Setting off in his hometown, and ending up 'almost at the end of the world', Paul Theroux's The Old Patagonian Express is a travel writing tour de force from one of the masters of the genre contains a new preface by the author in Penguin Modern Classics.'The journey, not the arrival, matters'The Old Patagonian Expresstells of Paul Theroux's train journey down the length of North and South America. Beginning on Boston's subway, he depicts a voyage from ice-bound Massachusetts to the arid plateau of Argentina's most southerly tip, via pretty Central American towns and the ancient Incan city of Macchu Pichu. Shivering and sweating by turns as the temperature and altitude rise and plummet, he describes the people he encountered - thrown in with the tedious, and unavoidable, Mr Thornberry in Limón and reading to the legendary blind writer, Jorge Luis Borges, in Buenos Aires. Witty, sharply observed and beautifully written, this is a richly evocative account of travelling to 'the end of the line'.Paul Edward Theroux (b. 1941) is an American travel writer and novelist, born in Medford, Massachusetts. Among his best known works of travel-writing are The Great Railway Bazaar (1975), The Old Patagonian Express (1979), and Riding the Iron Rooster (1985). Theroux has published numerous works of fiction, some of which have been adapted into films, including The Mosquito Coast (1981), a 1986 film directed by Peter Weir and starring Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren. Theroux is the father of British documentary filmmaker Louis Theroux, and the uncle of American actor and screenwriter Justin Theroux.If you enjoyed The Old Patagonian Express, you might like Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's Wind, Sand and Stars, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.'One of the most entrancing travel books written in our time'Financial Times'Travel writing at its most accomplished'Sunday Telegraph
The Old Patagonian Express
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The "Old Patagonian Express" tells of Paul Theroux's train journey down the length of North and South America. Beginning on Boston's subway, he depicts a voyage from ice-bound Massachusetts to the arid plateau of Argentina's most southerly tip, via pretty Central American towns and the ancient Incan city of Macchu Pichu. Shivering and sweating by turns as the temperature and altitude rise and plummet, he describes the people he encountered - thrown in with the tedious, and unavoidable, Mr Thornberry in Limon and reading to the legendary blind writer, Jorge Luis Borges, in Buenos Aires. Witty, sharply observed and beautifully written, this is a richly evocative account of travelling to 'the end of the line'.
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Beginning his journey in Boston, where he boarded the subway commuter train, Paul Theroux travelled the length of, North and South America, to his destination in Patagonia.
Catching trains of all kinds, meeting fellow passengers both enthralling and repellent, Paul Theroux compiled this witty and sharply observed story of his voyage from ice-bound Massachusetts and Illinois to the arid plateau of Argentina's most southerly tip.
Sweating and shivering by turns as the temperature and altitude shot up and down, thrown in with the appalling Mr Thornberry in Limón and reading nightly to the blind writer, Borges, in Buenos Aires, Theroux vividly evokes the contrasts of a journey 'to the end of the line'.
'Fascinating, beautifully written... a vivid travelogue described with the sensitive, richly observant pen of a born writer' - Sunday Express
'One of the most entrancing travel books written in our time' - Financial Times
'This is travel writing at its most accomplished... even the bores are funny and human, and the description of homeless children is painfully unforgettable' - Sunday Telegraph -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine andere Ausgabe: Taschenbuch .
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Einleitungssatz
One of us on that sliding subway train was clearly not heading for work. Lesen Sie die erste Seite Ausgewählte Seiten ansehen
Buchdeckel | Copyright | Inhaltsverzeichnis | Auszug | Rückseite
One of us on that sliding subway train was clearly not heading for work. Lesen Sie die erste Seite Ausgewählte Seiten ansehen
Buchdeckel | Copyright | Inhaltsverzeichnis | Auszug | Rückseite
Kundenrezensionen
Die hilfreichsten Kundenrezensionen
2 von 2 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
Von J. Redpath
Format:Taschenbuch
Near the end of a two week trip to a far off land (for me at least), those uncomfortable things that at first seemed new and exciting start to become annoying and old.
It seems like Paul Theroux started feeling this way after his first two weeks... actually maybe even before. He manages to leave his personal stamp of disaproval on every Central and South American country in his wake... er... track.
The good thing is that his negative attitude is so obvious that you become desensitized to it, and it starts to feel like the grumpy narrative to a beautiful slideshow presentation by your Great Uncle Horrace.
Theroux's descriptions of people and places are so vivid, that his journey becomes less of a personal trip, and more of a documentary film of the beautiful landscape and interesting people that he meets. He is but a character in the film that you can choose to ignore.
Sidenote: Before I bought this book I had really wanted to go to the Patagonian area of Chile and Argentina. Since that was the only place that Theroux didn't seem to have a problem with, I instead went to Peru (he both hated it and got altitude sickness there, so I figured it must be a great place... and of course it was).
1 von 1 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
Format:Taschenbuch
As a venezuelan I thank god that there is no train to my country and that Paul Theroux didn't stop in Venezuela because almost everywhere that he went , including part of the U.S.A, he had the ability, the gift to find only the negative things. So you should ask me, then why did I give this book 4 stars, because its fun to read. Paul Theroux, a young writer in the seventies, one day decides to leave his wife and kids in their home in London, go back to his parents house in Massachussets and from there take a train to the Patagonia: the farthest south that he could go. Sounds fun for an adventurous man, but all the time, all the places he keeps bitching about everything: The people on the trains, the people in the cities, how he misses his family, what is he doing there, about the food, about the hotels. Well you name it, but in the middle of all this bitching you can almost find yourself in the forest, in the middle of a civil war, in the top of the mountain, meeting Borges, every day completely different from the other.Paul Theroux can be real obnoxious, but he sure can write.
Von Jack Voss
Format:Taschenbuch
Theroux is one of my favorites. "Riding the Iron Rooster" initiated me to his books; the "Patagonia Express" was a good follow-up. He is an intellectual fellow, I suspect, whom I'd enjoy meeting one day. Theroux writes a reliable read. Get it, and enjoy him. <vossj@mdot.state.mi.us>
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3.8 von 5 Sternen
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5.0 von 5 Sternen
An experienced traveller and writer
This is my second book of Theroux. I am especially interested in the tone of his writting. Everything special including danger and culture shock in Theroux's tone would be... Lesen Sie weiter...
Veröffentlicht am 2. August 2000 von Ping Cheng
5.0 von 5 Sternen
Theroux hits the mark
I very much like Theroux's writing. To me his sometimes acerbic observations get towards the truth of a place AS HE PERCEIVES IT. Lesen Sie weiter...
Veröffentlicht am 21. März 2000 von saliero
4.0 von 5 Sternen
ideosyncratic but powerful descriptions
The descriptions of what Paul observed while on the trains, under varying conditions, are what I enjoyed the most- they are clear and powerful. Lesen Sie weiter...
Veröffentlicht am 19. März 2000 von Teresa Chubet
3.0 von 5 Sternen
SAVOUR SLOWLY
Reading Theroux is like drinking whiskey - it is an aquired taste. Sipped slowly it can be very pleasant but there are times when too much be quite nauseating.
Veröffentlicht am 31. Oktober 1999 von BPG
5.0 von 5 Sternen
This is the book that got me hooked on travelling
First book I read by Paul Theroux and was blown away by his refusal to play the all-too-easily-pleased and polite traveller/tourist. Lesen Sie weiter...
Am 1. Oktober 1999 veröffentlicht
5.0 von 5 Sternen
Train Through The Americas
This is an excellent read. Theroux engages everything and everyone with a sort of biting-embrace. He doesn't mince words. He tells the story of the Americas as he experiences it. Lesen Sie weiter...
Am 29. Juni 1999 veröffentlicht
3.0 von 5 Sternen
Don't be such a whiner Paul!
Jesus, man! Are you always this annoyed with life? I liked your book but only because you met Borges and were Poe-obsessed throughout the entire trip. Lesen Sie weiter...
Am 29. Juni 1999 veröffentlicht
5.0 von 5 Sternen
Theroux's most enjoyable travel book
The Old Pantagonian Express is about 20 years old now but I still re-read it every couple of years. From the starting point in Massachussets, Theroux remarks on how his fellow... Lesen Sie weiter...
Am 16. März 1999 veröffentlicht
3.0 von 5 Sternen
Cranky
Although some of the author's anecdotes were enjoyable, I became tired of his cranky observations of Latin America...
Am 9. Februar 1999 veröffentlicht
5.0 von 5 Sternen
Travel adventure in the comfort of your home.
I loved this book. Having read most of Theroux's books this did not come as a great surprise, as far as being an eye opener. Lesen Sie weiter...
Am 31. Juli 1998 veröffentlicht
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