The Loose, Frank Evaluation

Thoughts on The Great Railway Bazaar are numerous. I chose the book solely for the sound of the exotic, as perhaps Faulker chose Egypt. However, it didn’t really satisfy my craving for reading about far-off travels and being surrounded by strange cultures. At first, I felt a little distance between the author and his destinations, though I suppose that is the nature of train travel. Theroux spent barely any time in any location, and his experiences were largely described through train passengers and those at the stations.

As such, I think the book gave me a deeper enjoyment of trains. They’re fascinating, aren’t they? Theroux’s distance from his destinations was a quick judgment, and I think I’d take it back, just like a traveler would take back first judgments of a new culture after spending any considerable amount of time there. I had misinterpreted the man’s journey as a journey to see places, not as a journey for the sake of a train ride. I sometimes forget that saying about destinations and journeying, and about how sometimes the journey is more important than the destination. Surely you know the one.

I liked the book. I’ll probably read the “sequel” to it, and perhaps even read this one again for pleasure and without any need to use it for something. It still conjures the fantastic destinations in my mind when he mentions a place, so it never lost that exotic quality. The mode of transportation itself is like a daydream to me, as before this semester, I’d never considered a train as anything more than a tourist sightseeing outing. My frank appraisal of the book is positive, overall.