Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #289559 in Books
• Published on: 2007-02-05
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Synopsis
These are Che Guevara's riotous diaries charting his motorcycle odyssey from Argentina through Chile and Peru ending finally in Venezuela. In January 1952, two young men from Buenos Aires set out to explore South America on 'La Poderosa', the Powerful One: a 500cc Norton. One of them was the twenty-three-year-old Che Guevara. Written eight years before the Cuban Revolution, these are Che's diaries - full of disasters and discoveries, high drama, low comedy and laddish improvisations. During his travels through Argentina, Chile, Peru and Venezuela, Che's main concerns are where the next drink is coming from, where the next bed is to be found and who might be around to share it. Che becomes a stowaway, a fireman and a football coach; he sometimes falls in love and frequently falls off the motorbike. Within a decade the whole world would know his name. His trip might have been an adventure of a lifetime - had his lifetime not turned into a much greater adventure.

Customer Reviews

Motorcycle diaries
This is the short, eloquent account of Che's travels around South America. He is very descriptive and evocative and this book is not only a great travelogue, but it is also a great insight into what made Che become the revolutionary he did. It looks at the exploits and relationships he experienced on the road, looking day to day for the next meal, lift or bed. A good insight into this iconic figure and a damn good read to boot.

A beautiful start!!
Personally, I loved this film and it is one of those films that gets better with every viewing!!! I'd buy this for the splendour and the scenery in it (Machu Pichu is breathtaking)!! I've heard this film criticised for romanticising what was later to become Che Guevara!! This is true in a way, but the sights witnessed along the journey can change anyone's view of the world and they show just what led the great man to become a revolutionary fighter!

Alberto Granado started the journey and Che (Ernesto) finished it!! Credit to Walter Salles for following the path taken by the two young men, from Argentina to Chile to Peru to Venezuala!! For any of you that like a road trip film and are fed up with the American Pie style rubbish, then this is for you!! It also carries a very important message for us all!! Vive Che!!!

"El Che", South America and adventure...
I thought the 2004 film "Diarios de Motocicleta" was beautiful, with enthralling performances from Gael Garcia Bernal and sumptuous South American scenery. However the film has been accused of glorifying "El Che" and neglecting to feature the darker elements to his soul, rendering Guevara a squeaky-clean paragon of charity.

The book, on the other hand (on which the film was based) seems to convey many facets of Guevara's character, from a genuine care for the welfare of the peasants he encounters, to a cheeky "laddishness" including a "bad case of the runs" which the young Guevara directs onto his host's sun dried peaches! Finally we witness the hardening of Guevara's character into a rather bloodthirsty revolutionary intent on seeking justice for the downtrodden of South America.

Although the book is not short of adventure, to read this book merely as a travel journal would diminish some of its most poignant features. Through the impact of each experience we can chart the shaping of Ernesto Guevara into the figure he became. The book also offers a mystical perspective on some of South America's secrets including its silent mountains and lakes and the vibrancy of the people, unfortunately often combined with desperate poverty.

Unforgettable.