Ghost Train to the Eastern Star: On the Tracks of the Great Railway Bazaar | 
| Author: Paul Theroux
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Category: Book
List Price: $28.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 642
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 512
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.7
ISBN: 0618418873
Dewey Decimal Number: 915.04425092
EAN: 9780618418879
ASIN: 0618418873
Publication Date: August 18, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Amazon Best of the Month, August 2008: Way back in the dark pre-Internet, limited-air-travel world of 1975, the way to get from Europe to Asia was by train. A young and ambitious writer named Paul Theroux made his literary mark by taking the 28,000-mile intercontinental journey via rail from London to Tokyo and back home again. His book, The Great Railway Bazaar, became a travel-lit classic. Thirty years later, an older, wiser, and even less sanguine Theroux decided to retrace his steps. The result is Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, a fascinating account of the places you vaguely knew existed (Tbilisi), probably won't ever go to (Bangalore), but definitely should know something about (Mandalay). Get on board Theroux's fast-moving travelogue, which features some of the most astute commentary on our distorted notions of time, space, and each other in the age of jet speed, broadband connections, and cultural extinction. --Lauren Nemroff
Product Description
Thirty years after the epic journey chronicled in his classic work The Great Railway Bazaar, the world's most acclaimed travel writer re-creates his 25,000-mile journey through eastern Europe, central Asia, the Indian subcontinent, China, Japan, and Siberia.
Half a lifetime ago, Paul Theroux virtually invented the modern travel narrative by recounting his grand tour by train through Asia. In the three decades since, the world he recorded in that book has undergone phenomenal change. The Soviet Union has collapsed and China has risen; India booms while Burma smothers under dictatorship; Vietnam flourishes in the aftermath of the havoc America was unleashing on it the last time Theroux passed through. And no one is better able to capture the texture, sights, smells, and sounds of that changing landscape than Theroux.
Theroux's odyssey takes him from eastern Europe, still hung-over from communism, through tense but thriving Turkey into the Caucasus, where Georgia limps back toward feudalism while its neighbor Azerbaijan revels in oil-fueled capitalism. Theroux is firsthand witness to it all, traveling as the locals doaby stifling train, rattletrap bus, illicit taxi, and mud-caked footaencountering adventures only he could have: from the literary (sparring with the incisive Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk) to the dissolute (surviving a week-long bender on the Trans-Siberian Railroad). And wherever he goes, his omnivorous curiosity and unerring eye for detail never fail to inspire, enlighten, inform, and entertain.
PAUL THEROUX was born in Medford, Massachusetts, in 1941 and published his first novel, Waldo, in 1967. His fiction includes The Mosquito Coast, My Secret History, My Other Life, Kowloon Tong, Blinding Light, and most recently, The Elephanta Suite. His highly acclaimed travel books include Riding the Iron Rooster, The Great Railway Bazaar, The Old Patagonian Express, Fresh Air Fiend, and Dark Star Safari. He has been the guest editor of The Best American Travel Writing and is a frequent contributor to various magazines, including The New Yorker. He lives in Hawaii and on Cape Cod.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 Not worse your attention and money September 4, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I will spare few minutes of my precious time to write those lines.
I was born and raised in France, then moved to Singapore in 1992 where my daughters and I became proud Singaporean in 2006.
Yesterday I was a Borders and my eyes got caught by Mr Theroux's book "Ghost Train to the Eastern Star: On the track of the Great Railway Bazar" latest edition. I was in the intention of purchasing this book until I read what he said regarding his stopover in Singapore.
I was shocked by such critics, cliches and totally wrong analyses. Mr Theroux understood absolutely nothing of our country, our people, our values etc.... and think he is in position of despising us and our beautiful island.
After reading those pages with sadness and even disgust, I decided that I will not buy this book as his testimony was so wrong for Singapore that I can't trust what he will say about others countries. As a matter of fact, I will never buy another book from this author who is not worse reading.
As for Mr Theroux, it is good in a way that he did not appreciate our country so at least he will not be around as we don't need people like him.
 A Sentimental and an Unsentimental Journey September 1, 2008
A love "Ghost Train'. I love that some places did not change in 33 years. I love that, as a man of a certain age, he spent somewhat less time in bars and more time with nature. I love that he found people he had met 33 years ago. I love that the people were so happy to see him again.
I fantisize that I am reading 'Ghost Train', I look up and there he is sitting across from me on the train.
And, I love that he supports Barack Obama. Fired Up!
theroux gets older September 1, 2008
Mr. Theroux is over 65 but still doing the hard road. He is cranky as usual but more erudite, in other words he refers to Larkin, Buddhism, etc. I didnt agree with all his perceptions, especially concerning Romania where I have spent some time. I liked the Romanians and thought Bucharest a very interesting city, and Transylvania has some beautiful landscapes, but then he only spent few hours there. However, I also thought he was very good on India, where I have also travelled. He has been criticized for being egocentric in this book and, of course, he has his quirks, but he is a great writer, especially of travel literature, and as he himself would say, writers are a bit mad (or they wouldnt be writers).
 Sixty plus, well off, and he still travels like a college kid August 28, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Throughout this latest Theroux book I kept asking myself, why does he do it? Why does he punish himself with decrepit trains, filthy toilets, near poisonous food, crummy hotels, lonliness, a constant stream of strangers met on the way and never seen again? He is an old man, presumably well to do, perhaps really rich, who needs all that punishment? Obviously he does. This travel book (though like all of his books it is not a travel guide, no hotel recommendations, no must do restaurants or sights) simply is fascinating reading, although by now, having written 41 books, 17 of them travel books, there is a certain sameness that is I guess unavoidable. The names and places change but the experiences remain the same.
Still, he never bores. And while this may be his last travel book (he hints so) it is a terrific one with which to exit the stage. JDP
Yet Another Winner... August 27, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This thoughtful book reflects the next level in the literary evolution of the incomparable Paul Theroux --- he's more vunerable, more reflective, and more compassionate (and less the rogue and rascal) --- now that he is in his 67th year. For his many fans, this is a good thing, as we get to know him more deeply. The "ghost train" referred to in the book's title is actually Theroux's inner travels in both mind and spirit. While re-tracing, mostly in 2006, much of the route of his 1973 classic "The Great Railway Bazaar", he now focuses on the theme of "change": not only do the physical locations look different, but of course the author is different as well. Theroux is a "ghost" of his younger self, traveling like a ghost through the past of his memories, while feeling nearly invisible as he re-visits many of his old haunts (excuse the pun). However, this book has all the Theroux trademarks that the devoted reader loves and expects: exotic locales, humor, grittiness, the unexpected, the insights, the observations, the interesting local people and wacky fellow travelers. Theroux is a true master of detail and description. The sights-smells-sounds of extensive and exhaustive travel are all there, as if you were right beside him. But unlike his other non-fiction travel books, this one is specially tinged with some sadness and melancholy. Can/will he do another epic travel journey to share with us? I certainly hope so. Paul, please keep giving us your unique and valued "scribble, scribble..."
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