- Rating
- 3.5
The style of this volume is a big departure from the previous two. Mark has written this for a much wider market and as such his writing has been toned down a touch. Whether it’s been toned down enough for the more general market, I’m not so sure. However, it’s written with the usual biting wit that I’ve become accustomed to from the previous volumes. Without doubt, Mark has a way with words.
In a nutshell, 4 bootnecks take a kayak (klepper) the length of the Mississippi for charity: on reading that, the tune of duelling banjos from the film ‘Deliverance’ filled my head. Unfortunately, for us, our author is in the support vehicle so we don’t get to hear much of the waterside action. What we do get though, is a view of 1990s America through Mark’s eyes. And once again, Mark is honest enough to show us that not everything he does is right. We see the real human behind the prose, including the ‘dark’ twin.
As with the previous books, humour runs throughout. There are some very funny scenes and there are a few sad ones. We experience the highs and feel the lows as the tale of two men making their way alongside the length of the Mississippi in a 27 foot RV unfolds. You really have to admire the way they did it on a shoestring budget, and also the way the Americans (generally) took these two stray Brits to their hearts.
I must admit that I’m not a big fan of travelogues and by the time I was halfway through this I was about ready to throw the towel in. I just couldn’t see it going anywhere. But I didn’t and I’m glad I didn’t. The latter pages of the book are (in my opinion) far better ones. I did have to adopt a different style of reading only a couple of the small chapters per night, but it did the trick. – That’s why it took me so long to read 340 pages.
Looking back at the book now I’ve finished it, I think it a credit to the author, though I’m not sure just how much artistic licence has been involved. The last sentence of the penultimate chapter had me in absolute stitches, true or not.
I’ll run to 3 1/2 anchors and hope to see more from this author.
In a nutshell, 4 bootnecks take a kayak (klepper) the length of the Mississippi for charity: on reading that, the tune of duelling banjos from the film ‘Deliverance’ filled my head. Unfortunately, for us, our author is in the support vehicle so we don’t get to hear much of the waterside action. What we do get though, is a view of 1990s America through Mark’s eyes. And once again, Mark is honest enough to show us that not everything he does is right. We see the real human behind the prose, including the ‘dark’ twin.
As with the previous books, humour runs throughout. There are some very funny scenes and there are a few sad ones. We experience the highs and feel the lows as the tale of two men making their way alongside the length of the Mississippi in a 27 foot RV unfolds. You really have to admire the way they did it on a shoestring budget, and also the way the Americans (generally) took these two stray Brits to their hearts.
I must admit that I’m not a big fan of travelogues and by the time I was halfway through this I was about ready to throw the towel in. I just couldn’t see it going anywhere. But I didn’t and I’m glad I didn’t. The latter pages of the book are (in my opinion) far better ones. I did have to adopt a different style of reading only a couple of the small chapters per night, but it did the trick. – That’s why it took me so long to read 340 pages.
Looking back at the book now I’ve finished it, I think it a credit to the author, though I’m not sure just how much artistic licence has been involved. The last sentence of the penultimate chapter had me in absolute stitches, true or not.
I’ll run to 3 1/2 anchors and hope to see more from this author.
