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Under the Dragon: Travels in a Betrayed Land
 
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Under the Dragon: Travels in a Betrayed Land (Hardcover)

by Rory MacLean (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 208 pages
  • Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd; First Edition edition (3 Aug 1998)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0002570130
  • ISBN-13: 978-0002570138
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 492,972 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #31 in  Books > Travel & Holiday > Countries & Regions > Asia > Myanmar (Burma)

Product Description

Review
Praise for Stalin's Nose: 'Crazy, charming, a delight' - John Le Carre 'A minor masterpiece of comic surrealism' - The Times Praise for The Oatmeal Ark: 'So polished, so clever, so artful, so innovative; a remarkable, beguiling journey' - Michael Thompson-Noel, Financial Times 'Such a book as this rather marvellously explains why literature still lives' - John Fowles, Spectator

Product Description
An evocation of contemporary Burma from the author of STALIN'S NOSE and THE OATMEAL ARK. Through his intense studies of the lives of the individual Burmese he encounters, MacLean reveals their patient endurance, fragility and charm, and makes us feel the weight of the oppressive military regime under which they labour.

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Customer Reviews

8 Reviews
5 star:
 (6)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Under the Dragon, 22 Oct 2003
By Susannah (Hong Kong) - See all my reviews
This is a poignant, sympathetic and deeply moving read. With grace and style the author has woven together living voices from a lost land.
If you are thinking of visiting Burma, this is a book to read before you go. Because no one should merely be a tourist in their tragedy. If you would never visit Burma under present circumstances, then this is a book to read. Because the people need you to hear their voice. And if you have already visited Burma, then you should read this book. Because in it's sadness it is filled with beauty and perfume and peace.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A quest makes a frightening and alien culture accessible, 13 Feb 2002
By A Customer
This evocative book has haunted me since I first read it last year.

Rory MacLean weaves the story of his search for traditional Burmese culture (in the form of an antique basket)together with the tragic and profoundly moving lives of some contemporary Burmese. His harrowing and potentially deadly experience at the work's climax, takes his story and experience of Burma far beyond traditional travel literature, as his terror, on the one hand, and frustration and sadness about the destruction of Burmese traditions, on the other, grippingly recall the fear and loss of his earlier subjects.

As he was in his earlier works, the author, is an intriguing character in this book. His uniquely personal involvement in the story and first person narration make the experience immediate and compelling, and as the reader finds herself drawn into his accessible story of the quest, so she gains rare knowledge of what might have remained unknowable: Burma and its people. The basket story not only creates suspense and unifies the book; in a small way, it brings the reader into the drama and emotion experienced by contemporary Burmese.

This book transcends its genre, and warrants reading and rereading. I highly recommend it.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Burma - a sensitive account of a harrowing experience., 20 Jan 2002
By A Customer
Delicately told, a blurred, dreamlike account of a quest pursued through the country most people still know best as Burma. The quest, ostensibly, is for a particular type of basket, rare and elusive. In the larger view the book describes a quest for the personality of a nation. This personality is gradually revealed, through various uncomfortable and often uneasy adventures, and through all manner of fleeting encounters. The story is told with great sensitivity, and the picture is far from pretty.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A sad story of a sad country
In his book "Under the Dragon" the author Rory Maclean points out, that there is also another way to travel to a country. Read more
Published on 18 Jun 2000

5.0 out of 5 stars Background and current situation in one enjoyable book
A fascinating and timely insight into Burma, its current sad situation and the historical forces and events that brought them to be. Read more
Published on 12 Jan 2000

5.0 out of 5 stars An enchanting travel book
There are so many travel books these days - many of them feel contrived and band-wagonning. I had feared this might be so before I started this book - but it was the most... Read more
Published on 30 Aug 1999

4.0 out of 5 stars Absorbing and illuminating
This is one of the contenders for the Thomas Cook travel writing award this year and deservedly so. Rory Maclean's writing is as candid as ever and his descriptions of the lives... Read more
Published on 20 Jul 1999

4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting look at the life in Burma
MacLean weaves together an intersting story of life in Burma -- connecting the lives of those he encounters on a (sometimes mad) cross-country quest for a rare hand-woven... Read more
Published on 9 Oct 1998

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