The Last Train to Zona Verde: My Ultimate African Safari

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Following the success of the acclaimed Ghost Train to the Eastern Star and The Great Railway Bazaar, The Last Train to Zona Verde is an ode to the last African journey of the world s most celebrated travel writer Happy again, back in the kingdom of light, writes Paul Theroux as he sets out on a new journey through the continent he knows and loves best Theroux first came to Africa as a twenty two year old Peace Corps volunteer, and the pull of the vast land never left him Now he returns, after fifty years on the road, to explore the little traveled territory of western Africa and to take stock both of the place and of himself His odyssey takes him northward from Cape Town, through South Africa and Namibia, then on into Angola, wishing to head farther still until he reaches the end of the line Journeying alone through the greenest continent, Theroux encounters a world increasingly removed from both the itineraries of tourists and the hopes of postcolonial independence movements Leaving the Cape Town townships, traversing the Namibian bush, passing the browsing cattle of the great sunbaked heartland of the savanna, Theroux crosses the Red Line into a different Africa the improvised, slapped together Africa of tumbled fences and cooking fires, of mud and thatch, of heat and poverty, and of roadblocks, mobs, and anarchy After 2,500 arduous miles, he comes to the end of his journey in ways than one, a decision he chronicles with typically unsparing honesty in a chapter called What Am I Doing Here Vivid, witty, and beautifully evocative, The Last Train to Zona Verde is a fitting final African adventure from the writer whose gimlet eye and effortless prose have brought the world to generations of readers. New Read [ The Last Train to Zona Verde: My Ultimate African Safari ] by [ Paul Theroux ] For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr Angolans lived among garbage heaps plastic bottles, soda cans, torn bags, broken chairs, dead dogs, rotting food, indefinable slop, their own scattered twists of excrement and in one town a stack of dead cows, bloated from putrefaction, looking like a forgotten freight load of discarded Victorian furniture, with the sort of straight stiffened legs you see fixed to old uncomfortable chairs This blight was not darkness, the demeaning African epithet, but a gleaming vacancy, the hollow of Angolans lived among garbage heaps plastic bottles, soda cans, torn bags, broken chairs, dead dogs, rotting food, indefinable slop, their own scattered twists of excrement and in one town a stack of dead cows, bloated from putrefaction, looking like a forgotten freight load of discarded Victorian furniture, with the sort of straight stiffened legs you see fixed to old uncomfortable chairs This blight was not darkness, the demeaning African epithet, but a gleaming vacancy, the hollow of abandonment it by the pitiless tropical sun, appalling in its naked detail Nothing is sadder than squalor in daylight What am I doing here Yes that is the quivering question that keeps coming to the forefront of Paul Theroux s thoughts as he travels through South Africa, Namibia and Angola He is 70 years old and in Africa he is feeling every creaking bone and discovering a different understanding for being olderSomeone who seems doddery is perhaps not doddery at a...To me, the publication of a travel book by Paul Theroux is a literary event He is not just my favorite travel writerhe is one of my favorite writers period He is a keenly intelligent observer of people and places I like that he when he travels, he avoids big cities and common tourist destinations He gets around by foot Kingdom by the Sea by train or bus Riding the Iron Rooster or even by kayak The Happy Isles of Oceania I also like that he has no qualms about occasionally getting To me, the publication of a travel book by Paul Theroux is a literary event He is not just my favorite travel writerhe is one of my favorite writers period He is a keenly intelligent observer of people and places I like that he when he travels, he avoids big cities and common tourist destinations He gets around by foot Kingdom by the Sea by train or bus Riding the Iron Rooster or even by kayak The Happy Isles of Oceania I also like that he has no qualms about occasionally getting cranky when he travels most world travelers know how wonderful the experience can bebut also how tiring and trying it can be as well The continent that Theroux has returned to time and again is Africa As a young man in the 1960s, he spent several years as a Peace Corps volunteer teaching school ...In 2011 Paul Theroux traveled from Cape Town, South Africa, through Namibia to Angola, also taking a side trip to visit a luxury game park in Botswana He writes of this journey in The Last Train to Zona Verde My Ultimate African Safari Having traveled a decade earlier, southward along the eastern side of Africa in Dark Star Safari Overland from Cairo to Cape Town, now he travels northward along the western side of the continent He would revisit places in South Africa and Namibia and observe In 2011 Paul Theroux traveled from Cape Town, South Africa, through Namibia to Angola, also taking a side trip to visit a luxury game park in Botswana He writes of this journey in The Last Train to Zona Verde My Ultimate African Safari Having traveled a decade earlier, southward along the eastern side of Africa in Dark Star Safari Overland from Cairo to Cape Town, now he travels northward along the western side of the continent He would revisit places in South Africa and Namibia and observe how they had changed What was the state of Africa a decade after the earlier trip Just as The...It seems that Paul Theroux does have a breaking point It is Angola Angola was the place that finally made him throw down his pack and say, F this Wow If Paul Theroux can t hack it, I know I m never, never, never going there.I was in the audience when Paul Theroux gave a talk about this book recently, and he s exactly as I imagined he would be The great, gruff travel writer is a man who speaks his mind, has strong and often unpopular opinions, and is afraid of very little in this world It seems that Paul Theroux does have a breaking point It is Angola Angola was the place that finally made him throw down his pack and say, F this Wow If Paul Theroux can t hack it, I know I m never, never, never going there.I was in the audience when Paul Theroux gave a talk about this book recently, and he s exactly as I imagined he would be The great, gruff travel writer is a man who speaks his mind, has strong and often unpopular opinions, and is afraid of very little in this world You should have heard him dress down a young woman who asked a naive bordering on stupid question about the safety of modern travel Paul Theroux ain t got time for that Frankly, that s what I like about him He s not out there writing about luxury resorts and pretty waterfalls He s taking a busted Land Cruiser over land mine infested road...This book was dismal Paul Theroux struggles with what he says will be his last trip to Africa because of his advancing age He also struggles with the life he finds in South Africa, Namibia and Angola, countries rife with poverty, graft, crime and miserable human conditions It s as if the things he sees and the people he meets reflect his own dark mood And few good things come out of either I ve read most of Theroux s travel books and always felt as though I learned something and was This book was dismal Paul Theroux struggles with what he says will be his last trip to Africa because of his advan...Paul Theroux was a bit lost on this one I know because he complained about it every other page Why am I here is a constant question that pads the text, just as often substituted with, What s the point It s fair to say that doubt, both in himself and civilisation as a whole, is a theme that occupies the majority of the book, and though he paws around the dirt to find some answers, in most cases he can only come up with half hearted justifications for why he would suffer a journey in which Pa...An interesting travelogue comparing journeys fifty years apart The Last Train to Zona Verde is one of those books one wishes had been better written Unfortunately, there was annoying emotional moaning about the state of African cities in almost every chapter It degraded my reading experience I agree with author Paul Theroux s opinions, however But Theroux spent a little too much time telling, not showing, because of his disappointment and shock I have never traveled in Africa so I cannot An interesting travelogue comparing journeys fifty years apart The Last Train to Zona Verde is one of those books one wishes had been better written Unfortunately, there was annoying emotional moaning about the state of African cities in almost every chapter It degraded my reading experience I agree with author Paul Theroux s opinions, however But Theroux spent a little too much time telling, not showing, because of his disappointment and shock I have never traveled in Africa so I cannot add any personal observations about Africa, but poverty is poverty is poverty, some of which I have experienced Plus, many other media sources that I have seen or read fo...I found Paul Theroux s The Last Train to Zona Verde a thoroughly enjoyable ride Some brilliant insights into the lives and appalling living conditions of the populations inhabiting South Africa, Namibia and Angola There are some side effect history lessons along the way, including a fascinating bit about Bono from U2 supporting a horrible political figure and h...Now in his early 70s, Paul Theroux sees and writes with the caustic, hard earned eye of this weary world wayfarer Theroux loves Africa, delights in each rumination, each across the room view of well fed sassy tourists, each tirade of another corrupt African government.I have read all of Theroux s travel books, starting with his 1975 smash The Great Railway Bazaar I devoured each page as if I were riding in the carriage of The Golden Arrow to Kuala Lumpur next to him Now, whenever I am on a Now in his early 70s, Paul Theroux sees and writes with the caustic, hard earned eye of this weary world wayfarer Theroux loves Africa, delights in each rumination, each across the room view of well fed sassy tourists, each tirade of another corrupt African government.I have read all of Theroux s travel books, starting with his 1975 smash The Great Railway Bazaar I...Something has happened to Mr Theroux s writing Whereas early travel books seemed to exaggerate his personal dislikes bordering on arrogance while hiding some painful truth like his impending divorce in The Old Patagonian Express , this book gives the impression of honesty, humility and even kindness He paints a brutal picture but then again, based upon his almost constant travel to Africa over decades, maybe it is an accurate depiction.I drove three hours to hear him speak at a book Something has happened to Mr Theroux s writing Whereas early travel books seemed to exaggerate his personal dislikes bordering on arrogance while hiding some painful truth like his...

The Last Train to Zona Verde: My Ultimate African Safari
  • English
  • 14 January 2019
  • Hardcover
  • 368 pages
  • 061883933X
  • Paul Theroux
  • The Last Train to Zona Verde: My Ultimate African Safari