The Path to Rome

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Summary: Magnificently erudite journal of a great journey to Rome.
Review: Belloc's wonderful book is not for those who only travel to say they have "been there". For those are the tourists. This delightful book is for those who journey and realize that looking at lighted windows and medieval towns built into ancient crags is what makes life worth living. Written at the turn-of-the-century, Belloc's words flow magically and playfully to form a description not only of one writer's determined passage, but of a time already long gone. Simple pleasures are the best, especially when written by an artist with an eye for life itself.

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Summary: Lucid and lovely and often wickedly funny.
Review: I enjoyed the book very much, although not quite as much as I did when I began reading it. I normally read very quickly, but at the beginning I found it so lovely and funny that I deliberately slowed myself down-- reading only 20 pages per day or so-- so that I could savor it a little bit. In the later phases of the book, although it stayed funny and thought-provoking I found it just a little bit less beautiful, so I allowed myself to read very quickly again.

Don't expect a traditional travel book and certainly don't expect a description of religious enlightenment (except around the edges). Using an Auctor/Lector conversation, Belloc's constant witty asides about the purpose of the book solidly ground the reading in the mundane, but a beautiful vision of the mundane (worldly in the best sense of the word). It made me jealous of the journey.

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Summary: Definitely not your average travel book.
Review: I first heard about Hilaire Belloc through the essays of his friend G.K. Chesterton, after which I came to know him as an historian and essayist through his books The Servile State, Essays of a Catholic, and various works on the history of the Catholic Church. I was not a little surprised at The Path to Rome because it shows a side of him I was unaware of.
It is the account of a pilgrimage he made in the medieval style, the point of which is to put oneself voluntarily into a state of poverty and hardship in order to attain a goal--a physical journey that parallels the spiritual one of the soul towards God. Belloc vowed to walk all the way from Toul, in northeastern France to Rome in time for High Mass at St. Peter's on the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul. During the journey, he was to sleep outdoors, cover 30 miles a day, hear mass every morning, and not ride on anything with wheels. All along the way, he talks of the people, places, difficulties, and thoughts he encounters--in fact anything that comes into his head. Reading it is like going on an adventure with the wittiest, most perceptive, most high-spirited traveling companion you could ever hope for. In form it is probably closest to eighteenth-century novels such as Fielding's Tom Jones and Sterne's Tristram Shandy--a string of assorted episodes and observations, but I have to say I've never read anything quite like it. This is one pilgrimage I'd like to go on again and again.

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Summary: Unbeatable Fun
Review: I'd heard about this book for years, but it was out of print and I was not able to locate a copy. I'm happy to report it was worth the wait. It even made me feel young again because it's written with a rare physical energy and youthful exuberance...and humor. In fact, Belloc wrote this in such a fresh and vigorous way he made me laugh out loud 101 years later.

As a young man Belloc took off for a personal pilgrimage from Toul, France to Rome, Italy -- and he didn't want to take an easy way. If he had a choice of going around a mountain or over it, he wanted to go over it. It happened more than once that he walked into an inn and told others what he had just done -- only to find they didn't believe him! I wanted to grab his listener by the arm and say, "I know he did it! I was with him!"

This book is both a time machine and a vicarious adventure.

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Summary: Return to a simpler time
Review: Partly travelogue, partly interior monolog, completely entertaining! The young Belloc describes his walking trip from southeastern France to Rome, which (most intriguingly) he tries to accomplish by walking in a straight line, 30-45 miles a day. This extraordinary route takes him well off the beaten track, through isolated villages, nearly unpassable mountains and rivers, and sparsely populated plains. Belloc describes his experiences with his usual insight and offers humurous digressions on aspects of faith and culture as well. The book also contains a good number of rough landscape sketches he drew during his journey. In the end, Belloc paints a thoroughly detailed and honest picture of the Europe he loved so well and was to write of with such power. In the process he also gives us a detailed picture of his own character and mood, something quite helpful in interpreting his historical works.

Rating:
Summary: Unbeatable Fun
Review: This is surely one of the most delightful reads you will ever find. Belloc is such a good story teller, and, writing from a Catholic viewpoint, paints a picture of Europe before World War 1, before the lights went out for 30 years of constant strife and destruction. Along with various colorful characters along the way, some long forgotten fortresses, and the Italian Alps, Belloc weaves his travels with personal anecdotes and observations. What a book, and it is quite a shame that his journey can not accurately be repeated by another intrepid walker! Enjoy without reservation!