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Product Description
Product Description
‘Having arrived in Liverpool, I took a ship for the New World . . . ’
Book Description
For hundred of years this sentence has tantalized and inspired Europeans. Jonathan Raban followed in the steps of Hector St John de Crèvecoeur – Mr Heartbreak – and several million other emigrants to discover America and the immigrant experience afresh. From Liverpool docks he sailed to New York and travelled on to Alabama, Seattle and the Florida Keys. Wherever he went there was a new identity to discover, a new life to live . . . ‘A mordantly funny book that presents itself as a work of reportage but proves to be a work of literature in disguise. It is literary not only in the tightrope acrobatics of its style; its exhilarating verbal inventiveness manages to transform the familiar images and vocabulary of American life into startling novelties’ Edward Mendselson, Daily Telegraph ‘The best book ever written by an Englishman about the United States’ Jan Morris, Independent Books of the Year ‘He is most certainly the finest writer afloat since Conrad, and few landlubbers have equalled either his acuteness or his sense of style’ Geoffrey Moorhouse, Guardian
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is the best book I've ever read about America - simple as that. I came upon it quite by chance and loved it. Raban writes beautifully, and is the kind of traveller who seldom takes the obvious routes. Thus for instance he lives in what’s basically a Seattle flophouse, in order to avoid the tourist’s-eye view of the city. This isn’t a book about politics, or even about history, but a book about character. It captures the character of the US better than any other work of non-fiction I’ve read.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This, along with his other earlier novels, is one of the best books Raban has written. It tracks his journey from the Port of Liverpool to New York, down to the Deep South, up to Seattle before ending up at his last port of call on a yacht in the Florida Keys.
The beauty of the book is that it is, as one critic has so aptly describes it, 'a work of reportage which proves to be a work of literature in disguise.' As a fan of Orwell's travelogues, I think Raban is on a par, if not better than Orwell, given the perfection of his literary style. Passages in the book that I particularly enjoyed are his observations on the completely different lives of the Air People and Street People in New York, his time as a temporary resident in Guntersville, Alabama and his meetings with civic leaders like Ed Neely, along with his witty but highly observant profile of Seattle's Korean community.
Reading his books, he gives the reader a uniquely personal insight into his thoughts and feelings so that you see everything from the 'Raban' perspective. People he meets are given their own individual appellations like the birdwhistle man from Ukraine or Snapping Turtle, the gunsmith in Guntersville. He has also carried out meticulous research on his different subjects and makes some perceptive insights about American life such as the subtle socio-economic differences between white and black Americans.
This is a 'must-read' book along with Coasting, Arabia and Passage to Juneau. Raban has to be considered the pre-eminent writer of his generation.
The beauty of the book is that it is, as one critic has so aptly describes it, 'a work of reportage which proves to be a work of literature in disguise.' As a fan of Orwell's travelogues, I think Raban is on a par, if not better than Orwell, given the perfection of his literary style. Passages in the book that I particularly enjoyed are his observations on the completely different lives of the Air People and Street People in New York, his time as a temporary resident in Guntersville, Alabama and his meetings with civic leaders like Ed Neely, along with his witty but highly observant profile of Seattle's Korean community.
Reading his books, he gives the reader a uniquely personal insight into his thoughts and feelings so that you see everything from the 'Raban' perspective. People he meets are given their own individual appellations like the birdwhistle man from Ukraine or Snapping Turtle, the gunsmith in Guntersville. He has also carried out meticulous research on his different subjects and makes some perceptive insights about American life such as the subtle socio-economic differences between white and black Americans.
This is a 'must-read' book along with Coasting, Arabia and Passage to Juneau. Raban has to be considered the pre-eminent writer of his generation.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I first read this book some twenty years ago and lost my copy so when i saw it on Amazon's list i remembered how much i enjoyed it back then and thought it high time that i replaced it. I am glad that i did. This and his Old Glory must be two of the best travel books ever written about the USA or anywhere else for that matter.
From Liverpool by cargo ship, the sighting of Nova Scotia on to New York then deep south Alabama, north west Seattle and finally the southern tip Key West; the reader is with him all the way. Such reader involvement is a rare gift in a writer and Mr. Raban with this and his other fiction and nonfiction work has it in spades.
Some descriptions are now a little out of date, but this is not a criticisms as these sections still have value showing how things were in the recent past e.g.at the time of his writing New York was still a highly dangerous place to visit instead of the family friendly city that it now is and of course it was written before 9/11.
His detailed descriptions punctuated with humour really get under the skin of the places visited and the many interesting, strange and sometimes criminal characters that populate them.
This is a "must read" for anyone interested in travel generally and the USA in particular.
From Liverpool by cargo ship, the sighting of Nova Scotia on to New York then deep south Alabama, north west Seattle and finally the southern tip Key West; the reader is with him all the way. Such reader involvement is a rare gift in a writer and Mr. Raban with this and his other fiction and nonfiction work has it in spades.
Some descriptions are now a little out of date, but this is not a criticisms as these sections still have value showing how things were in the recent past e.g.at the time of his writing New York was still a highly dangerous place to visit instead of the family friendly city that it now is and of course it was written before 9/11.
His detailed descriptions punctuated with humour really get under the skin of the places visited and the many interesting, strange and sometimes criminal characters that populate them.
This is a "must read" for anyone interested in travel generally and the USA in particular.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Raban J
Raban is a wonderful writer. Apart from travelling oneself there is nothing better than settling down for the evening & being transported by him. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Alan J Drake
DISAPPOINTING
This book was thoroughly recommended to me. I didnt enjoy it at all. The style of writing was tedious and I only give it 2 stars for the little information I gleaned from the... Read more
Published 17 months ago by uptheladder1
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