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A review by jamescridland
An Idiot Abroad: The Travel Diaries of Karl Pilkington by Karl Pilkington, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant
3.0
I do quite like a travelogue, but this one wasn't, to be honest, a particularly good read. Karl - by all accounts, a nice chap from those I know who've worked with him - seems to have cultivated this persona of a blunt and closed-minded Northerner, and this book is very much written in his style. It's rather repetitious; much is made of him eating his Monster Munch.
Telephone calls, presumably used in the television series, are transcripted throughout the book because as readers we can't clearly read a book by Karl without some HILARIOUS things that Ricky Gervais says, even though they're not that interesting in actual fact. Occasionally, Karl eats Monster Munch or goes to the loo, or says stuff his mam says. Then he has some more Monster Munch. And perhaps the shits.
The good thing? The photographs. Amazing, beautiful, really nicely shot, and some really clever tricks done with them. The places he goes to look incredible - so much detail, so much personality from the photographs, with some really nice patterns emerging - photographs of post boxes in one, or tromp de l'oeil in others. Wonderful stuff.
I spent 20p on this book, as a special Google Play promotion (and read it, variously, on my phone and my tablet). As a reading experience it's converted excellently to ebook format. The photographs are worth serious money - beautiful stuff. The writing? I think 20p's a fair price.
Telephone calls, presumably used in the television series, are transcripted throughout the book because as readers we can't clearly read a book by Karl without some HILARIOUS things that Ricky Gervais says, even though they're not that interesting in actual fact. Occasionally, Karl eats Monster Munch or goes to the loo, or says stuff his mam says. Then he has some more Monster Munch. And perhaps the shits.
The good thing? The photographs. Amazing, beautiful, really nicely shot, and some really clever tricks done with them. The places he goes to look incredible - so much detail, so much personality from the photographs, with some really nice patterns emerging - photographs of post boxes in one, or tromp de l'oeil in others. Wonderful stuff.
I spent 20p on this book, as a special Google Play promotion (and read it, variously, on my phone and my tablet). As a reading experience it's converted excellently to ebook format. The photographs are worth serious money - beautiful stuff. The writing? I think 20p's a fair price.