Hello & Riding the Iron Rooster Review

Greetings to everyone from the newest member of this group. I'm honored to count myself one of the posters to this page. In the spirit of Tree of Valinor's book mandate, I'll begin with a short review of a book I almost finished over Christmas vacation, Riding the Iron Rooster: By Train Through China by Paul Theroux. The fact that I didn't finish it should tell you something. It's a little dated, being over 10 years old, and I found Mr. Theroux's condescending attitude towards his fellow travelers annoying. Whether it was the fat ingorant Americans he began the tour with or the strange, spitting Chinese he spent most of his train time in the company of, it seems like Mr. Theroux had nothing but criticism. In fact, I can't remember a single person he gave an overall positive impression of.

To be fair, travelling is stressful, and sharing a sleeping car with a constantly spitting, loud-talking companion would not be a picnic. And who hasn't had wicked thoughts about people on the bus or in the next cubicle? So we'll give Mr. Theroux points for being honest, and points for writing vivid descriptions of people and places. I will never forget his description of the cold in Harbin. He made me feel it. And any book in which the author spends the majority of his time on steam-driven trains can't be a total loss. Still, in the end, Mr. Theroux's lack of sympathy for his fellow travelers turned me off and allowed me to put the book down before the end. I probably will never pick it back up.