the old patagonian express by paul theroux

And it's here where the problems start, the heat for one thing plays a part in Theroux's restlessness and irritation and his writing changes from the calm before. Starting on the Boston subway on a freezing cold day, Theroux sets off on his adventure, after stopping in Chicago he heads south through Mississippi, Texas and before you know it we are in Mexico, this all happens within the first 50 pages or so, so the bulk of reading is set mostly in central and south America. After completion I view this in two ways, when describing the changing landscape, his thoughts on the countries he passes, and his experiences of being on the trains, it definitely has the feel of a dairy or journal, however, when meeting people or having conversations you can't help read it like a novel, apart from that is when he gets to hang out with Jorge Luis Borges in Buenos Aires. Writing in his introduction he says that some people view a travel book as a type of novel, and that others who have turned little trips into huge odysseys where self-dramatization or invention is inevitable, but Paul sets out to not to take a long journey as an inspiration to write, but simply write about the journey whilst he's on it. Reading Paul Theroux's epic rail journey from a snowy Boston all the way down to the vast emptiness of the Patagonian plateau has certainly opened my eyes as to what's possible, it was a great pleasure, but not without pitfalls.

I do however recall the nostalgic memory of my first ever train ride aged about five, sitting on board just prior to departure I was excited and couldn't keep still, waiting for something extraordinary to happen, but the most euphoria I got was when the train shot through a tunnel for all of 30 seconds, other than that I gazed out yonder at the passing English countryside, munching on a bag of sweets wondering what all the fuss was about. Apart from the occasional quick dash on the Metro, I haven't had much of a train life, as never really needed them.

The old patagonian express by paul theroux