A devastatingly funny satire on the whole idea of student travel,and particularly the India back-pack trail. Dave travels to India with Liz because he thinks he might be able to get her into bed. Liz travels to India with Dave because she wants a companion for her voyage of spiritual discovery. She loves it. He dreams of frosty mornings, pints of lager and restaurants where vegetable curry is only a side-dish...
Are You Experienced?
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For anyone with the slightest curiosity about travelling, or even if you've been, William Sutcliffe's tremendously funny Are You Experienced? will have you in stitches. The protagonist is Dave, a 19-year-old Londoner on a gap year before starting university. He had no intention of leaving Europe, until his best mate James, who's about to go on a trek through the Himalayas, challenges him. "Do you want to learn Fwench David? Something pwactical for your CV?" he taunts when he hears Dave is going to be a waiter at a Swiss ski resort.
Admitting his fears, ("Suffering, danger and poverty are all fine by me, but dirt and disease are two things I happen to hate") Dave is determined to prove he's not a coward and accepts an invitation to go to India with James's girlfriend Liz (in anticipation of consummating their burgeoning relationship). But by the time they get on the plane it all goes downhill. Bickering constantly, their adaption to India couldn't be more different. Liz embraces it--hugging beggars and wearing saris, while Dave's dry-humoured rants, scepticism and fear of the unknown eventually drive her away in search of her "centre".
The characters the pair meet along the way draw upon all the old hippy-traveller stereotypes, but there's also a few new ones in keeping with the times. There's Ranj--a British-born Indian who hates Indians; Jez--a public-school-educated undergraduate whose travels are being funded by daddy; and Caz and Fee who experience the side-effects of "Intimate Yoga".
While this story is ultimately a funny piece of fiction, it also addresses more serious considerations, such as cultural stereotypes, peer pressures and making life-changing decisions.
This book is irresistible and seasoned travellers will empathise with the situations Dave finds himself in, (his graphic description of a bout of Dehli-belly is guaranteed to make you feel sorry for him, and nauseous too). Be prepared to laugh out loud. --Angela Boodoo
About the Author
William Sutcliffe was born in London in 1971, and was educated at Cambridge. His first novel NEW BOY was published to enthusiastic reviews and a large amount of publicity in spring 1996.
He lives in London, N4.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
'Lonely Planet', eat your heart out! If there is one book to sum up travelling the Indian sub-continent, it is this. Coupled with a compelling story of one mans struggle with the woman in his life, this novel exceeds all the 'travel novel' limits, previously set by 'The Beach'. Having travelled the same region as Dave did in the book, I find his descriptions and feelings uncannily accurate. He ridicules the attitude of the self-congratulatory 18-year-old who have taken a year out (to 'find' themselves), and the 'getting at one with his karma' hippy-traveller with true humour. It is refreshing to read a book that is lighthearted but compelling reading. This man had done his research! If you are ever considering travelling East, then this is the book to read.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By Smurfy
Format:Paperback
As someone who never felt any great desire to camp out in a mud hut in Bangalore with raging dysentery because 'it's an expeeeeeerience!', this book raised many a smile for me. The plot centres around immature gap year student Dave, who would in reality prefer a two-week booze-up in Benidorm than three months backpacking in India, but who a) feels he 'should' go travelling and b) is desperate to sleep with his travelling companion Liz. All the worst examples of home county hippie appear here; the privileged (and supremely irritating) Liz is desperate to be sensitive to her surroundings and begins using 'Western' as an insult, while the achingly politically correct, 'at one with India' J is soon exposed as rich kid Jeremy, whose right-on travel experience is actually funded by his wealthy parents. These and other similarly cringeworthy characters are very well drawn, and their utter dependence on the advice of the Lonely Planet guide is sure to raise a wry grin in many readers (if dating the novel firmly in the late nineties). There are many funny moments and lines, some to a laugh-out-loud point. This is an ideal book for aeroplane or poolside reading (or even cholera-infested swamp if you're going to follow Dave's trail). However, ultimately it is destined to be a novel liked by many but loved by few, purely because none of the characters are likeable enough to make a long-term impact. These are people to laugh at, not laugh with. So if you're expecting a serious investigation of the 'expeeeeerience' of travelling around India, prepare to be disappointed. If you're looking for a book to make you smile and pass the time on the train, this isn't a bad choice at all.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Have you ever sat there and wondered which book was so funny that it was making the guy on the tube, four places down from you, laugh so incongruously? It might well have been William Sutcliffe's "are you experienced?".
Dave and Liz (Dave's sort-of-best-mate's girlfriend) set off to India for an authentic, alternative, holistic experience. Dave already knows that he fancies Liz, but has not, as yet, realised that he also hates her. Liz is searching for inner peace; Dave is searching for a piece of Liz. Dave is cynical, apprehensive and naïve; Liz is eager, flirtatious and naïve. Sutcliffe is funny, very funny.
Through choice characters and sharp dialogue the reader is taken on a whistle stop tour of India's hippie trail and shown a few polarised snaps of the workings of the not-quite-twenty-something's mind along the way.
Given the subject matter, one would have been forgiven for assuming that, to fully appreciate the satire, one would need to have had some such "travelling" experience oneself. This is not the case. If you've never been travelling yourself, you will doubtless know someone who has. As Sutcliffe stresses, travelling is no longer the reserve of the adventurous or the alternative, is has now become almost a prerequisite to university admission for the middle classes from England's leafy Home Counties. Backpacking has now become as institutionalised as any Public school, or packaged holiday to Ibiza.
Short, witty and observant, this is a book you will not put down. If you like to be inconspicuous, do not read this book in public.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A look into the world of backpacking
Are You Experienced? begins with Dave and Liz bickering on their flight. You can instantly tell that nothing is right between them and it made me wonder why they were even... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Fiction_Fan
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very funny (no really it is!) A brilliant read!
This book has been sitting on my bookshelf for many years. Well 7 anyhow, which is a long time for me to get around to reading it. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Paul
2.0 out of 5 stars
Insightful at times but lacking substance
Sutcliffe attempts to offer a parody of the India-backpacking scene circa 1990's. It is told through the eyes of Dave, a cynical and immature 18/19 year old. Read more
Published 11 months ago by traveller
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good little travel book
Are You Experienced isn't going to win many literary awards. It won't even be on many shortlists. It is the simple tale of a teenager called Dave who rails against the backpacking... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Murdo
4.0 out of 5 stars
hilarious, but Four Stars...
This is a brilliant book, side-splitting LoL funny. I've never been to India but have had comparable experiences in South America and the Middle East, at a time when it was a safe... Read more
Published 18 months ago by A. Smith
1.0 out of 5 stars
Don't bother reading ! ! !
I am planning a trip to India very soon and decided to read this book, I was hoping to gain an insight into Indian culture and thought this would be a good read. Read more
Published on 24 Oct 2009 by Traveller644446
4.0 out of 5 stars
Definitely not a tourist
Our narrator is Dave, just out of sixth form and contemplating a year off before he goes to York University. Read more
Published on 3 Oct 2009 by Eileen Shaw
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Read
I read this book in January when the weather was poor and rattling against the window and there was not much to look forward too - it fair cheered me up - I could not put it down. Read more
Published on 13 Jun 2008 by Fiona M. Quinn
2.0 out of 5 stars
OK, nothing special
Amusing in places for sure, I'm not qute sure what age group this book is aimed at. If I'd read it aged 17-20 I'm sure it would have had me in stitches, but lets not forget that... Read more
Published on 18 May 2008 by DJ Bez
2.0 out of 5 stars
When in India...
I read this whilst backpacking in India and it did help kill the boredom on some long sweaty train journeys. But that's about all it's good for. Read more
Published on 27 Oct 2007 by Matt Wilson
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