I believe that this is the last multi-country travel book I have read by Paul Theroux. I had been saving it for later – like a nice bottle of wine pushed to the back of the cellar. Recently the time felt right, so I bought the book and just finished reading it.
It has all the typical stuff you’d expect in his adventures – beautiful writing, the captured moments of travel, being snarky to people that have been snarky to him. Despite the majority of the book taking place on his kayak there are also other modes of transport – a train, a cruise ship, and some short airplane rides when necessary.
This book was written at a time when he was separated from his wife (they would divorce soon) and so he had a wide open schedule and was at a loss for what to do. It seemed like he sort of fell into this trip and ended writing a book about it.
I like epic journeys – this was one of them. Starting in New Zealand and ending in Hawaii, he covers a lot of south Oceania, taking notes along the way. Rather than being restricted by train schedules the kayak and the tent lend him tremendous freedom, along with his open schedule. He can take the time he wants, wherever he feels like it, and it is hard not to itch with envy while reading about it.
The timeframe of his trip was just as the Iraq war started, and so the world was quite different then. I was surprised to see how much the Japanese are reviled in this book as they were still in their bubble economy and buying out things all over the world, much the same as the Chinese are doing these days.
The author spends a lot of time making fun of people that no doubt deserve it, celebrities and normal people alike. Often I’ve seen people criticize his books for being too hard on other people, and after reading this book I can see how it may be a warranted criticism. For the reader it can be good entertainment, but it reads a little like the writer has kind of set it up – and I wonder how accurate his take was on each of the situations.
I really enjoyed this book – and I’m sure I’ll come back to it again in the future. There is only one other travel book by Theroux that I haven’t read – his travels around England – but I fear it won’t be as good as his others. There is only one way to find out.
Next I am reading These Are The Plunderers by Gretchen Morgenson.
