Customer Reviews

Full Circle: A Pacific Journey with Michael Palin

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Michael Palin does it again with Full Circle. Starting in Alaska Michael travels anti-clockwise around the rim of the Pacific Ocean visiting countries as diverse as Russia, Korea, Viet Nam, New Zealand, Colombia and the west coast of North American. He tells of his adventures getting to and exploring some fantastic natural wonders, visiting a Russian gulag with a former inmate, the relief of Japan, the Vietnamese reactions to a westerner, the biggness of Australia and the hardworking people of South America. The section on the United States is short and not always sweet. Palin is taken aback by the physical bigness of Americans, and rush, and loudness. By the time he reaches Canada and attends a "lumberjack" fair (no singing Mounties included!) he really "wants to go home". We also learn a bit about how the series and book were produced, his wife Helen and their children, and that being on a job for the BBC doesn't always mean smooth sailing! Michael's friend Basil Pao took the photographs - he also joined Michael on "Around the World in Eighty Days". I can highly recommend this book and not only to fans of Monty Python - it doesn't end how you might expect!

As always Palin has produced a great travel book and series... this I found better than his "80 Days". The other thing people might find interesting about this travel book is that it takes us to some places which are hard to reach even in this day and age, so this is the only way we can know them.

Also suggested- "Hemingway Adventure"

If you love to read about exciting and exotic places, this is your book. If you like history, this is your book. If you like Michael Palin, this is your book. If you just like to read, THIS IS YOUR BOOK. I suggest you read the book first and THEN see the video series (although either stands perfectly well alone).

Travelling with Michael is to say the least exhilarating, fun, adventurous and a journey of discovery. While many can only dream of actually making the trip, Michael Palins' books are the next best thing. It's not just where he goes, but how he does it and perhaps most importantly: seeing it through his mind's eye, which needless to say can make humor out of nothingness. All you need is to relax and have the urge to increase your imagination. A wild but educative ride!

I've seen the 10-part Full Circle tv series, and I had a serious addiction from the start. When it ended, I went through a withdrawl period. I silently rocked myself in a chair in my room repeating "I must get the book,... must find book...must read book." I've got it now and I'm back on a Full Circle high. The book goes into details that they never had time for on the series. It tells you everything that you would have noticed had you been in Japan or Australia or Chile.

Ahh... I can imagine myself right now on the streets of China getting a massage from a blind man.

Full Circle is just as good, if not better then his othertravel/comedy books. It is simply magnificent.

After a couple of small time train journeys for the BBC Michael Palin got roped into Around the World in 80 Days. He followed that up with Pole to Pole and then Full Circle which was an epic journey that started in the Bering Straits beteen Alaska and Russia. And thence went in a counter clockwise manner around the Pacific taking in a stack of countries along the way.

This six CD, six hour(!) release sees Palin reading his own book of the journey. Not the sort of thing that's going to make it onto the Billboard best sellers list but a very valid release. I own this on DVD and also got the book Palin is reading from and so delayed getting any of his box set audio efforts wondering if I'd really get any use out of them. I needn't have worried and if the same concern is holding you back from parting with your hard earned rest assured that these discs are quite worthwhile. I actually tend to listen to them while driving long distance, there is something surreal about driving through very sparse inland scenes for hour after hour in the Australian 'red centre' while listening to Palin talk about the rainforest of the Amazon basin or the mountainous seas of the Bering Strait.

Of course you'd have to have the constitution of a buffalo to actually listen to them disc after disc. My record is two of these discs one after the other because ultimately have a guy read to you can get old hat after too long. Perhaps it would of been nice had they added some background noise that was complementary to the passage being read. But if you pace yourself this release is a worthy addition to the sort of albums you throw in the car in preparation for a long drive.

Highly recommended for fans of Michael Palins conversational style of travelogue.

While sitting in the back of a rather unpleasant taxi cab, wondering how to make weather conversation intersting, I would quickly tune out and tune into Full circle. Instantly I was able to travel with Michael Palin to the jungles of the Amazon or stand at the tip of Cape Horn. What makes this book is not the places, but the appreciative, humous understanding of the author as he records his experiences as he undertakes a "hair brained" journey.

I have to say the only reason I gave this book a 9 instead of a 10 is because I saw the video series first and nothing can top that. One night, I flipped on PBS and was drawn into this program of Michael Palin traveling 50,000 miles around the Pacific Rim. First I wondered who would be crazy enough to do this. Then I wondered why anyone would do it AND film it. Then, I have to admit, I was so enthralled with this journey that I started looking for each episode to appear in my weekly TV Guide so I could write it out in bold letters on my calendar. I was hooked.

Once the series was over, I was dejected until I walked into the bookstore one day and there was the companion book to the series. Of course I snatched up a copy and took it home. I have read it from cover to cover and loved every bit. It is an unflinching account of the journey, detailing the most mundane to the awe-inspiring, and Palin has a nice way of telling his story with just enough humor to stomach the realities of this trip. There are many times I feel as if I am right there with the author, experiencing everything he is....but I get to do it from the comfort of my armchair.