purple clouds off Last Hope Sound
Interesting portrayal of the individuals in he author's path, notably the European transplants. The descriptions of people and historical anecdotes were vivid and interesting, but I was hoping for more about the landscape and setting.
Read this for a man. I liked the bits where he was describing the landscape and his own interactions with the people he met but the historical bits dragged for me