Rating: 
Summary: A pleasant ramble through 1980s China
Review: It has become a clich¨¦, but nonetheless true, to remark "how much China has changed", be it in the past year or month or decade. Reading "Riding the Iron Rooster" in 2003 Shanghai highlights that truism while calling to mind another: "The more things change, the more they stay same." Theroux's China of twenty years ago is an alien world, yet oddly, unsettlingly familiar. Travelogues by definition focus on the details, at risk of missing the forest for the trees, but those details are valuable for illustrating changes in a society. Every single writer to address China in the 1980s made the tired observation of how the blue and gray Mao suit monotony gave way to a cacophony of color in the average Chinese wardrobe. Yet such minutiae, such as the currently popular extrapolation on the proliferation of cellphones and Starbucks and everything else, while not providing the substance of change, are the stylistic curlicues that can represent so much. Theroux's appeal and success lies in his witty, vivid descriptions, and he continues the tradition in this particular tome. However, in the one other book of his I read, "The Great Railway Bazaar", he created a much better sensation of traveling, and captured the senses of place much more vibrantly. In "Iron Rooster", he visits so many different places that they all start to blend together, and he makes little effort to explore their differences. One suspects he was trying so hard to get his mind and pen around the whole of China and its changes and society and people that he forgot to stop and smell the chrysanthemums. When he does give himself over to capturing scenes, the wry witticisms make the long slog though the long book worthwhile. Little gems like, "The girls even had to have a fancy brassiere, probably the most superfluous garment in China" make you wish he had spent more time on said chrysanthemums and less on "whither modern China". The book also gets bogged down by describing excessively the author's annoying encounters, such as the American tour group at the beginning and his government escort Mr. Fang. Nonetheless, it makes for an intriguing social snapshot of the China that was, and provides an interesting benchmark against which to compare the present day. I wouldn't recommend it for someone who hasn't been to China; it would create false impressions and expectations, especially given how most western readers woefully fail to take into account datedness in regards to other countries. But if you've already been, it makes for an amusing and at times provocative blast to the past.
Rating: 
Summary: Theroux imposes his ideals on an unsuspecting population
Review: Mr. Theroux, instead of giving an openminded glimse into an obviously foreign environment, shows the reader that he is nothing but a "one trick pony." While he does give an extensively detailed description of his travels and the people he meets, this is all spoiled by an overwhelmingly negative attitude. Instead of taking the country in, he attempts to impose his personal morals on everyone he meets while traveling through China. At every turn, he needles people about their participation in, and impressions of the Cultural Revolution. While I was glad of the historical information, it had gotten old by the third chapter. In the end, I was given nothing but one big bad impression of China: its trains, officials, hotels, and food. The one thing I am sure of after reading this book, is that the author's ego has clouded his ability to give a fair minded impression of a diverse and fascinating country.
Rating: 
Summary: Unpleasant or Not, It's the Truth
Review: Paul Theroux has always had an extremely sharp eye for detail, and an even sharper pen with which to mold these observations into telling, sometimes ascerbic commentary. In "Riding The Iron Rooster", Theroux is at the top of his form in capturing the flavor and collective psyche of mainland China during the last quarter of the 20th Century. One of the more revealing angles put forth in "Iron Rooster" is the face-saving that the Chinese government has engaged in with respect to The Cultural Revolution. Everyone knows that what Mao Tse Tung did was monstrous, but few in China appear willing to own up to the magnitude of the sin in any public way; so half-measures are taken to pay "proper respect" to Mao at just the appropriate place and just the appropriate time. The author also nicely captures the first wave of pro-capitalist fervor that began engulfing China in the late 80's. But the core of Theroux's book, as always, are the vivid snapshots of the customs, foibles and mores that constitute a culture. Reading "Iron Rooster" as I boarded a plane in Hong Kong in 1994, I discovered I was about to experience, first-hand, the aeronautical and social turbulence that the author ascribed to Chinese plane travel. By the time I landed in Guangxi Province, all of his observations had been confirmed. "Riding The Iron Rooster" is vintage Theroux - insightful, droll, always pleasurable.
Rating:
Summary: Riding the Iron Rooster
Review: Paul Theroux invites us to join him on the journey of lifetime, in the grand romantic tradition, by train across Europe, through the vast underbelly of Asia and in the heart of Russia, and then up to china. Theroux took readers into the dark heart of the human soul. In nonfiction title Riding The Iron Rooster, he took them to the far corners of the world. Now. He embarks on an unforgettable journey into enigmatic post-Cultural Revolution China for the most beguiling book on Asia. Here is china by rail, as seen and heard through the eyes and ears of one of the most brave and insightful travel writers of our time. Theroux took readers into the dark heart of the human soul. In nonfiction title Riding The Iron Rooster, he took them to the far corners of the world. Now. He embarks on an unforgettable journey into enigmatic post-Cultural Revolution China for the most beguiling book on Asia. The author Paul's practiced eye, adventurous spirit and rich prose produce a vivid memoir, full of people and talk and war, outspoken conversations about the private life of china today, the Cultural Revolution and Mao, about writing novels, growing fruit, and the details of everyday life; about discontent, loyalty and the possibility of a better life in America.
Rating:
Summary: The Book is all the Writer
Review: Paul Theroux is a difficult person to like. This fact is easily gleaned from him interviews, his childishness re: Naipaul and his writing. It's pretty difficult to spend hours reading the work of a man who seems to hate everything. Still, if you spend enough time with this writer you will begin to see that his cynicism is a real reaction to much of what he sees on his travels. A lot of his anecdotes are tiring (The irritating American tourists ... yawn. The unsmiling Russians ... stretch.), but I think that Paul Theroux is honest about the things he sees in the world. I think most American travelers are either too abrasive or too accommodating, flogging themselves in order to appear worldlier. I don't know which is more irritating. Theroux engages in none of this. One of the surprising things about reading this writer (perhaps he and his agent schemed this up) is how refreshing it is when he sees something he actually likes and/or admires. There's a touching section in this book about the decency of a class of night school students he instructs. He also mentions having a soft spot for people he sees reading books. A piece of advice: If you ever meet Paul Theroux, feign that you're reading. And one more thing: The guy can flat out write.
Rating:
Summary: Travels with Paul
Review: Paul Theroux is one of those authors that I find myself returning to again and again over the years. Though my own days of careless travel seem to be largely behind me, it is pure pleasure reading Theroux's cynical and insightful views on foreign travel and culture and his encounters with fellow travelers and locals never fail to amuse. RIDING THE IRON ROOSTER does not disappoint.
As in all of his travel books, the most interesting and engaging character often is Theroux himself. Fussy and pretentious at times and never romantic, he is also refreshingly judgmental, while generally avoiding the chauvinism common with Western writers and travelers. Like Somerset Maugham, he is a man of the world, yet unlike Maugham, his biases and complaints are personal rather than nationalistic. We can usually identify with his trials and frustrations and share in his annoyances.
The Chinese are a curious and foreign people and I have always found them difficult to relate to and inscrutable. Theroux perfectly captures the feeling of strangeness that being amongst them evokes, though oddly enough it is the Americans and Europeans he encounters who come off seeming like the representatives of the truly alien culture. Theroux spends an entire year traversing China and immersing himself in the local culture, and by the end of the book I find myself understanding, or at least tolerating the Chinese more and the Americans less. I have found out during my own travels that the most severe form of culture shock comes from returning to your own country after a long absence.
Jeremy W. Forstadt
Rating:
Summary: A cynical commentary on one of the world's great nations
Review: Paul Theroux must have been in a bad mood when he wastravelling through China. Though immensely well-travelled, he showsnone of the open-mindedness that one would expect of the genuine traveller. In fact, the only people who he neglects to cricise in this book are the Tibetans (perhaps he found their lack of personal hygiene charming?) and the Muslim inhabitants of N.W.China. Fellow travellers, Chinese bureaucrats, intellectuals, Hong Kongers and hotel and railway staff all fall victim.
Rating:
Summary: Improves over time
Review: Slow and non-engaging at the beginning, the pace and tone improve substantially and I was hooked during the last third. This is an account of Theroux's criss-crossing through China during 1988, amazing descriptions of the landscapes surrounding him, and many people's answers to his questions about Mao and the Cultural Revolution. While I probably would have enjoyed it even if I wasn't planning to mimic his trip anytime soon, knowing that I might follow in his footsteps made it all the more exciting. The book would have been better with the first 50 pages cut, largely detailing the annoying habits of a tour group.
Rating:
Summary: Improves over time
Review: Slow and non-engaging at the beginning, the pace and tone improve substantially and I was hooked during the last third. This is an account of Theroux's criss-crossing through China during 1988, amazing descriptions of the landscapes surrounding him, and many people's answers to his questions about Mao and the Cultural Revolution. While I probably would have enjoyed it even if I wasn't planning to mimic his trip anytime soon, knowing that I might follow in his footsteps made it all the more exciting. The book would have been better with the first 50 pages cut, largely detailing the annoying habits of a tour group.
Rating:
Summary: if only there were fewer of them
Review: Something of a disappointing book that took an age to finish and felt more of a chore than a pleasure. Theroux's writing is solid but the character that comes through is an irritable, perfectionist that makes little of those who do not agree with his world view. It's strange that he took the time to learn Chinese and then view them as such dullards. But hey, I've never been to China so perhaps that's how it is. The train rides in themselves do not allow much adventure - more or less a catalog of food eaten and persons who annoy the writer by sharing his cabin. I've liked Theroux's other writings but he felt jaded with his book and I think he did not find the positive in the Chinese character.
|
