Thirty years after the epic journey chronicled in his classic work The Great Railway Bazaar, the world's most acclaimed travel writer re-creates his 25,000-mile journey through eastern Europe, central Asia, the Indian subcontinent, China, Japan, and Siberia. Half a lifetime ago, Paul Theroux virtually invented the modern travel narrative by recounting his grand tour by train through Asia. In the three decades since, the world he recorded in that book has undergone phenomenal change. The Soviet Union has collapsed and China has risen; India booms while Burma smothers under dictatorship; Vietnam flourishes in the aftermath of the havoc America was unleashing on it the last time Theroux passed through. And no one is better able to capture the texture, sights, smells, and sounds of that changing landscape than Theroux. Theroux's odyssey takes him from eastern Europe, still hung-over from communism, through tense but thriving Turkey into the Caucasus, where Georgia limps back toward feudalism while its neighbor Azerbaijan revels in oil-fueled capitalism. Theroux is firsthand witness to it all, traveling as the locals do--by stifling train, rattletrap bus, illicit taxi, and mud-caked foot--encountering adventures only he could have: from the literary (sparring with the incisive Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk) to the dissolute (surviving a week-long bender on the Trans-Siberian Railroad). And wherever he goes, his omnivorous curiosity and unerring eye for detail never fail to inspire, enlighten, inform, and entertain. PAUL THEROUX was born in Medford, Massachusetts, in 1941 and published his first novel, Waldo, in 1967. His fiction includes The Mosquito Coast, My Secret History, My Other Life, Kowloon Tong, Blinding Light, and most recently, The Elephanta Suite. His highly acclaimed travel books include Riding the Iron Rooster, The Great Railway Bazaar, The Old Patagonian Express, Fresh Air Fiend, and Dark Star Safari. He has been the guest editor of The Best American Travel Writing and is a frequent contributor to various magazines, including The New Yorker. He lives in Hawaii and on Cape Cod.
Amazon Best of the Month, August 2008: Way back in the dark pre-Internet, limited-air-travel world of 1975, the way to get from Europe to Asia was by train. A young and ambitious writer named Paul Theroux made his literary mark by taking the 28,000-mile intercontinental journey via rail from London to Tokyo and back home again. His book, The Great Railway Bazaar, became a travel-lit classic. Thirty years later, an older, wiser, and even less sanguine Theroux decided to retrace his steps. The result is Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, a fascinating account of the places you vaguely knew existed (Tbilisi), probably won't ever go to (Bangalore), but definitely should know something about (Mandalay). Get on board Theroux's fast-moving travelogue, which features some of the most astute commentary on our distorted notions of time, space, and each other in the age of jet speed, broadband connections, and cultural extinction. --Lauren Nemroff
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Quite a constitution and quite a writer.:
Considering the number of trips on marginal trains through poor 3rd world countries Paul Theroux has taken it seems to me a tribute to his cast-iron gut that he has even survived this long, and miraculous that he has the stamina to continue going on these journeys. I really thought "Dark Star Safari" would be his last trip, although I'm glad it was not, because I've enjoyed his travel writing through the years. I enjoyed this book, although the original "Great Railway Bazaar" is in some places more amusing... more info
The Older the Violin, The Sweeter the Music:
I have been reading Theroux's travel books for more than 30 years, and I have to say that they and he get better all the time. This latest book is the funniest, wisest, kindest, most beautifully written of the books. What the author has lost in endurance (he goes to sleep much earlier than ever before) and appetite (he stays pretty much away from the bars), he makes up for in humanness. Like all the great writers, he's a man on a mission, and the mission is to tell us that there are people in the... more info
Fast service - good book:
The book, Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, is an excellent travel book. It does go even further, however, in his many conversations with the people he meets along the way. It is informative and well as entertaining.
Return of the king:
Theroux returns for a repeat encounter with the people and places that made him thirty years ago with the Great Railway Bazaar. The protagonist has aged from young turk to an itinerant king who hobnobs with luminaries such as Arthur Clark and Murakami in an 'oh by the way' manner amongst his weekly jaunts. The places have similarly 'grown up' from exotic (not always desirably so) to emerging (with increasing prosperity accompanied with a loss of innocence). The resulting chemistry (in particular his... more info
