Ghost Train to the Eastern Star: On the Tracks of the Great Railway Bazaar

I'm a big Theroux fan, but this was tedious read. If not for his name, I doubt the book would have been published. There are a few high points, such as the section when he was in Myanmar, but typically his observations and descriptions provide unexceptional reading.

Probably will be enjoyed best by those who have read Paul Theroux's previous book "On the Tracks of the Great Railway Bazaar." I have not, but have read a few of his other travel books, such as "Dark Star Safari." He is an educated traveler, not an idle tourist.

The author's style is to be highly descriptive of the minor sights and sounds of the actual hard movement across space, usually by seedy but interesting trains, with a focus on conversations with particular people (some famous, like Arthur C. Clarke; most not) along the way. Mr. Theroux expresses strong personal opinions on many subjects, for example opposition to U.S. policy--now in Iraq, then in Vietnam and Cambodia. He also seems fixated on the dark side of sexual practices in a number of the countries he visits (for example, those of Thailand, Singapore, and Japan.)

All in all, a book for most serious readers on their own long voyages.

This is a travel book that revisits the settings of the Great Railway Bazaar. Although he constantly refers to the earlier book, you don't need to have read it to enjoy this one. It might actually be just as interesting to read this first and then read the Great Railway Bazaar.

Theroux has always been my favorite travel writer, but I am happy to say that he is only getting better. Maybe with age he is getting a little less cynical, a little more sentimental and empathetic with the locals in these far off places. As always good descriptions, a lot of interesting references to books and history. His best travel book.

You can feel and get a sense of these far off places that few will ever get the chance to visit.

Paul Theroux is getting on. This book is largely repetitive and should have been much better edited. Theroux is still cranky, still sees everything darkly except himself, is fixated on his own left-wing politics. The lowest part of the book is when Theroux meets Pico Iyer in Japan and they have what Theroux undoubtedly thinks is a fascinating intellectual conversation, when actually it is a tedious pseudo-intellectual many-page bore. That and his constant harping about manga and Japanese men. The interesting parts are the travels through the "stans", a place where many will never go.