The Old Patagonian Express: By Train Through the Americas

Theroux journeyed from Boston, Mass., to Esquel, Argentina (Patagonia), mostly by train (where political conditions permitted), when such a journey was still possible. I'm given to understand that it is no longer. The book is a chronicle of the experience of railway travel during the first decade of Amtrak, when routes and services were slimmed down. Into Central and South America, the experience is more exotic. The peoples who live in those countries feel differently about their trains because, for them, the arrival of the railroads was a different story than for the USA. Theroux rarely interviews people he meets formally because there's so little time but recounts conversations he has with various people, some of whom are, frankly, unsavory. I got the impression that Theroux didn't care much for most of the people he met on his journey, except for Jorge Luis Borges, the one man whom he regarded as his intellectual equal. I'm not sure that "entitled" is really the word but Theroux comes off as a bit of a Yanqui, sometimes. I do like his descriptions of landscapes which are graphically vivid enough for me to conjure images in my mind. Theroux is not a railfan; he's a travel-fan. The train is nothing noteworthy in itself; it's a just a mode of travel. I wish there had been more detail about the locomotives and cars, and the histories of the lines, but I can't fault Theroux for that. I got the sense that I read a small but significant piece of history, as this journey is no longer possible. It's a good book, though not a great one.

The cranky Paul Theroux may be an acquired taste, but my mom and I both shared a love of travel and the writings of Theroux. I am not sure if this is my favorite of his travel journals, but I think it may be a top contender. Theroux, who lives on Cape Cod, decided he could take a train out of Boston and end up in Patagonia--the utter end of the earth, the tip of South America where Chile and Argentina meet at the point of the continent.Part of the charm of the book are the quick, sharp sketches of people Theroux meets on the way (not usually favorable) and the musings on the essence of the land he is traversing--its geography, its mood as well as the general condition of the local economy. Central America is phenomenally empoverished, down to the Stone Age level of heaps of huts and a few stray animals. His unvarnished view of the pitiable condition of these lands and their people gives you a better feeling for what life is like outside a developed nation, even Mexico, whose slums are posh compared to Nicaragua or Guatemala.South America is not well known by Americans--did you know there is a Welsh settlement in Patagonia? It's amazing to take this train trip even with such a grouchy companion as Theroux. He's a marvelous writer and like all good journal writers, doesn't spare anything, even if it makes himself look less noble.I read this before I ever traveled to Chile and then after and it really adds a lot of insight.

Yes, he is a curmudgeon - but I still love his books.This one in particular fed into my wish to " someday" travel. I was a poor student who thought travel was only for the rich. I didn't realize you could do it cheaply - if you don't mind a few discomforts. It gave the information I needed to take journeys that expanded my world view.The book reads like a diary of his travel from Boston to Tierra del Fuego, most of the time by train. Along the way he meets both ordinary & famous people - most of whom he dislikes. At the beginning of his train trip he meets a self-centered young woman who gives him a rundown of her dietary needs and "sensitivities." She is a the first of many people who will annoy and confound him. He also manages to meet luminaries like Jorge Luis Borges. Even Borges doesn't distract him from train" schedules", breakdowns, people, and misunderstanding that - he thinks - exist only to thwart his enjoyment. He hates everyone and everything but manages to describe it all in hilarious prose.I know many people dislike his grouchy persona - they wonder why he even travels. Give him a break - he is like one of those old - fashioned uncles (at least in literature) who fill your head with wonderful images of far away places while complaining about the most trivial problems. You know he's finicky, so all you take in is the wonder of discovering new places.I will always love this book and Mr. Theroux for leading me out of small, Midwestern-town-USA. How else would I have found myself hitching a ride to Otoval market (ECUADOR) on top of a precarious truck carrying vegetables & chickens? Two Japanese sisters made the trip even more fun as we screamed & laughed all the way. A trip of a lifetime on a shoe string budget. Luckily I was young enough to ignore discomfort so that I could enjoy new vistas and people.I will always keep my worn copy of this book. I give it 5 stars for inspiration, hilarity, and practical advice.

I spent this summer traveling with Paul Theroux because my own (real) traveling days are over. The Old Patagonian Express was our latest trip together (this is the seventh book of his I've read recently), and I'm glad I went with him. It's true, he doesn't seem to like Central and South American countries as much as he's liked other places we've been. But his writing is always captivating, and I'm always charmed.

One is led to believe that Theroux is on a solitary journey from Boston to Patagonia. But it turns out he has a publisher in Buenos Aries and many scheduled interviews and lectures on the way. In other words, he had people looking out for him all the way. He was never in any real adventure and he is just replicating earlier works. By the time he gets to Patagonia the book ends, and the reader learns almost nothing about the place. I have been to Patagonia in Chile, and he was in Argentina, but what I saw and experienced was much more beautiful and interesting than this book describes.

Whilst this was not the escapism I initially sought during lockdown I’m pleased that I persevered with Theroux’s company all the way from Boston to Esquel!Exploring Central and South America from the discomfort of 1970’s, but often much older, railway carriages was a unique experience that I am unlikely to replicate myself.It has certainly whetted my appetite to visit Costa Rica and Argentina; countries not previously on any of my bucket lists!Unlike Theroux, I will opt for air rather than rail travel and the company of family or friends rather than solitude and acclaimed works of literary greatness.Big ideas rather than small people occupy Theroux’s peregrinations. Whilst I was interested to read about his time spent with Louis Borges I felt that he dismissed most of his fellow train passengers (certainly not companions!) with a callous contempt that irritated rather than endeared him to me. Having said this, I still think that Paul would be a fascinating dinner companion if he could but endure my company!

Well, now I've read this almost classic account in it's way, and I agree with the critics who felt that it was a disappointment in that it was sorely limited with describing with a fair amount of chagrin and detachment on the part of the author the rail journey from Massachusetts to Patagonia without any time given to feel each place in which he stepped off the train to break the journey. And the trains themselves were an ordeal to say the least. The fellow travellers mute, or annoying and filthy in their habits made one crawl alive with itching or longing to stretch one's legs in a real bed- except that the beds were crawling alive with bugs in every "hotel" he dared to put up in. The journey took one through every inconvenience immaginable from whore towns, to sordid carriages, and facilities (that's a good word!) to extreme temperatures of excessive heat to cold at dire altitudes in impossible situations in the Andes, and at moments however Paul Theroux describes with a stroke of reportage genius the incongruous characters he meets ,just as in life- sitting on a bench in a square, a women who almost drags him down into her quest for a poor fisherman in Veracruz to save him from death, saved only by his need to catch the next train to Guatemala.The only comfortable stretch was when he changed trains for Argentina until the writer Borges tells him the trains are regularly bombed (we are in the 1970's!).I wouldn't recommend this book but just the same it was a ride through these countries albeit really about the author's attitudes to life and inabilty to enjoy anything of which he experienced.

This did get a bit boring-the author was feeling the same way-bored and fed up of his long train journey. Whay not just take to the air more often & cut out the boring stuff. I understand the whole point is about rail travel, but there is no point in taking rickety trains if you can't get a decent night's sleep, food or clean water. I've bought/read most of the Theroux books, but this one was the least liked by me.

Opinion based on previous titles by same author however - not been read yet, it's in a queue! Tks 'n' Rgds DP

Maybe it's me, but I just found this book hard going.