Ghost Train to the Eastern Star

Posted on 14 January 2018 by Paul Theroux

National BestsellerIn Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, Theroux recreates an epic journey he took thirty years ago, a giant loop by train mostly through Eastern Europe, Turkey, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, China, Japan, and Siberia In short, he traverses all of Asia top to bottom, and end to end In the three decades since he first travelled this route, Asia has undergone phenomenal change The Soviet Union has collapsed, China has risen, India booms, Burma slowly smothers, and Vietnam prospers despite the havoc unleashed upon it the last time Theroux passed through He witnesses all this and in a 25,000 mile journey, travelling as the locals do, by train, car, bus, and foot.His odyssey takes him from Eastern Europe, still hungover from Communism, through tense but thriving Turkey, into the Caucasus, where Georgia limps back toward feudalism while its neighbour Azerbaijan revels in oil driven capitalism As he penetrates deeper into Asia s heart, his encounters take on an otherworldly cast The two chapters that follow show us Turkmenistan, a profoundly isolated society at the mercy of an almost comically egotistical dictator, and Uzbekistan, a ruthless authoritarian state From there, he retraces his steps through India, Mayanmar, China, and Japan, providing his penetrating observations on the changes these countries have undergone.Brilliant, caustic, and totally addictive, Ghost Train to the Eastern Star is Theroux at his very best. Download Ghost Train to the Eastern Star by Paul Theroux – kino-fada.fr Travels from England to France to Germany to Austria to Hungary to Romania to Bulgaria to Turkey to Georgia to Turkmenistan to India to Sri Lanka to Burma to Thailand and China and Laos and Malaysia and Singapore and Cambodia and Vietnam and Japan and Russia via the Trans Siberian Railroad He returns to England by fast trains via Belarus then Berlin, Paris and Kent The captivating parts begin from Turkey on Interesting Philosophical in tone Either great for a planned trip where you want to Travels fr...Travel is forced upon some and for others it is a decadent pursuit see recent Grazia article regarding Princess Beatrice, Kate Moss, Simon Cowell et al toasting themselves like smug pink seals on the beaches of St Barts And there is the other category where travel is a way of life and a part of life and Paul Theroux, greatest, frequently most jaded est and cynical of all modern travel writers falls into the last category Paul Theroux is the anti guide He will not tell you where the best sho Travel is forced upon some and for others it is a decadent pursuit see recent Grazia article regarding Princess Beatrice, Kate Moss, Simon Cowe...Dang, there was an awesome quote toward the end of this massive travelogue, where the author addresses the reader directly, congratulating him or her on reading long past the point of comfort and common sense Only the truly dedicated reader, writer, or traveler will love this bookand if it hadn t been overdue at the library, I would transcribe it here.Endurance itself is one of the innumerable topics Theroux goes on about for months and miles through evocative and lively descriptions of the peo Dang, there was an awesome quote toward the end of this massive travelogue, where the author addresses the reader directly, congratulating him or her on reading long past the point of comfort and common sense Only the truly dedicated reader, writer, or traveler will love this bookand if it hadn t been overdue at the library, I would transcribe it here.Endurance itself is one of the innumerable topics Theroux goes on about for months and miles through evocative and lively descriptions of the people he encounters in passing through ever changing landsc...IT is said that travel broadens the horizons but what to make of pounding the same paths again In his latest book, American author Paul Theroux retraces the journey through Asia which he took back in 1973 and described in The Great Railway Bazaar 1975 , the bestseller which established him as a travel writer.Travelling mostly by train from London through Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, Japan and Russia, the Asia he sees on his second trip is a globalised one in which mo IT is said that travel broadens the horizons but what to make of pounding the same paths again In his latest book, American author Paul Theroux retraces the journey through Asia which he took back in 1973 and described...The reader who opens the first page of a travel book is about to embark upon a journey with the author it helps if they are compatible people Having travelled profitably with Theroux previously, I found in this book that I came progressively to dislike himand .The tipping point was Singapore In earlier days as a lecturer there, Theroux was apparently badly treated Now, decades later, he takes his calculated revenge in a long chapter portraying the Lee Kwan Yew regime as harsh and u The reader who opens the first page of a travel book is about to embark upon a journey with the author it helps if they are compatible people Having travelled profitably with Theroux previously, I found in this book that I came progressively to dislike himand .The tipping point was Singapore In earlier days as a lecturer there, Theroux was apparently badly treated Now, decades later, he takes his calculated revenge in a long chapter portraying the Lee Kwan Yew regime as harsh and unreasonably punitive, and then goes on to suggest, by portraying the city s sleazy underbelly, that the regime is a failure anyway Gotcha with both barrels.And herein lies the key to the book Ostensibly a smart notion to retrace a journey made 33 years earlier and record what has changed, the...I spent a wonderful week following Theroux along on his journey, repeatedly tracing my finger along the route on the map in the front of his book I found the first 1 2 of the book to be the most fascinating, as Theroux describes how his life has changed in the last 30 years and really digs down deep into the life and culture of the p...Twenty five years ago while living in a Pacific tropical paradise, I would visit the two very small English language book stationery shops at least weekly to feed my reading appetite Being very small shops there was a very limited range of books, so I had to expand my horizons somewhat and found myself reading books I would never have normally read, like Paul Theoroux s The Great Railway Bazaar Even though I was quite young still at the time, and it had been written by a sad, grumpy man some Twenty five years ago while living in a Pacific tropical paradise, I would visit the two very small English language book stationery shops at least weekly to feed my reading appetite Being very small shops there was a very limited range of books, so I had to expand my horizons somewhat and found myself reading books I woul...I checked out this audiobook version of Ghost Train to the Eastern Star from my local library to keep me company on a couple of long drives Having made it just to Istanbul, I won t be finishing.I appreciate Theroux s honesty in the opening chapter about the miserable circumstance of his previous trip, 30 years before, of which this is a reprise But it was hard to swallow what he d done set off roaming, temporarily abandoning two small children with his wife at home, against her will That h I checked out this audiobook version of Ghost Train to the Eastern Star from my local library to keep me company on a couple of long drives Having made it just to Istanbul, I won t be finishing.I appreciate Theroux s honesty in the opening chapter about the miserable circumstance of his previous trip, 30 years before, of which this is a reprise But it was hard to swallow what he d done set off roaming, temporarily abandoning two small children with his wife at home, against her will That he also temporarily abandoned her, and felt betrayed when she took a lover, was silly but it s hard to know what works for two other adults It s not ...A literatura de viagens fascina me e lamentavelmente tenho lido poucos livros deste g nero Comboio Fantasma para o Oriente o primeiro livro que leio de Paul Theroux, mas obrigatoriamente terei que ler outros com especial destaque para O Grande Bazar Ferrovi rio que o autor escreveu depois de uma viagem efectuada em 1973 com um percurso quase id ntico ao que agora relata, de Londres ao Jap o...This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers To view it, click here Paul Theroux gives a book talk at National Book Fair.One thing I learned from this was that I have been mispronouncing his name the second syllable rhymes with blue not blow I am about 200 pages into this at the moment and it is mostly good The original Railway Bazaar focused on the travels in Asia, which I reminded myself when he blazed through Europe and deals with the southeast European countries little attention and at that, mostly very negative Once he reaches Turkey and Georgia h Paul Theroux gives a book talk at National Book Fair.One thing I learned from this was that I have been mispronouncing his name the second syllable rhymes with blue not blow I am about 200 pages into this at the moment and it is mostly good The original Railway Bazaar focused on the travels in Asia, which I reminded myself when he blazed through Europe and deals with the southeast European countries little attention and at that, mostly very negative Once he reaches Turkey and Georgia he spendstime describing each place and the book becomesenjoyable.In this book Theroux seems in a far better humor than when he traveled to write Dark Star Safari, so it is so far not correct to characterize this as the travels of a grumpy aging writer at the time, Theroux seemed upset about his approac...

English
14 January 2018

Paul Theroux