- Paperback: 9999 pages
- Publisher: Picador; 6 edition (5 May 1995)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 033030058X
- ISBN-13: 978-0330300582
- Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 13 x 2.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 280,324 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
‘One of the most delightful travel books in thirty years’ New York Times
Book Description
‘A wonderful, rushing, crowded, enlightening voyage . . . A book which, in its ingenious understanding, its acceptance of a very imperfect world, and its energetic and constant fascination with human variety, should do a great deal to dispel the easiest and therefore the most prolific paranoid deception which the Western imagination has now fabricated in its desperate attempt to avoid facing reality’ Angus Wilson, Observer ‘A gem of a book, full of events and people and philosophy’ Sunday Telegraph ‘With an eye for the striking scene and entertaining incident he combines a perceptiveness of deeper realities that makes Arabia more than an amusing travellers’ journal’ Daily Telegraph ‘A very enjoyable book . . . It is racy and entertaining travel writing’ Cosmopolitan ‘The advent of a new travel writer of the first rank is an occasion to celebrate. Such a discovery is Jonathan Raban, whose Arabia is a tour de force’ Yorkshire Post
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
I read this book just before a visit to Jordan and found myself much more comfortable because of the knowledge and insight it offers. Yes, it is just one man's view. But Raban combines perspicacity with surprising humility. He has a mind like a razor, but the demeanour of the barber's assistant. Lots of laughs and gasps. Non-fiction at its very best.
Warning: you will want to visit the Yemen after reading this book.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
This book is sublime and pure pleasure to read. Raban is the perfect dry comic. The chapter on Yemen was particularly evocative and perfectly captured the place. I am rather surprised the reviewer above came away wanting to visit Yemen though- for me it just reminded me of the wonderful reasons why I escaped! But then I suppose it is fun to visit some places- less so to stay.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Having started off with Jonathan Raban's 'Coasting', I moved on to 'Hunting Mister Heartbreak', 'Badlands' and 'Passage to Juneau'. Now I have just finished 'Arabia' which he wrote during the oil boom era.
Reading fairly widely and enjoying travelogues like Eric Newby's 'The Last Great Grain Race' and Laurie Lee's 'As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning', I believe Raban's liquid limpid style is everything that one requires from a writer. His prose technique conjures up a myriad of impressions in the reader's mind and you become instantly immersed in the world that he has laid out on his blank canvas.
Perhaps one of his greatest attributes is his ability to provide both an intimate and highly appealing portrait of the characters he meets on his solitary travels. I was particularly struck by his young studious Yemeni taxi traver and the lustful moustachio'd major in 'Arabia'. He can also conjure up beautifully-crafted, rather hangdog descriptions of the lands he passes through, using an incredible wealth of detail to elicit the atmosphere of a place.
This is writing at its best. He is a 'must read' author and, in my opinion, one of the few elite living writers.
Reading fairly widely and enjoying travelogues like Eric Newby's 'The Last Great Grain Race' and Laurie Lee's 'As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning', I believe Raban's liquid limpid style is everything that one requires from a writer. His prose technique conjures up a myriad of impressions in the reader's mind and you become instantly immersed in the world that he has laid out on his blank canvas.
Perhaps one of his greatest attributes is his ability to provide both an intimate and highly appealing portrait of the characters he meets on his solitary travels. I was particularly struck by his young studious Yemeni taxi traver and the lustful moustachio'd major in 'Arabia'. He can also conjure up beautifully-crafted, rather hangdog descriptions of the lands he passes through, using an incredible wealth of detail to elicit the atmosphere of a place.
This is writing at its best. He is a 'must read' author and, in my opinion, one of the few elite living writers.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
An extended glance
At the end of the seventies Jonathan Raban wandered across the Middle East. Arabia was the book he wrote after impressionistic visits to Bahrain, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Yemen,... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Philip Spires
Lost in the souk
The author only stares at Saudi Arabia from a plane window. That is a bridge too far for this book. However his journeys - including in the U.A.E. Read more
Published on 17 Feb 2010 by Mr. N. Foale
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