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neom's review against another edition
4.0
True that some of Gelhorn’s views make for uncomfortable reading but she hides nothing from the reader. I just loved her indomitable spirit and passion for exploration and experiences. She is a woman with a passion for living life to its fullest and you can’t help but admire that.
lauraellis's review
3.0
I admire Martha Gellhorn, both for her work as a war correspondent from the Spanish Civil War through the Vietnam War, and for being the wife who left Hemingway, rather than the other way around. I was prepared to really enjoy this book too, because I collect memoirs and collected writings of foreign correspondents from WWI through WWII.
This memoir is a set of essays about "horror journeys" that Martha Gellhorn, a woman who adored traveling and exploring new places, had experienced. "Place names were the most powerful magic I knew." Horror journeys are those that are filled with disasters and other adventures that make great fun retelling -- for raconteur and audience -- but are not any fun (or not much) in the actual experiencing. The knack is, however, to make it funny when you tell the story, and not so deadly dull and boring that the audience feels like they are experiencing a horror journey of their own and want nothing so much as to get away from it, which they can do by simply closing the book.
The first essay, Mr. Ma's Tigers, is about the trip Martha took with Ernest Hemingway, identified only as the Unwilling Companion and thereafter referred to as UC, to China during WWII. Martha's writing had me in stitches throughout, I was laughing out loud over my book at the diner. I have never been so fond of Hemingway as in Martha's memory of him as UC. Everytime she complained about something, Hemingway would look at her and say, who wanted to come to China?
The essay about traveling in the Carribbean, also during WWII, was not as funny, but still interesting. Ditto her essay about her trip in the 1970s to meet a famous writer and poet's widow. Unfortunately, most of the book is taken up by her essay of her trip to Africa in the early 1960s. The first part of it is her diary from the trip, and every page of it radiates the boredom, dust, and difficulties that she experienced, with nothing of interest to really leaven it and no humor. Martha conveys her impressions all too vividly, leaving the reader feeling dust and bored as well. Also, this portion reflects Martha's attitudes and perceptions of Africans, which while undoubtedly progressive and non-racist for the time, leave this modern (white) reader uncomfortable. Things pick up when Martha's diary ends and she picks up her memoir looking back from the 1970s, recounting her trip across Kenya, Tanzankiya, and the surrounds in the company of Joshua, who can do nothing (aka drive) that she has hired him to do. This is funnier, but no where near the quality of the China essay.
My recommendation is to pick up the book, read Mr. Ma's Tigers, and then move on.
This memoir is a set of essays about "horror journeys" that Martha Gellhorn, a woman who adored traveling and exploring new places, had experienced. "Place names were the most powerful magic I knew." Horror journeys are those that are filled with disasters and other adventures that make great fun retelling -- for raconteur and audience -- but are not any fun (or not much) in the actual experiencing. The knack is, however, to make it funny when you tell the story, and not so deadly dull and boring that the audience feels like they are experiencing a horror journey of their own and want nothing so much as to get away from it, which they can do by simply closing the book.
The first essay, Mr. Ma's Tigers, is about the trip Martha took with Ernest Hemingway, identified only as the Unwilling Companion and thereafter referred to as UC, to China during WWII. Martha's writing had me in stitches throughout, I was laughing out loud over my book at the diner. I have never been so fond of Hemingway as in Martha's memory of him as UC. Everytime she complained about something, Hemingway would look at her and say, who wanted to come to China?
The essay about traveling in the Carribbean, also during WWII, was not as funny, but still interesting. Ditto her essay about her trip in the 1970s to meet a famous writer and poet's widow. Unfortunately, most of the book is taken up by her essay of her trip to Africa in the early 1960s. The first part of it is her diary from the trip, and every page of it radiates the boredom, dust, and difficulties that she experienced, with nothing of interest to really leaven it and no humor. Martha conveys her impressions all too vividly, leaving the reader feeling dust and bored as well. Also, this portion reflects Martha's attitudes and perceptions of Africans, which while undoubtedly progressive and non-racist for the time, leave this modern (white) reader uncomfortable. Things pick up when Martha's diary ends and she picks up her memoir looking back from the 1970s, recounting her trip across Kenya, Tanzankiya, and the surrounds in the company of Joshua, who can do nothing (aka drive) that she has hired him to do. This is funnier, but no where near the quality of the China essay.
My recommendation is to pick up the book, read Mr. Ma's Tigers, and then move on.
northstar's review
4.0
I have no idea how to review this book. Gellhorn was a well-known travel journalist in the 1930s and 1940s who covered the Spanish Civil War and World War II. She wrote about Spain in a separate volume; this book contains essays about other journeys. The first section covers her visit to Japanese-occupied China and to the US Virgin Islands during WWII. Then, half the book is a reminiscence of a solo trip through Africa in 1962. She ends with a few musings on the young travelers of the day, with the day in reference being the early 1970s.
Her writing is unusual: conversational but also filled with creative description and unflinching judgment. I appreciated her stories and observations and particularly liked the chapter about the Virgin Islands. I'd never thought about how those remote spots weathered the war, or how they handled the divided loyalties as territories of a fractured Europe.
Gellhorn willingly tolerated extreme weather, terrible food, and various travel illnesses. She also brought elements of intolerance to her work, and the racial and cultural biases throughout her writing are jarring and can make it difficult at times to appreciate her observations. Do these attitudes reduce the worth of the book? I am not sure as a white woman and an American that I can answer that question. Her writing often made me uncomfortable. I imagine some would argue that there are more culturally sensitive travelogues to read and others would say her work offers valuable lessons in how to write and how to not prejudge and stereotype other cultures. You'll have to read it for yourself. But at the very least, I recommend the Virgin Islands chapter for an untold segment of WWII history.
Fun fact: Gellhorn's unnamed companion in the China chapter is Ernest Hemingway, to whom she was married for five years.
Her writing is unusual: conversational but also filled with creative description and unflinching judgment. I appreciated her stories and observations and particularly liked the chapter about the Virgin Islands. I'd never thought about how those remote spots weathered the war, or how they handled the divided loyalties as territories of a fractured Europe.
Gellhorn willingly tolerated extreme weather, terrible food, and various travel illnesses. She also brought elements of intolerance to her work, and the racial and cultural biases throughout her writing are jarring and can make it difficult at times to appreciate her observations. Do these attitudes reduce the worth of the book? I am not sure as a white woman and an American that I can answer that question. Her writing often made me uncomfortable. I imagine some would argue that there are more culturally sensitive travelogues to read and others would say her work offers valuable lessons in how to write and how to not prejudge and stereotype other cultures. You'll have to read it for yourself. But at the very least, I recommend the Virgin Islands chapter for an untold segment of WWII history.
Fun fact: Gellhorn's unnamed companion in the China chapter is Ernest Hemingway, to whom she was married for five years.
libs's review
4.0
Parts of this collection were beautifully written - whether funny, insightful, apt descriptions of experiences I recognised or intriguing descriptions of things I may never encounter.
And then parts felt uncomfortable. Not Gellhorns fault, but something about the shift between her writing in the 70s and what I expect of travel writing now. And in a sense thinking about that is good and worthful and important (and else what was I expecting from noted war reporter Martha Gellhorn, honestly) but it wasn't what I anticipated, which I think threw my experience off slightly. Plus mað me want to travel with Hemingway even less than I already did.
Essentially this isn't a travel book to make you want to travel, but it is a good book.
And then parts felt uncomfortable. Not Gellhorns fault, but something about the shift between her writing in the 70s and what I expect of travel writing now. And in a sense thinking about that is good and worthful and important (and else what was I expecting from noted war reporter Martha Gellhorn, honestly) but it wasn't what I anticipated, which I think threw my experience off slightly. Plus mað me want to travel with Hemingway even less than I already did.
Essentially this isn't a travel book to make you want to travel, but it is a good book.
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