Rating: 
Summary: Vapid, Pedantic, Amateurish
Review: "London was not all vapid dissipation."-V.S. PritchettI have no complaint about the technical writing in this travelogue, although the author does fracture the 'past perfect tense' occasionally. I do find the book grossly superficial in its intended coverage of a culture rich in tradition, diversity, and spirit. Sara Wheeler strikes me as a 'wannabe' Erica Jong ("Fear of Flying"). After taking a crash course in Spanish (Her "Spanish had gone rusty, and anyway it was the Spanish spoken in Spain." Hmm.....), she travels for the first time to Chile, leaving the reader with an initial impression of Santiago: her description of a 'love hotel'. (as if such places were unique to Chile) Most of the people that she writes about at length are Westerners, Chilean exiles, or 'burned-out' Chilean hippies. We rarely meet a Chilean in the mainstream of society, past or present. Instead, the book is replete with tiresome references to: ---Wheeler's drinking, or hangovers ---The assorted men she met and toured Chile with (e.g. Matthew, James) ---The ages of those she met, most 'about her age', or 'roughly her age', although the author never tells us until the very end of the book how old she was at the time (as if we cared) ---Her feeling about the "dubious' attitude toward women" of many men she met (oddly, she rarely interviews or spends much time with any Chilean women, nor describes their intelligence, beauty, or the role they played in the tumultuous politics of the 70's ---the feeling of others that she (Wheeler) resembles Princess Diana Here's what Wheeler has to say about Pablo Neruda, who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1971, and whom Gabriel Garcia Marquez called "the greatest poet of the twentieth century, in any language." "He had a fine aesthetic sensibility, which I couldn't help reflecting is often absent from his poems." "I didn't think he was a very good poet." "Once I read more of his prose I decided I didn't like him much either." "He had a dubious attitude toward women." The author obviously has a political axe to grind--there is nothing wrong with that, but her diatribes against the Pinochet regime become a drone of loaded language and one-sided accounts lacking perspective. "James wanted to photograph it (a sign from the police of Chile wishing passersby a Merry Christmas), but he was too frightened to get out of the jeep in case a policemen shot him." I might have tolerated these flaws but could not ignore the pat, superficial and at times condescending way in which the author describes Chile and Chileans: When a waiter, displaying the inimitable hospitality of the Chileans, invites Wheeler and her boyfriend to a New Year's eve party in his home, the author writes: "James and I were obliged to dance with everyone, and we were even made to dance the 'cueca'." When the author visits the Tololo observatory, regarded as one of the world's finest, she dwells on the bureaucracy and difficulty involved in getting there (an incessant theme), and recalls the story of a Japanese who traveled to Tololo but 'clouds prevented him from seeing anything', centering her vignette on the presumed pleasure of the guide who amused his audience with this tale of woe. When touring the newsroom of 'La Prensa' in Curico, she writes that "the hacks shrank behind their manual typewriters and looked hunted." To Wheeler, Antofagasta was a "grubby, lustreless hole", and Tongoy "impressively devoid of character"...."even the sand was inferior"....; "Shifty individuals sidled in to sell wet handkerchiefs' (sic) full of illegally caught 'locos'............." She detects "more than a trace of an inferiority complex on the part of the Chileans." She points out that Chileans always wanted to know what "we of the West" thought of the country." (as if Chile were not located in the Western hemisphere) Wheeler would have us believe that she sympathizes with the plight of the Chilean poor, and perhaps she does, but she had no trouble roaming around for much of the time she was in Chile in the upscale neighborhoods and bars of Santiago, hobnobbing with the expatriates, parvenu, and pseudo-leftists who were her hosts. If this book were all I had to guide me vicariously through a wonderful country, I'd turn to the soap operas or the demolition derby. This book is hardly worth the paper it is printed on.
Rating: 
Summary: Growing Up Scared
Review: A couple of months after their feckless, volatile father lands in jail, Mom drops the three girls off at Granny's one evening and doesn't come back for 16 years. Paula, age 4, and her sisters, Teresa, 6, and Penny, 3, prove too much for the old lady and enter into a long and rocky relationship with the Fresno, CA, foster care system. Paula McLain's harrowing memoir of growing up among strangers who may or may not become family teems with complex, shifting emotions. Chief among them, especially in the early years, is fear, and the yearning to belong to a family, any family. But that was not to be. Not quite anyway. McLain's fluid prose captures the reader with its immediacy; its sense of urgency and its intimacy. This is a page-turner with real orphan children to root for. It never seems to occur to the girls, as it does to the reader, that they could be separated. But they never are, which is the saving grace of stability that runs through their Dickensian childhood. Their first brief placement ends with a charge of thievery, but their second is a mystery. The Clapps are wealthy and their children are grown. Mrs. Clapp has no humor and no affection. Her rules and routines are rigid and she is fanatically house proud. One rainy day after school, the girls slosh through puddles to the car. "Just as we got to the Cadillac, the sky started to drop hail like frozen BBs. Mrs. Clapp sat behind the wheel in her lavender rabbit-fur coat, her dry fingers toying with the door lock as though it were a chess piece, deciding whether she would let us into the car. We'd ruin it, we would." So what does she want with three little girls? This is not McLain's question; it's the reader's, and McLain never comes out with the horrifying answer, either. She simply takes you there and lets you see for yourself how things are. The third placement, also brief, is the most heartbreaking. These people want children, delight in their new girls, and yet suddenly, mysteriously, it's over and the sisters find themselves with their fourth family in three years. "If we felt any hope that this new situation would be different, then it was the stowaway version, small and pinching as pea gravel in a shoe." The Lindberghs make no secret of their reason for taking in three foster girls. Their daughter, Tina, is an only child and wants siblings. It's that simple. Bub Lindbergh is a big bear of a man, "easy to love," who teaches the girls to ride and gets each of them a pony, while his wife, Hilde, a German immigrant, is prickly and unpredictable. She spoils her "real" daughter and delights in telling perfect strangers the sad history of her foster daughters. McLain's anger comes through in shock waves of description - hilarious bizarre incidents perpetrated by blotchy, oversize, cartoon character Lindberghs. Interspersed with moments of tenderness, even joy. McLain (her first book of poems, "Less of Her" was published in 1999) is a visual, visceral writer unafraid to mix brutal honesty and laughter. She and her sisters are not easy children and never lose sight of the fact that, unlike other children, they can be cast off at any time, their worldly possessions lumped in a trash bag in the back of the social worker's car. It's a scary way for a child to live. McLain's memoir is many things: a gut-wrenching portrayal of growing up insecure and longing for love, a celebration of sibling solidarity, a catharsis and a satisfying revenge on people who once had the power, and will recognize themselves as they read. Funny, bleak, angry and winsome, McLain's debut is beautifully written and compulsively readable.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth the read
Review: Although the writer's attitude might be construed as slightly condescending and arrogant, she is truly a gifted writer who often just teases you with her stories true to mission of "travel literature"--that of encouraging the reader to visit. Her writing style is so eloquent that it is hard to put down. The historical perspective was very helpful in spite of her obvious political leanings. Reading this book might make you concerned for her liver however as she does focus often on the alcohol consumed and the inevitable hangover. I was particularly moved by her chapter on Santiago and the darker side which most travellers would probably never experience. I read it as I travelled through Chile and found it a wonderful companion.
Rating:
Summary: Worth the read
Review: Although the writer's attitude might be construed as slightly condescending and arrogant, she is truly a gifted writer who often just teases you with her stories true to mission of "travel literature"--that of encouraging the reader to visit. Her writing style is so eloquent that it is hard to put down. The historical perspective was very helpful in spite of her obvious political leanings. Reading this book might make you concerned for her liver however as she does focus often on the alcohol consumed and the inevitable hangover. I was particularly moved by her chapter on Santiago and the darker side which most travellers would probably never experience. I read it as I travelled through Chile and found it a wonderful companion.
Rating:
Summary: 19th Century Chilean History - 101
Review: As an avid reader of travel essays, I must say this was by far the most boring and tedious read I have experienced in quite some time. I was hoping to share intimately in Ms. Wheeler's travels and experiences in Chile but instead came away with an intimate knowledge of 19th century Chilean history. Instead of taking us along for her journey, the author uses brief snipets of her travels to launch into often detailed aspects of Chilean history. While some of this might have helped the book and her story, it soon overwhelms the reader in boring facts and figures. Ms. Wheeler would have better served her audience if she would have bared her soul a little more and let us share her experiences in the many months she spent roaming Chile.
Rating: 
Summary: Mediocre tale
Review: As someone who spent a couple of years in Chile and familiar with the geography from Arica down to Puerto Montt, this book is very descriptive; a very good and amusing read. Sara Wheeler's personal exploits, mixed in with travel and fairly detailed maps, provide one with the desire to spend some quality time in Chile. It is definitely worth reading and I would recommend it if you want to know about off-the-path traveling in Chile.
Rating:
Summary: You can Visualize the WHOLE Thing!
Review: As someone who spent a couple of years in Chile and familiar with the geography from Arica down to Puerto Montt, this book is very descriptive; a very good and amusing read. Sara Wheeler's personal exploits, mixed in with travel and fairly detailed maps, provide one with the desire to spend some quality time in Chile. It is definitely worth reading and I would recommend it if you want to know about off-the-path traveling in Chile.
Rating:
Summary: Amusing.
Review: Condescending. Patronizing. Oblivious to the obvious. Perplexed by what is different. Entertaining. Sarah Wheeler's written opinions of her trip to Chile would fit into any and all of the categories I've listed. My notes on her book are copious, but they can be summarized. Very much like Stryker McGuire in his book "Streets With No Names," Wheeler is annoyed at the fact that Chile is different in several aspects to other Latin American republics, and she seems honestly surprised that so many things work well within the country. She mentions how effective and helpful the Conaf (Forestry and Parks) workers are, in spite of lack of funds. The Police and the Air Force, even though she does not intend any praise with her comments, appear in her book as effective, professional services. The administration of a love hotel, the administration of an entire town, the administration of an entire park (Torres del Paine National Park), and the administration of what in Chile is known as 'Chilean Antartic Territory', all share one thing in common: they are good, run by dedicated people. She is honest in recording her reactions to these quite amazing revelations: imagine! A Latin American country where things work rather well! As if to wake herself up from this challenging nightmare, she refers constantly to a Chilean sense of inferiority and a national obsession with the British royal family. Her first "adventure" in Santiago is to a love hotel, where an employee is described as a "cockroach." She rightly frowns upon Pinochet comparing himself to Jesus, but she has already compared Allende to Jesus, so the net effect is amusing and more instructive of the author's prejudices than of her "keen" insight. There are parts that are true: rain in Santiago that floods the city; O'Higgins being forced out by the oligarchy. Her opinions about Neruda are courageous, since it is difficult to find anyone alive who will say that he was not a good poet. I think he was a great poet, but I can't stand his political convictions. For the most part, though, her book reads like what it is: a European facing a reality in Chile other than her prejudices and preconceptions dictated, alone, craving the company of "her own people," unable to understand the natives, and attempting to contact only those whose political ideas seem closest to her own. Thus, when faced with nothing but generosity and help from Police officers in a remote outpost, she must go to the sewer and compare the man in charge of the outpost to Pol Pot: a Chilean Carabinero is worst than a Cambodian murderer of at least one million people because the Chilean has a sticker of Pinochet. This is a very twisted, sick way of looking at the world and at those who do not agree with our political ideas and the book reaches its lowest point here. In the end, Wheeler is no better than those Britons she describes as convinced that Chileans are savages. The fast, efficient, hardworking Chile bothers her. She seems to wish a more typically Latin American way of life for Chile. McGuire put it very well in his chapter on Chile in the book mentioned before. He said that after a while in the long country, he missed the disorderly, relaxed, unfinished, late, even lazy way of doing things in most of Latin America. Wheeler doesn't say that because she doesn't seem able to pinpoint what really bothers her about Chile. But her unintentional praise for many institutions while trying to portray them negatively betrays her: if only Chile and its natives were, well, more "native,", more close to her British -and European- idea of what those dark, poor masses should be throughout Latin America, then she would feel better. If that were the case, Chile would not be Chile, and Wheeler's book wouldn't be so unintentionally amusing.
Rating:
Summary: myopic
Review: Having been born in the US and living half my life here, but of Chilean parents and living the other half there, and having a very deep understanding of both the "western" culture (as Miss Wheeler says, as if Chile was in Africa)and Chilean culture, I bought this book out of curiosity. I found it to be deeply condescending and patronizing, and at times even offensive, with no effort on the part of Miss Wheeler to try and understand a culture that is different, but not all that different, from her own. Her views on Chileans are very myopic, and she can not see beyond her own prejudice. This is not a good book for understanding Chile, because she obviously did not understand Chileans, and made no effort to do so.
Rating:
Summary: Mediocre tale
Review: Having lived and traveled in Chile for a number of years I was very interested in reading of another women's travel experiences. I was very disappointed. She was forever recounting her drinking adventures and personal experiences with the various men she met along her way. I would say that her "observations" of Chileans were very skewed and at times offensive. I hope that serious travelers would try to find another source of reading to get a background of Chile.
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