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sarahc3319's review against another edition
4.0
This is so close to a five-star book-- I feel like I learned so much. Who knew that a travel memoir would teach me about Turkmenbashi, Murakami and the Vietnam war in the same volume? Really fun to read and highly recommended.
rbkegley's review
4.0
Paul Theroux on the move once again, this time repeating (more-or-less) his train loop from London through Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and back on the Trans-Siberian Express. It's interesting because this journey happens several decades after his first, and he carefully notes the changes, and the things that have not changed. It's fun to read because of his style and attention to detail.
bucket's review
5.0
I spent a wonderful week following Theroux along on his journey, repeatedly tracing my finger along the route on the map in the front of his book. I found the first 1/2 of the book to be the most fascinating, as Theroux describes how his life has changed in the last 30 years and really digs down deep into the life and culture of the places he visits.
I really liked the sections on Turkey, India, and south Asia (Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore). These countries have changed hugely in the past 30 years and Theroux has a knack for meeting the right people to talk to and having sympathetic, culturally-embedded conversations about how the world has changed. Vietnam was especially fascinating and Theroux holds nothing back in his brief history of what the US did there.
I love his focus on meeting people and learning their stories, especially because I know I'm the sort of traveler who would be more focused on the beauty of the landscape, seeing the sites, and enjoying the food, and would never speak to a soul if I didn't have to.
At the end of the book, Theroux describes travel as "an experience of the fourth dimension." Once travel becomes life - with stops and starts, sickness and health - then travel becomes a true journey, with happiness as a reward. Having experienced exactly this when I hiked the Appalachian Trail, I was thrilled to find it in print here. There is traveling and there is experiencing a journey, and Theroux's book gave new meaning to the difference between the two.
Themes: travel, Asia, aging, train rides, changes over time (to places and people), rest of the world views of America, literature, food, Eastern Europe, Russia, introspection
I really liked the sections on Turkey, India, and south Asia (Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore). These countries have changed hugely in the past 30 years and Theroux has a knack for meeting the right people to talk to and having sympathetic, culturally-embedded conversations about how the world has changed. Vietnam was especially fascinating and Theroux holds nothing back in his brief history of what the US did there.
I love his focus on meeting people and learning their stories, especially because I know I'm the sort of traveler who would be more focused on the beauty of the landscape, seeing the sites, and enjoying the food, and would never speak to a soul if I didn't have to.
At the end of the book, Theroux describes travel as "an experience of the fourth dimension." Once travel becomes life - with stops and starts, sickness and health - then travel becomes a true journey, with happiness as a reward. Having experienced exactly this when I hiked the Appalachian Trail, I was thrilled to find it in print here. There is traveling and there is experiencing a journey, and Theroux's book gave new meaning to the difference between the two.
Themes: travel, Asia, aging, train rides, changes over time (to places and people), rest of the world views of America, literature, food, Eastern Europe, Russia, introspection
louissb's review
4.0
An outstanding example of when travel writing works. Theroux's many years of experience have furnished him with a good sense of what to include and, more importantly, what to leave out. The country to country rhythm is generally steady and satisfying, avoiding Theroux's notorious grumpiness, and his musings, descriptions and conversations are generally entertaining and informative.
kellyd's review
4.0
This is the second or third book that I’ve read of his. Good travel writing - scenic descriptions, interesting characters, history, and reflection. (Although I did sometimes cringe at his decisions and his evaluation of manga.)
lnatal's review
2.0
From BBC Radio 4 Extra:
Stuart Milligan reads from Paul Theroux's classic travel book 'The Great Railway Bazaar
Stuart Milligan reads from Paul Theroux's classic travel book 'The Great Railway Bazaar
therewithal's review
4.0
I liked this, but not as much as The Great Railway Bazaar, I think because in revisiting his old destinations he ended up writing more about himself than about the places and the trains. The parts where he changed the itinerary to go to new places like Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan were pretty fascinating, but all the meetings and conversations with his various famous friends around the world (and his "get off my lawn you kids" attitude about modern technology and cities and young people, and his evident issues with women) were less so. But it was still a quite enjoyable read despite the occasional irritations.
michaelnlibrarian's review
3.0
Paul Theroux gives a book talk at National Book Fair.
One thing I learned from this was that I have been mispronouncing his name - the second syllable rhymes with "blue" not "blow."
I am about 200 pages into this at the moment and it is mostly good. The original Railway Bazaar focused on the travels in Asia, which I reminded myself when he blazed through Europe and deals with the southeast European countries little attention (and at that, mostly very negative). Once he reaches Turkey and Georgia he spends more time describing each place and the book becomes more enjoyable.
In this book Theroux seems in a far better humor than when he traveled to write Dark Star Safari, so it is (so far) not correct to characterize this as the travels of a grumpy aging writer - at the time, Theroux seemed upset about his approaching sixtieth birthday. Although not grumpy, Theroux still seems concerned with aging and the subject of his appearance (at sixty-five) compared to various people he meets comes up constantly. He also mentions his age (comparing himself to Dick Cheney, of all people) in his Book Fair talk. I don't know why, but I have always assumed people age better if they don't think about it too much - that would not seem to be his view. In this book, it's the most annoying writer's tic he presents.
I would note that in his National Book Fair talk, Theroux also seemed in a fairly good mood. Somehow I expected him to be more intolerant of less than good questions from the attendees after he spoke, but he was quite a good sport. Even though he had been introduced with the correct pronunciation of his name, he didn't visibly wince when a questioner addressed him the wrong way. He also didn't seem upset that someone asked him about one of his novels after admitting that he had not read the book but just seen the movie! (In fact, his answer was good - that the book is like a cow and the movie a bullion cube.)
In Turkmenistan, he reports someone asking him how he can write about their country based on such a short visit. He answers by asking the fellow what it is that he _should_ know about Turkmenistan. (Good answer.) I don't myself have any problems with that aspect of Theroux's writing - if I wanted a comprehensive history of Turkmenistan I wouldn't be reading this book.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Having finished reading this, my main reaction is disappointment. Mr. Theroux can obviously write circles around most people, but this book is uneven and that takes some (perhaps much) of the pleasure out of it.
While mostly focused on his observations and occasional interactions with locals as a solitary long distance traveler, he also describes long discussions he had with three writers he went out of his way to meet with. These conversations break up the flow of the book and don't add anything to it. He relays his conversations (twice, not just once) with Pico Iyer, also a travel writer - do famous travel writers often get together and "rubbish" (to use a Theroux word) other travel writers? I was fine not knowing that.
In Myanmar he visits a hotel that is run by the same family that ran it when he had visited thirty-three years earlier. This is the high point of the book - from that point forward, it felt much less inspired. His observations in Vietnam, for example, are striking mostly for their lack of originality.
Theroux returns to Europe through Siberia on the TransSiberian - however he doesn't get off the train (other than stops in stations) to do any looking around until he gets to Perm, in Europe, where he visits a former gulag prison camp. One does not get the impression he likes Russia or Russians much, but it hardly matters since he spends only thirty pages (our of almost 500) on them.
Mr. Theroux goes to a fair amount of trouble to make it clear that when he wrote the first Railway Bazaar book, he was unhappy - but now he's happy. This doesn't guarantee a similar parallel for readers of the two books, however.
One last comment - On page 453, Mr. Theroux praises you, his reader. I don't recall seeing something like this before, but maybe I don't read the right books. He describes what he calls "serious and omnivorous readers" and then says, "If you have gotten this far in this book, you are just such a singular person." I almost stopped reading at that very moment.
One thing I learned from this was that I have been mispronouncing his name - the second syllable rhymes with "blue" not "blow."
I am about 200 pages into this at the moment and it is mostly good. The original Railway Bazaar focused on the travels in Asia, which I reminded myself when he blazed through Europe and deals with the southeast European countries little attention (and at that, mostly very negative). Once he reaches Turkey and Georgia he spends more time describing each place and the book becomes more enjoyable.
In this book Theroux seems in a far better humor than when he traveled to write Dark Star Safari, so it is (so far) not correct to characterize this as the travels of a grumpy aging writer - at the time, Theroux seemed upset about his approaching sixtieth birthday. Although not grumpy, Theroux still seems concerned with aging and the subject of his appearance (at sixty-five) compared to various people he meets comes up constantly. He also mentions his age (comparing himself to Dick Cheney, of all people) in his Book Fair talk. I don't know why, but I have always assumed people age better if they don't think about it too much - that would not seem to be his view. In this book, it's the most annoying writer's tic he presents.
I would note that in his National Book Fair talk, Theroux also seemed in a fairly good mood. Somehow I expected him to be more intolerant of less than good questions from the attendees after he spoke, but he was quite a good sport. Even though he had been introduced with the correct pronunciation of his name, he didn't visibly wince when a questioner addressed him the wrong way. He also didn't seem upset that someone asked him about one of his novels after admitting that he had not read the book but just seen the movie! (In fact, his answer was good - that the book is like a cow and the movie a bullion cube.)
In Turkmenistan, he reports someone asking him how he can write about their country based on such a short visit. He answers by asking the fellow what it is that he _should_ know about Turkmenistan. (Good answer.) I don't myself have any problems with that aspect of Theroux's writing - if I wanted a comprehensive history of Turkmenistan I wouldn't be reading this book.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Having finished reading this, my main reaction is disappointment. Mr. Theroux can obviously write circles around most people, but this book is uneven and that takes some (perhaps much) of the pleasure out of it.
While mostly focused on his observations and occasional interactions with locals as a solitary long distance traveler, he also describes long discussions he had with three writers he went out of his way to meet with. These conversations break up the flow of the book and don't add anything to it. He relays his conversations (twice, not just once) with Pico Iyer, also a travel writer - do famous travel writers often get together and "rubbish" (to use a Theroux word) other travel writers? I was fine not knowing that.
In Myanmar he visits a hotel that is run by the same family that ran it when he had visited thirty-three years earlier. This is the high point of the book - from that point forward, it felt much less inspired. His observations in Vietnam, for example, are striking mostly for their lack of originality.
Theroux returns to Europe through Siberia on the TransSiberian - however he doesn't get off the train (other than stops in stations) to do any looking around until he gets to Perm, in Europe, where he visits a former gulag prison camp. One does not get the impression he likes Russia or Russians much, but it hardly matters since he spends only thirty pages (our of almost 500) on them.
Mr. Theroux goes to a fair amount of trouble to make it clear that when he wrote the first Railway Bazaar book, he was unhappy - but now he's happy. This doesn't guarantee a similar parallel for readers of the two books, however.
One last comment - On page 453, Mr. Theroux praises you, his reader. I don't recall seeing something like this before, but maybe I don't read the right books. He describes what he calls "serious and omnivorous readers" and then says, "If you have gotten this far in this book, you are just such a singular person." I almost stopped reading at that very moment.
toddtyrtle's review
3.0
Enjoyable, though less so than, say, Riding the Iron Rooster.
I must say, though, after reading a few of his books, Theroux seems *obsessed* with prostitutes. I may know a little more about the countries he passes through, but I am guaranteed to know what the prostitutes were like. Though he says he doesn't partake. That said, I wonder if he doth protest too much...
I must say, though, after reading a few of his books, Theroux seems *obsessed* with prostitutes. I may know a little more about the countries he passes through, but I am guaranteed to know what the prostitutes were like. Though he says he doesn't partake. That said, I wonder if he doth protest too much...
undinecerelia's review
4.0
Reading this book dramatically increased the length of my to-read list! Loved that he met with authors as he travelled around the world. His visit to Georgia came at a particularly interesting time in Georgia's history. More detail on that here: https://cookiesandthecaucasus.wordpress.com/2018/07/02/book-review-ghost-train-to-the-eastern-star/