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A review by andrew_j_r
Pole to Pole by Michael Palin
4.0
I really enjoyed this book, for several reasons. The first is that Palin an genuinely funny, engaging writer who draws you into the narrative so you almost feel like you are there. Secondly, I watched the TV show along side this, and very little of the TV show is in the book. You might get a sentence that says "we spent the morning filming" and then it goes into no more detail than that, and he concentrates on other stuff that happens, so it's not just a book of the TV show.
And finally, the third reason this book is so strong is because of the way the world is changing at the time it is written. The USSR dissolves less than a week after they leave it. They visit villages close to Chernobyl a few years after the accident - and some of the villages have only been vacant a year or so. They go through the prosperous country of Zimbabwe, and enter a South Africa that is has only just started to dismantle Apartheid in the last five months (in which the journey was in progress).
The TV series was pretty good, but the book is awesome - both as a novel and a historical document. Brilliant stuff.
3.11.23 Reread the splendid Folio Society edition published in 2023. Agree with all the points raised above, and now I’ve reread the book I shall rewatch the TV series.
And finally, the third reason this book is so strong is because of the way the world is changing at the time it is written. The USSR dissolves less than a week after they leave it. They visit villages close to Chernobyl a few years after the accident - and some of the villages have only been vacant a year or so. They go through the prosperous country of Zimbabwe, and enter a South Africa that is has only just started to dismantle Apartheid in the last five months (in which the journey was in progress).
The TV series was pretty good, but the book is awesome - both as a novel and a historical document. Brilliant stuff.
3.11.23 Reread the splendid Folio Society edition published in 2023. Agree with all the points raised above, and now I’ve reread the book I shall rewatch the TV series.