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Following a friend's recommendation in her Christmas card to me (thank you Shirley Newbery)., I purchased a Kindle version of Theroux's "Ghost Train". It's also interesting that he was retracing the same route (with minor changes, made necessary by the latest geo-political situations around the world) that he traveled 30+ years ago, and it's fascinating how he comes across a number of places that seem not have changed at all. Having read some of his earlier fiction, I somehow thought I didn't like him but within the first few pages of "GT" I realized I was wrong. "GT" is indeed a classic travel book that takes you on a journey. As always, there are parts that break your heart, as well as those that are funny, enlightening and joyful. In general, it was hard to put down, and yet I paced myself because I didn't want to reach the end of the journey too quickly.
If you were born in one of these countries, or in Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark or other places in Northern Europe, then you might well be living a life of relative comfort, with good medical care, a good education, and a decent job. I have nothing against the former writers, but this diet of caviar and popcorn can make us forget what it means to read wholesome writers who deliver a nutritious fare. Theroux makes his home here in America and knows the importance of this privilege. These American conservatives live in a psychic landscape more impoverished, less well educated, and more forsaken than even Turkmenistan or Myanmar. Theroux's literary heritage seems rooted in approachable authors such as Graham Greene, Joseph Conrad, Robert Louis Stevenson, George Orwell and others who are intelligent, easy to read, and thoughtful. When given a choice between the beautiful and the ugly, he will gloss over the beautiful and dwell in detail on the ugly.
Nevertheless, this is anything but a cheerful book, and Theroux is hardly an optimist.A second thing to know about this book is that the author is an excellent, and very well read, writer. He makes note of every prostitute he passes, and in his interest in bordellos and pornographic stores seems to grow exponentially with each passing month of his seemingly chaste trip away from his wife. These are the virtues of a literature on which a culture can be built. Countries such as Myanmar, Russia and Turkmenistan are not only poor, but politically troubled.This is a book about an older man traveling through the lost countries of the world, witnessing through melancholy eyes the poverty and political oppression that are the hallmarks of life for many citizens of this planet. He is, no doubt, an arrogant man with an obsessive interest in the ugly and perverse.
Even in poor countries, such as Thailand and Vietnam, Theroux finds much to like. Contrast this list of the poor and oppressed places of the world with the following list of wealthy, industrial countries: America, Canada, England, Germany, France, Spain, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. These attacks come, invariably, and predictably, from the extreme right. For many people, simply the sound of those names will be enough to provide a sense of what to expect. He never misses a chance to score of those who belittle him, and takes full advantage of having the last say that is the privilege of an author. Many readers careen back and forth between nearly opaque highbrow books by authors like Thomas Pynchon, Don Delillo, Ian McEwan and lowbrow books by authors like Dan Brown, Glenn Beck, James Patterson and Stephanie Meyer. To call him a communist or socialist is absurd, and to think him naïve ridiculous.Theroux knows that he is old, a bit out of sync with the times and lives an embarrassingly privileged life. Nevertheless, this is a very well written book, and one that is both enjoyable and rewarding because of its sharp observations and thoughtful commentary.As Theroux takes you on his tour of the dark side of life on planet earth, he castigates dictators, noisy people and ostentatious tourists.
Before picking it up, potential reader's should understand that this is a book about traveling through countries such as Romania, Turkmenistan, India, Cambodia (Myanmar), Thailand, Vietnam, China and Russia. Still, Theroux has the knack of making us believe that he is telling the truth both about himself, and about the world he sees around him. Even though I should have expected it, I still read with amazement some of the blurbs on Amazon that pan the book on the simple grounds that the reviewer takes exception to what he imagines to be Theroux's politics. Their faults are many, but perhaps the most egregious is to fail to recognize that one of the obligations of a life in a free society is to write truthfully about America and the world in which we live. He finds interesting stories to tell wherever he goes, and he knows how to omit what is boring, and how to seek out what entertains us. He portrays himself as an elderly ghost traveling through a world gone mad and headed someplace worse. If you live in Romania, Turkmenistan, Sri Lanka or Laos, however, you probably live in poverty with few amenities. It is a dark and painful vision to absorb, but nevertheless he is skillful and observant enough to make of this landscape an entertaining, humane, and very educational book.
Theroux clearly wants to place himself in the middle of this tradition, and though his claim is not without merit, I'm not sure that someone this bleak and depressing can scale such heights. One feels that Theroux reveals much of the germane facts about his travel, including his writing techniques, his survival tricks, and his personal foibles. He also knows that no country is perfect, and that we can only keep our freedom if we remain vigilant, and never fear to tell the truth. One can benefit by traveling so intimately in the company of a writer who knows so much about the world.
Ghost Train to the Eastern Star is also a compelling read. Further, Theroux seems determined to justify his opposition to the Vietnam War by making such risible claims as the US caused the Cambodian genocide by bringing Pol Pot to power and the US almost singlehandedly kept the Khmer Rouge in power by failing to "prevent" the Chinese from arming him.though he never explains how a beaten and humiliated USA in the `70s could have "prevented" the Chinese from doing anything they felt was in their interest, even if it hadn't been in America's interest to use the Chinese to contain the Soviets.Some reviewers have criticized Theroux for indulging in navel-gazing, but the premise of the book was to see how the places visited and the eyes that saw them changed in 30 years. I'm a fan of Theroux's work. His impressions of Eastern Europe as he travelled from London, through Turkey and the -Stans sounded similar to Robert Kaplan's descriptions from Eastward to Tatary and The Ends of the Earth.If I have a gripe, it's with the constant reminders that the rest of the world despises George W. If you can ignore the 50+ pages of polemic, I'd highly recommend the book. As with his other books, Theroux's eye for detail and characters, combined with his extensive research and book recommendations, make Ghost Train an entertaining and informative background for countries that many Americans are unfamiliar with. This might be true, but it's tedious after a while.
Theroux is a good writer. I've read The Patagonian Express and Dark Star Safari. I thought many of his observations about himself were insightful, in the way a good novelist can teach the reader about the reader. I found his descriptions of Singapore, Thailand, Burma, Laos, and Cambodia particularly fascinating, as well as the description of India. Bush. He's irreverent, streetwise, thoughtful, observant, and entertaining. I'd give him 5 stars had he not belabored the "US is evil" trope.
Closing the cover of "The Great Railway Bazaar" at the height of the Me Decade, I marveled at what was then a bright new talent whose flippancy, sardonicism and wonderful turn of phrase brought a whole new perspective to travel writing. Yet he never fails to castigate those who look upon the globe as a chess board, penning some of the most damning comments of his career, and occasionally going "over the top."This is not a book of bon mots. As for the sweeping generalizations that occasionally become part of the landscape, well, we're talking Paul Theroux here. Read the last two pages of "Railway Bazaar" and the last two of "Ghost Train" and you will see the road that Theroux has traveled. (He hints about this last matter several times when he cautions the reader that he was about to default to a knee-jerk, idealized picture of rural life in Asia, and tries to catch himself). Only the people - the glorious people - remain the same.
In "Ghost Train", Theroux displays a deeper appreciation for their humanity and their lot in life, keeping his vitriol in check until he comes across those special fools that he simply will not suffer gladly.Make no mistake, "Ghost Train" was a courageous undertaking. Fond memories could easily be destroyed, the body may not hold up, the muse might not cooperate. The Ghost Train of Paul Theroux's life has clacked down the decades from witticism to compassion. After all, everyone loves a bad boy. Our guide has some miles on him now, and he understands more keenly than ever the weight that poverty imposes on the honest and the humble. Duffill, Molesworth and the others have been largely replaced by simple folk attempting to make a difference, victims of political repression, and women in sexual servitude. especially an aging one.
Yet he left the comfort of his well-earned home in Hawaii and committed himself to seven months of relative discomfort and unpredictability (as opposed to the four months he took 33 years earlier). Now, as an era of global angst closes, I have shut the cover on a more somber, introspective and edgier take on some once familiar terrain, transformed by time and politics. The phrase that comes to mind is "maddening charm". These three variables alone would have been reason enough for Theroux to leave well enough alone. What emerges from this bit of a crapshoot is one part vintage Theroux (beautifully skewering a patently unlikeable fellow traveler and showing disdain for a smug evangelizer); one part first-person journalism (great reportage on what strongmen have wrought on their citizenry); and one part serendipity (allowing us to eavesdrop on genuinely telling conversations with a preeminent author in Turkey and Sir Arthur Clarke in Sri Lanka; and in perhaps the single most compelling vignette, being feted by the son of an innkeeper in the solace of the Burma highlands). with the emphasis on charm.
It may be justified in countries like Singapore, Kampuchea and Turkmenstan where the politicians have "in your face" presence in people's lives - but my guess is, there is more to life in other places.Bryson, Mayle and Clarke are fun people and through their writings the readers have fun as well. I found that I did not warm up to Paul Theroux as I did to the other three and I think that is a problem. Compare that with any of the American airlines. If the writer sees only the dark side of humanity - then that is how the readers are going to see the world.
I think it is possible to reach the same (accurate) conclusions as he does of various places and have the whole thing narrated with a sense of amusement making it more pleasurable for the reader to be his companion on his journeys. He sees every country in the context of two of the criteria that seems to appear to him as most important - the type of government the people are ruled by and the nature of prostitution in each country and of course, the views of well known writers like him that he can call upon in each country. I think this makes for a rather limited menu in understanding the culture of every country. Paul Theroux is supposed to have created the genre of travel writing but I arrived at Theroux after reading practically all the works of other authors like Bill Bryson, Peter Mayle and Stephen Clarke. Travel, like life can be viewed as glass that is half empty or half full. I lived in Singapore for 17 years and what I liked about the place is the honesty of the ordinary people like the cab drivers, the approachability of its civil servants (try reaching a CIS official in USA) and the professionalism of its airlines Singapore Airline.
I wish he had mentioned these as well. Give me Lee Kuan Yew any day over Bush.
It is how one chooses to look at things. In travel writing, you see the world through the eyes of the writer.
For example there is no way Stephen Clarke could be said to like everything about France but he makes us laugh about French idiosyncracies and that makes it pleasurable reading. Paul Theroux is NOT a fun person - so it is not as much fun reading him.
When Bill Bryson talks about the inane boredom of life in the Mid-West or Stephen Clark talks about his experience in Deep South of USA - one does not detect a tone of resentment but of amusement - whereas when Paul talks of his experiences in Singapore and talks of Lee Kuan Yew, there is tone of disgust. Reading the gory details of Pol Pot's massacres or the disgusting comic book culture in Japan is not what one picks up a travel book for.
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