"Great start to year. A stunning travel book, the author roughs it and gets the real view of a continent that is on the edge. Aid agencies receive a slating"
"Disappointing book, dull with foreshawdowing violence that for a change doesn't materialise, from the man who brought out Crow Road, Complicity and Espedair Street,"
"The story of the birth of Ireland, told through the eyes of a paritcpant, carrying a huge socialist slant. Revealing in that the new masters are no different from the old"
"Standerd Fair for Palin, the majesty of 80 days and pole to pole is not present. PErspective of armchair,middle class traveler. Contrast with Theorus stark"