The Lunatic Express: Discovering the World . . . via Its Most Dangerous Buses, Boats, Trains, and Planes
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- ISBN13: 9780767929806
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
Indonesian Ferry Sinks. Peruvian Bus Plunges Off Cliff. African Train Attacked by Mobs. Whenever he selected up the newspaper, Carl Hoffman noticed persons fleeting news bulletins, which seemed about as far from the thought of tourism, travel as the pursuit of pleasure, as it was possible to get. So off he went, spending six months circumnavigating the globe on the world’s worst conveyances: the statistically most treacherous airlines, the most crowded and treacherous ferries, the slowest buses, and the most rickety trains. The Lunatic Prompt takes us into the heart of the world, to some its most teeming cities and remotest places: from Havana to Bogotá on the perilous Cuban Airways. Lima to the Amazon on crowded night buses where the road is a washed-out track. Across Indonesia and Bangladesh by overcrowded ferries that kill 1,000 passengers a year. On commuter trains in Mumbai so crowded that dozens perish daily, across Afghanistan as the Taliban closes in, and, scariest of all, Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., by Greyhound.
The Lunatic Prompt is the tale of traveling with seatmates and deckmates who have left home lacking American Prompt cards on conveyances that don’t take Visa, and seldom take you anywhere you’d want to go. But it’s also the tale of traveling as it used to be — a sometimes upsetting examination, of finding adventure in a modern, rapidly urbanizing world and the generosity of poor strangers, from ear cleaners to urban bus drivers to itinerant roughnecks, who make up most of the world’s population. More than just an adventure tale, The Lunatic Prompt is a amusing, upsetting and insightful look at the world as it is, a planet full of hundreds of millions of people, mostly poor, on the go and seeking their fortunes.
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In less talented hands, “The Lunatic Prompt” could have finished up condescending, maudlin, exploitive, or worst of all, dull. Fortunately, Carl Hoffman is far too excellent of a writer to allow this to occur. As a replacement for, Mr. Hoffman has agreed us a book that, much like the world it describes, is complex, colorful, exciting, and never less than engrossing.
The underlying concept of the book is to experience modes of transportation around the world that would give safety inspectors the vapours. After reading these descriptions I will never again complain about beltway traffic. Yet Mr. Hoffman is never insulting. He implicitly recognizes that there are reasons for the way things are, and manages to imbue his descriptions with a sense of dignity.
This respectful approach extends to the many appealing individuals he encounters, both on and off the road. He celebrates their idiosyncrasies, but never becomes patronizing. These people emerge as fully-rounded characters who live in a world fundamentally different from our own.
And this world bursts from the book with brilliant realism. Mr. Hoffman straddles the boundary between prose and poetry, even when what is being described is sometimes terrifying. Indeed, there are sections of this book that are so plain and exciting that the reader feels the need afterwards for a stiff drink. (Or at least some soothing tea.)
Further, like all excellent travel writers, Mr. Hoffman is able to prompt the personal impact of his travels in a way that is honest and never narcissistic. We get the sense that these travels have changed him, much as reading this book changes the reader.
For me, personally, this book is special because it made me fully appreciate that for millions of people daily life consists of a crowed and frantic maelstrom. It made me realize that the entire planet could be considered something of a Lunatic Prompt. And with this knowledge comes a greater respect and admiration for the world as a whole, and for individuals, like Carl Hoffman, who bring it to us.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5