5.0 out of 5 stars A Great "First" Travel Book by a Great Writer.

J.B.P. · July 14, 2013

He was 31 and married with two small children, living in a small house in London. He had no "job" as such but he had multiple narrative and pedagogical skills. He was French Canadian, a native of New England, a product of its best Universities. He had been a teacher of English with the Peace Corps in Malawi and Uganda for four years and, with other sponsors. for two years in Singapore. He was now (in 1972) a "writer" of sorts and had always loved trains. So in the late summer of that year he set out to cross Asia and back by train - alone.After four months "on the road" - mainly by rail - he returned, rejoined his family and two years later published his first travel book -The Great Railway Bazaar. It was an instant success; and in the ensuing 40 odd years Paul Theroux novelist, teacher, man of letters and social critic has not only become the dean of travel writers with more than 10 books on travel to his credit but an established novelist, essayist and short story writer as well a published author of more than 35 books of non-travel books in his name.I read Bazaar when it was first published and became a Theroux fan on the spot; and since then I have read and cheered every one of its "issue"; but I have never written any comments on Bazaar. However, having just finished his last and perhaps his final travel book (The Last Train From Zona Verde,) I think it's time to say something about Bazaar which I have read again for this purpose.Bazaar starts from London in 1972 with a rail trip to Paris where Theroux boards the "Direct-Orient-Express" which is not to be confused with Agatha Christy's or Alfred Hitchcock's luxury train. There's only one sleeping car for Istanbul via Milan, Venice and Belgrade. And you wouldn't want any of your family to have to travel on it. There's no dining car. You are pretty much on your own for a couple of days, But Istanbul is, as always, engaging. Then it's the "Express" across Turkey to the border of Iran, another "Express" to Teheran, a flight to Peshawar and then the Khyber Pass Local and the Frontier Mail to Mumbai (then Bombay), Indian trains of the mid 1970s too numerous to mention here - Bombay, Simla, New Delhi, Calcutta. A train to Ceylon (before it was Sri Lanka). A flight to Burma (when it was still Burma). Then The Mandalay express. Up country through Vietnam (where the war was still winding down) . A flight to Japan. Tokyo. Kyoto. The fast Japanese trains. And then - by contrast - a voyage ("storm tossed" is the proper phrase for it) to the Eastern Terminus of the Trans Siberian "Express" in the USSR and ten days across Siberia in late December. (Can you imagine ten days on a train in a small compartment with another occupant and never a bath? You really have to love trains!) And, finally, three days after Christmas he's homeIt was a time when travel in most of the countries he visited was for the hardy and adventurous. There was no internet, no GPS,no email, no iPhone. You used the telegraph system such as it was to communicate with home. Credit cards were generally a thing of the future so you carried your money in a money belt and used bank drafts (when available) for your cash. The modern preventatives or analgesics for Delhi Belly, its children and cousins, were in the future. And personal cleanliness while traveling was obviously a luxury if it could be accommodated at all.Curiously Theroux has never to my memory commented on any of these things. Yes, I have read in some of his books where he has been ill, but we never read of the ordinary vicissitudes of travel -- problems which the rest of us have when we just go to New York. Nor do we nor have we read about his travel plans. Is it all catch-as-catch-can? What was the preparation for the trip? (Obviously there was and had been some preparation because he frequently writes about giving lectures or teaching, and there needs to be some advance work for this.) And where does he find all the books he talks about reading as he goes? They're great books for the time but none that I would expect to find in your corner book store.Now back to Bazaar . As I said I was hooked the first time I read it. And this time it was even better because using Google Earth and Google Maps one can get a pretty good picture of where he is, how he was traveling and what he was seeing. So this is Theroux in his first book, already at the top of his game and a book to spend an evening of two with now in 2013 just as it was when I read in forty years ago. And I guarantee you will like it too

4.0 out of 5 stars A "Classic" Travel Book

m. · June 11, 2014

There is nothing like a good travel book to relax with after the usual stresses of the day, especially for those who might never expect to travel through, e.g., India, Japan, and Russia on the Trans-Siberian Express. The publication date of 1975 takes us back to those years when "hippies" were everywhere, including, as Paul Theroux informs us, on trains in exotic places. His descriptions of these personalities (and many others encountered) give us a picture of hardened, selfish, unrealistic individuals presumably on a spiritual quest. As great as this book is, and as highly recommended as it is, the reader's steadfast traveling companion can only be the author and what he sees and experiences, and Theroux sees through a glass very darkly. Travel experiences in retrospect have what can be identified as their highest and lowest points, highest meaning a moment of realization, a discovery of human goodness and genuine spirituality that brings the potential for a true change in outlook regarding human beings and human conditions. Theroux's books lack these latter nourishing views of life, so that the reader becomes as tired as he does near the merciful end of his months-long journey (with his usual heavy consumption of alcohol) on the Siberian Express, with everything utterly boring, and with time passing painfully slow The account has to be honest about "the way it is," but at one point Theroux is telling all of the insipid travelers he encounters that he is a dentist, in order to avoid engaging them about his lifework, causing one poor fellow to consult him about his decaying teeth. Theroux advises him to seek treatment as soon as possible, and gives him two aspirins.The author may not be able to be called a "misanthrope" in the strict definition of the word, but he comes close. So this is our traveling companion in the otherwise "great railway bazaar," and there is no letup in the way that he sees and experiences life.

5.0 out of 5 stars I first read "The Great Railway Bazaar" twenty years ago

G.H. · August 17, 2015

I first read "The Great Railway Bazaar" twenty years ago. During this warm and lazy summer (2015) I have spent considerable time reading books from my shelves I had not read ("The Aeneid", "Europe: A History"), books new to me ("Flight of Passage", "The Oregon Trail: A New American Adventure"), including many travel writings ("A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush", "Slowly Down the Ganges"). Resisting the urge to jump in my car and indulge my wanderlust, I also decided to reread some of Paul Theroux's vast corpus which is to my mind the next best thing. Actually, in the case of "The Great Railway Bazaar" and its companion "Ghost Train to the Eastern Star" this may be the best option, far better than what sounds like a tedious and tiring undertaking.Theroux is a skilled and engaging writer with a gift for vivid description and memorable characterization. The first named volume records a rail journey made in the 1970s when the writer was 33; the latter revisits much the same route in the first decade of the 21st century, thirty-three years after the first. Certain changes in itinerary were forced upon him (Iran was no longer open to him, some parts of Vietnam, originally closed, were now easily accessible) but the general shape of his journeys remained the same.Essentially his route takes him from London to Istanbul then overland to India, across Southeast Asia, to Japan and return through Siberia to Moscow (seven days on the train), then home. If you have considered traveling to these parts then read this (these) book(s). You may be encouraged by what the author reveals. You may be (as I was) somewhat discouraged by the labor of the journey and be satisfied by simply learning of another's ordeals. In either case the tales told will reward your efforts and perhaps satisfy your longing for adventure.

Very good

A.K. · October 14, 2025

Great Story, if you are into travel novels. It inspired me to go to one of the places mentioned during a trip I did recently.

Hats off to Theroux

A.C. · October 22, 2015

This is an older book of Theroux's.I have read some of his other travel books and some of his fiction.His insights into other cultures and people are clever and insightful.The book has aged well.

An enjoyable journey

A.R. · November 30, 2020

This is the first time I have read his work and I really enjoyed it, the discussion of the people he met at the times he travelled but even more fascinating was the excerpt of his book retracing the journey 30 years later and giving the back story. I look forward to reading that now.

Travel writing at its very Best...👍

P.N.S. · April 24, 2023

This book has its own World in it.It is the epitome of travel writing.It keeps us glued to the book.I enjoyed reading it and I certainly felt that I was also traveling with the author.The part about India and sub-continent is very adorable.After completing the book I hoped it would have never ended...At last it needs to be mentioned that Paul Theroux is a Legendary Travel writer.Go for it,it's worth reading...👍

Inspirador

a.b. · September 8, 2018

Uma beleza de livro. Inspirador, cativante, bem escrito, sempre bem humorado, sem papas na língua para emitir as opiniões. Uma joia preciosa para quem gosta de viajar de verdade, de fazer aventura.