Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25237 in Books
• Published on: 1989-03-30
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

Synopsis
Paul Theroux left Victoria Station on a rainy Saturday in April thinking that taking eight trains across Europe, Eastern Europe, the USSR and Mongolia would be the easy way to get to the Chinese border - the relaxing way, even. He would read a little, take notes, eat regular meals and gaze contentedly out of windows. The reality, of course, was very different. In fact, Theroux experienced a decidedly odd and unexpected trip to China that set the challenging tone for his epic year-long rail journey around that vast, inscrutable land - a journey which involved riding nearly every train in the country. 'Wry, humorful and occasionally querulous...as Theroux makes excruciatingly clear, travelling alone in the Middle Kingdom is not for the faint of heart or stomach' - "Time".

Customer Reviews

A little too long
Good old Theroux is on form with this work however one does begin to feel that there is perhaps too many pages about quite repetious themes during the book which leaves the reader somewhat bored with it after a while. It was certainly a challenge to carry on when I was about two thirds of the way through, however for dedicated readers of Theroux, they will certainly enjoy his talented and ever literary connections and prescient observations written as beautiful literary imagery.

Great Read, Fine Insights into China
This is a strongly written, often very funny account of Theroux's trip around China. I first read it before making many trips to China myself while living in Hong Kong, and found it invariably accurate and enlightening (as well as extremely entertaining). Theroux's take on China is just what a western writer's should be: honest, critical, and most important of all, beholden to no one - aspects of character that will not make such a writer popular to the governments of many Far Eastern regimes (his funny, literary Hong Kong novel, Kowloon Tong, seemed very accurate when I was living there, yet was banned inside China), nor to certain types of westerners who settle permanently in that part of the world and perhaps try a little too hard to make the Third World sound like some paradise posting. But the detached reader, interested in the East yet prefering accuracy of description over saving China's "face," is in for an enjoyable, informative literary read.

Theroux's novel of Singapore, Saint Jack, is another good and telling book if you're heading that way (even just from the armchair).

Disappointing and short-sighted
Although Mr. Theroux' writing is now over 10 years old, his attitude to new experiences, situations and people leaves me very cold. His conceited sneering at the Chinese people and customs is neither appropriate nor well-placed, and at best, he is condescending towards his subject. Admittedly, China can be frustrating and bizarre - but the writer chooses, rather than to understand the reasons behind what he sees, to resort to hackneyed references to the cultural revolution etcetera, which rapidly become monotonous. By the very nature and scope of his project, Theroux leaves himself no time to properly understand any of what he experiences, and as such, this book gives a very bleak picture of what is in fact a fascinating, exciting, vibrant and intelligent country and culture.

Anyone who wants to understand China through reading a book should bypass this and read 'New Shanghai', or possibly 'Wild Swans'.