Ghost Train To The Eastern Star -- by Paul Theroux

 

Paul Theroux can be counted on to deliver clever content, and interesting observations. He upped his game in this one, extending to more personal revelations, and about other writers. He gave brief reviews of the books and authors he was reading while traveling, and conducted walking interviews with authors Haruki Murakami and Pico Iyer after he finally arrived in Japan.

It was impossible to not learn some things when he talked to Murakami and Iyer about writing, the writers' lives, and Japan. If he hasn't already, he could probably create a lucrative new genre in walking writer biographies. Both of these read well.

After Japan Theroux visited Perm, Russia. It wasn't for his hair, but there were some hair-raising instances, learning about the Gulag system. He toured the area with some local experts, and a translator. His descriptive powers didn't fail him there, either.

This trip encompassed so much of Eurasia that it warranted a two-page map, using rail lines between London and Japan. I get the impression that he got a very good advance to write this for Penguin Books, published in 2009. He started by going through the Southwestern part of Eurasia, and into India and Southeast Asia, briefly in China before going to Japan. He met and talked to many interesting people along the way. He always does.

My reading was greatly interrupted overseas, by love, dating, marriage, eventual fatherhood, and moving back to the U.S., after my 2010-2016 teaching stint roughly between Hong Kong and Macau. I'm still not sure that returning to the U.S. was a good move. I was teaching in China, and it was a good lifestyle. I loved teaching, but China was changing, and it didn't seem for the better. Now there's a lot of discomforting saber-rattling over Taiwan, and the age discrimination here is pretty bad, too.

I think I bought my copy of Ghost Train To The Eastern Star on my last single man's hurrah in Chiang Mai, Thailand in early 2011 between semesters at United international College. Somewhere around here is that copy of Kim that I bought in India in 2005. I'm very glad there's always something, somewhere to read. I'm also glad for writing quality which authors like Theroux consistently bring us.    

Five stars out of five.