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A review by gayathiri_rajendran
Around India in 80 Trains by Monisha Rajesh
1.0
The title of this book seemed interesting enough to pick it up and frankly I wanted to read what the author had to tell about India and her extensive railway system.
To be frank,I was completely disappointed. The writing was elementary and there were too many jibes and pokes and the grammar was bearable at most. This book could have been excellent in the genre of travel literature but sadly it is a whiney bland narration of the author about her journey in India by 80 different trains. There is a lot of complaining throughout the book by the author about almost everything right from the trains till the people traveling with her.
It can be seen clearly that minimum or no research has been done with regards to this book. It’s mostly poverty that is depicted throughout the book and one who has never travelled to India or heard of India might think that is true. Her descriptions are bland and in my opinion India is anything but “bland”.
I find it hard to believe that the railways are that worse as depicted by her. I have travelled by trains frequently and I should say that the railways have definitely improved. The character Passepartout flits in and out of the narrative and it is hard to get a grip of his character. We never really find out what he is like throughout the book. There is a fight between the author and him in the middle of the book and she goes off on her own.
One thing that irked me was the way she described the Indians traveling with her in the trains and the foreigners who were traveling with her in the luxury trains. Indians were depicted to be indisciplined,loud and nosy whereas the foreigners who travelled in the luxury trains were portrayed to be perfect caricatures of tourists. I find it surprising that almost all the Indians she met on the trains were selfish,unhelpful and ungracious except for a couple of people including an ambassador and a few others.
The way she described hunting for hotels to stay was a bit unbelievable. At last the book ends in the cliched way of finding spirituality in India where the author prides upon herself to complete the Vipasana course depicting the others in the course like complete idiots. I was happy to put down this book at the end. Somehow I raced to complete this book. I wish she had elaborated more on the places she saw,local cuisine,interaction with locals,places of visit instead of constantly complaining about how poverty stricken people were and constant jibes at the sizes of Indians aboard the trains.
This book was such a waste of my time and I was misled by the title. The only saving grace is the excellent cover design.One star for the cover design.
To be frank,I was completely disappointed. The writing was elementary and there were too many jibes and pokes and the grammar was bearable at most. This book could have been excellent in the genre of travel literature but sadly it is a whiney bland narration of the author about her journey in India by 80 different trains. There is a lot of complaining throughout the book by the author about almost everything right from the trains till the people traveling with her.
It can be seen clearly that minimum or no research has been done with regards to this book. It’s mostly poverty that is depicted throughout the book and one who has never travelled to India or heard of India might think that is true. Her descriptions are bland and in my opinion India is anything but “bland”.
I find it hard to believe that the railways are that worse as depicted by her. I have travelled by trains frequently and I should say that the railways have definitely improved. The character Passepartout flits in and out of the narrative and it is hard to get a grip of his character. We never really find out what he is like throughout the book. There is a fight between the author and him in the middle of the book and she goes off on her own.
One thing that irked me was the way she described the Indians traveling with her in the trains and the foreigners who were traveling with her in the luxury trains. Indians were depicted to be indisciplined,loud and nosy whereas the foreigners who travelled in the luxury trains were portrayed to be perfect caricatures of tourists. I find it surprising that almost all the Indians she met on the trains were selfish,unhelpful and ungracious except for a couple of people including an ambassador and a few others.
The way she described hunting for hotels to stay was a bit unbelievable. At last the book ends in the cliched way of finding spirituality in India where the author prides upon herself to complete the Vipasana course depicting the others in the course like complete idiots. I was happy to put down this book at the end. Somehow I raced to complete this book. I wish she had elaborated more on the places she saw,local cuisine,interaction with locals,places of visit instead of constantly complaining about how poverty stricken people were and constant jibes at the sizes of Indians aboard the trains.
This book was such a waste of my time and I was misled by the title. The only saving grace is the excellent cover design.One star for the cover design.