Scan barcode
somanybookstoread's review
4.0
Really nice variety! This was the text for a course I taught and it served me well.
christythelibrarian's review
4.0
I won’t describe all of the book’s 25 essays here, but I will highlight the best of the lot. Strangely, it seemed to me that the best essays were located in the first half of the collection.
Not so surprisingly, the very best essay, Patrick Symmes’ “The Generals in Their Labyrinth” is the first one. Even Winchester remarks in the introduction that Symmes’ essay “is destined to be ranked among all-time great magazine essays.”
In “The Generals in Their Labyrinth,” Symmes visits the country of Myanmar (Burma) in April 2008. From the beginning of the essay, I was hooked and I’ll show you why:
"There never was a man on the ferry to Pakokku, and he didn’t say what he said. I didn’t meet Western diplomats from three nations. Not for coffee. Not for drinks. Not in the official residence, with rain and palm fronds pelting down, just hours before the storm hit.
I didn’t talk with the country’s most distinguished astrologer or its worst comedians. Nobody from any NGO’s helped me, either. If I had tea with a prominent intellectual or lunch with a noted businessman, nothing happened. I was just in Burma – sorry, I mean Myanmar – to play golf and look at the ruins.
The boy monks never cried and begged me to conceal their names. At the monastery in Pakokku, they never told me anything at all.
I wasn’t there when the storm hit. There was no cyclone. I didn’t see anything."
Whew. How could I resist such an opening? The rest of the essay details Symmes’ observations of the repressive Burmese regime, and includes his visit to their newly built capital city, Naypyidaw.
One of my other favorite essays was Jay Kirk’s “Hotels Rwanda.” An excellent blend of humor and compassion flavors his writing. I also loved that he had, and wrote about, his travel companions – people who had previously been strangers. Here is a small excerpt from the essay about the group’s first sighting of giraffes, a part that made me laugh out loud:
"With their black-and-yellow fur, their stubby horns like eye stalks, and the way they move, lurching almost aquatically, they look like gigantic, yet infinitely graceful banana slugs … They are so strange-looking. Despite their apparent benevolence, it is not a stretch to imagine laser rays shooting from their eyes, scorching everything in sight."
Other notable essays include:
“Intimacy” by Andre Aciman (Rome)
“Who is America?” by Chuck Klosterman (Germany)
“A Dip in the Cold” by Lynne Cox (various Arctic locations)
“Mississippi Drift” by Matthew Power (the Mississippi)
“The Deeds” by Tom Sleigh (Lebanon)
“You Do Not Represent the Government of the United States of America” by Daniel Alarcon (Syria)
Not so surprisingly, the very best essay, Patrick Symmes’ “The Generals in Their Labyrinth” is the first one. Even Winchester remarks in the introduction that Symmes’ essay “is destined to be ranked among all-time great magazine essays.”
In “The Generals in Their Labyrinth,” Symmes visits the country of Myanmar (Burma) in April 2008. From the beginning of the essay, I was hooked and I’ll show you why:
"There never was a man on the ferry to Pakokku, and he didn’t say what he said. I didn’t meet Western diplomats from three nations. Not for coffee. Not for drinks. Not in the official residence, with rain and palm fronds pelting down, just hours before the storm hit.
I didn’t talk with the country’s most distinguished astrologer or its worst comedians. Nobody from any NGO’s helped me, either. If I had tea with a prominent intellectual or lunch with a noted businessman, nothing happened. I was just in Burma – sorry, I mean Myanmar – to play golf and look at the ruins.
The boy monks never cried and begged me to conceal their names. At the monastery in Pakokku, they never told me anything at all.
I wasn’t there when the storm hit. There was no cyclone. I didn’t see anything."
Whew. How could I resist such an opening? The rest of the essay details Symmes’ observations of the repressive Burmese regime, and includes his visit to their newly built capital city, Naypyidaw.
One of my other favorite essays was Jay Kirk’s “Hotels Rwanda.” An excellent blend of humor and compassion flavors his writing. I also loved that he had, and wrote about, his travel companions – people who had previously been strangers. Here is a small excerpt from the essay about the group’s first sighting of giraffes, a part that made me laugh out loud:
"With their black-and-yellow fur, their stubby horns like eye stalks, and the way they move, lurching almost aquatically, they look like gigantic, yet infinitely graceful banana slugs … They are so strange-looking. Despite their apparent benevolence, it is not a stretch to imagine laser rays shooting from their eyes, scorching everything in sight."
Other notable essays include:
“Intimacy” by Andre Aciman (Rome)
“Who is America?” by Chuck Klosterman (Germany)
“A Dip in the Cold” by Lynne Cox (various Arctic locations)
“Mississippi Drift” by Matthew Power (the Mississippi)
“The Deeds” by Tom Sleigh (Lebanon)
“You Do Not Represent the Government of the United States of America” by Daniel Alarcon (Syria)
hrhacissej's review against another edition
4.0
Great collection of travel essays. Some travel is best done vicariously - like floating down the Mississippi River on a makeshift raft with devout Freegans or swimming in the Arctic Ocean - just saying.
stephybara's review against another edition
3.0
This collection of essays and magazine articles is interesting; I didn't love it, but I was interested to read at least half of the chosen pieces. I think having the accompanying photos (at least from the magazine articles) would have lifted my enjoyment level, but I understand how that's not feasible given printing costs.
I would try another of these collections, though I would not force myself to read each piece.
I would try another of these collections, though I would not force myself to read each piece.
laurafox's review against another edition
4.0
My favorite pieces from this volume:
Frank Bures, "A Mind Dismembered" (Nigeria)
Tony Perrottet, "The Pervert's Grand Tour" (France)
Lynne Cox, "A Dip in the Cold" (Greenland/Canada)
Matthew Power, "Mississippi Drift" (Mississippi River)
Seth Stevenson, "The Mecca of the Mouse" (Disney World)
Calvin Trillin, "By Meat Alone" (Texas)
Frank Bures, "A Mind Dismembered" (Nigeria)
Tony Perrottet, "The Pervert's Grand Tour" (France)
Lynne Cox, "A Dip in the Cold" (Greenland/Canada)
Matthew Power, "Mississippi Drift" (Mississippi River)
Seth Stevenson, "The Mecca of the Mouse" (Disney World)
Calvin Trillin, "By Meat Alone" (Texas)
More...