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harsh travel writing A quick search on Amazon makes it obvious that Paul Theroux has written a number of travel books, but it wasn't until this week that I started to read his book The Happy Isles of Oceania. So quietly sitting on the shore of a small private lake in Northern Wisconsin, I began reading his opinions of New Zealand and Australia not knowing what to expect. That feeling quickly faded after the very first chapter of the book. Those opening paragraphs were enough to let me know what he thought of what he saw while he was there. From what I read, he didn't think that highly of either of those two places. Under his critical eye New Zealand was reduced to being little more than an ecological disaster where one species after another was introduced to create more chaos. Plus the much-praised Milford Track was compared to Disneyland. All that he wanted to do was get as far away from people as possible and that wasn't an easy thing for him to do in New Zealand. Now having seen and loved New Zealand, I felt hurt for the people and the land. Yes, the South Island may cater to tourism, but it is far more remote than any place that I have seen in the United States. Plus he wrote his thoughts a decade before the land became transformed into Middle Earth. I can't imagine what he would think of the place now. No doubt it would be beneath his need to return. As cruel as he was towards New Zealand and its people, he was even harsher towards the Australians. Quite bluntly he saw Australians as nothing more than racists and drunks. In his defense this may have been more directed towards Australians in Queensland, but I suspect that his ill will was directed at the entire country. Once again I found this to be very sad. I'll admit that Australians do tend to be very aggressive when talking with people, but overall I see them as a friendly people who tend to like casual insults. In other words teasing is somewhat of a national sport. To be fair to Theroux, I have to admit that his writing may be cruel, but it is funny. Plus I am curious to see what he has to say next so he can't be all that rude. |