Book Review: In a Sunburned Country

Author: Bill Bryson
Genre: Non-fiction, Travel
Rating: 4/5
Verdict:A delightful read about the land Down-Under but a tad long.

In a Sunburned country is a fascinating read about Bill Bryson's travels throughout Australia with a lot of humor sprinkled all throughout. It is full of funny stories, anecdotes, fascinating facts and a lot of unique details about the different cities and a whole lot of detail on the natural and scenic wonders of one of the largest islands on earth.

Bryson starts with a brief introduction to the history of Australia and the fact that Britain originally used Australia as a prison camp - Fascinating, right?! You get to read so many such unique and interesting trivia all throughout the book -  like his story about the building of the Opera House, the anecdotes about the parks and the city plans of Adelaide and Canberra, the sharks, snakes, spiders and other lethal creatures which can kill you in a single bite and the plants, flora and fauna that do not exist anywhere else on the earth but Australia. One common theme that has been mentioned by Bill often in the book is that Australia is HUGE. He makes great efforts to travel all throughout the country but fails because of the vastness of it. To me, Australia has always been all about the different cities - Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane and the usual tourist spots - Opera House, Great Barrier Reef, Darling harbor. But I liked how Bill spent very little time on those and instead spent more time in the emptiness of the Outback. It was fascinating and intriguing to read about the trekkers across the Outback and the Aborigines who settled in it and the animals that still inhabit in there.

The one thing that I loved the most about the book is Bill's writing - This is not the usual "Day 1 - Went to X, ate at Y and stayed at Z" travel guide. This is not a book about what to see and do while in Australia. Instead its a book about the people, places, culture and the natural wonders that Australia has to offer. Some of the facts are so bizarre, but that's what makes it a truly wonderful read. If you want to know about where to stay in Sydney or the sight-seeing places in Adelaide, look else where. If you want to know what it is like to stop in the middle of the Outback or kangaroos hopping across the horizon, then this book is for you. I still recall Bill's narration about visiting the Great Barrier Reef. While one would have expected a "It was beautiful, exotic and vibrant" message, No, that's not what Bill talks about. He tells you about an American couple who got left behind when the boat departed without them and were never seen again, probably eaten by sharks, he speculates. It is at that moment you truly realize and marvel at the natural wonder!

I must admit that I got a tad bored while reading certain sections of the book, but Bill totally makes it up by balancing that with his witty anecdotes, funny incidents and some hilarious moments. My only gripe about the book was that it was a bit longer than I had expected and I was waiting to get to the end which is never a good thing for a book. Despite that, this book is a keeper. Australia has been on my must-visit list forever now and the book only made me yearn for a trip down under sometime very soon!

Book Review: The sun also rises

Author: Ernest Hemingway
Genre: Fiction, Travel
Rating: 2/5
Verdict: A dull story with a bunch of incidents just strung together. A disappointing read.

 April and May are travel-writing genre in my book club and this is my first of the lot I have planned to read for the next couple of months in the travel-writing series. I have always had pretty strong emotions about bull fighting in Spain and that was the single reason for me to pick up this book. I had pretty high expectations given Ernest Hemingway's reputation. Despite the raving reviews about this book, I found it really boring and disappointing when I finished it.

The first part starts with an introduction to the various characters, and is narrated by Jake Barnes, a writer for newspaper and an expatriate living in Paris. The story is set right after when World War I ends and we learn that Jake is made impotent from the war. He copes with his life through fine dining, heavy drinking and excessive partying in Paris.  Then we get introduced to various other characters, Robert Cohn, a friend of Jake, who is a Jewish writer and an amateur boxer and Brett Ashley, who loves Jake and he loves her too, but they both know that the relationship cant get anywhere due to Jake's impotency. Brett is engaged and soon to be married to Mike Campbell. Then there is a Bill, who is another friend of Jake's, a rather minor character in the book who joins them on the trip from Paris to Pamplona. I found the first part pretty dull and boring and the description about all the characters was lacking depth. There was too much information on things I thought were unnecessary which distracted me from absorbing and concentrating on the plot. It was very distracting to say the least. 

In the second part, all five of them decide to go to watch the Fiesta (bull fights) in Pamplona, stopping over for a fishing trip in between. We get to know more about Brett (Lady Ashley) in this part. She is described as a femme fatale and a promiscuous woman, who openly sleeps with several other men. She is in love with Jake Barnes and brushes him off because he is impotent. When she is pursued by Robert Cohn, she goes to San Sebastian with him even though she is engaged to Mike.During the fiesta, she runs off with a 19 year old bull fighter Pedro Romero. She seduces every man to fall in love with her and somehow it totally damages her character rather than portraying the liberated woman of the 1920's.

I must admit that as much I was disappointed by the first part, I did enjoy the third part very much. The description of fishing trip and the fiesta season was wonderful. Hemingway's detailed description of the settings around the fishing and his portrayal of the remote town was simply awesome and when the story moves to Pamplona, only he could have written so beautifully about the fiesta for something as horrific as the bull fighting. The climax was much better and well-written in comparison to the other parts.

I think the story perfectly portrays the weakness of the characters and how leading a life filled with just aimless drinking, too much partying and jaunting around can be quite harmful. But, overall, the book fell pretty flat for me. I could never connect with any of the characters at any point in time during the entire plot. It was definitely not gripping nor appealing. May be its just me, but the book fell much short of its expectations.