42 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Mean-Spirited, Snarky..."A Look at Me 'Adventure' of Yet Another Self-Indulgent Generation Y'er", May 20, 2010
This review is from: Grounded: A Down to Earth Journey Around the World (Paperback)
I picked this book up because I love both traveling and reading about travel. The premise seemed excellent - "let's travel around the world without once setting foot on an airplane." As someone who flies a lot, I can understand the motivation.
At first I was intrigued by the nuances of alternative travel...how does one book passage on an ocean-going freighter??? These insights were interesting at first.
I didn't get a real sense of the wanderlust of the author and his mate, but rather got a sense that the motivation was...hey I have an idea for a book, let's use that as an excuse to travel.
No problem with that, until they get out on their adventure and set out to be the most anti-Will Rogers types I've come across in a long time. The author and his girlfirend set out to demonstrate that they never met a man (woman) they ever liked!
Much of the book is Mr. Stevenson attempting to demonstrate his humor and wit by denigrating everyone he meets. He & his mate make fun of the Russian girl announcing over the speaker on the Estonian ferry that a face-painting activity is about to begin - hilarious! Here's a fellow from the U.S., who more than likely doesn't speak Russian or Estonian, making fun of an employee offering a fun activity to children, and respite to their parents, in English. This is just the beginning, as he has insulting descriptions of everyone he meets...on Russian trains, on buses, on cruise ships ("assist me in ridiculing these fogeys" p.218 - even while accepting their hospitality). This author has a snarky attitude which I am certain he believes is clever and witty.
It's humorous to Google him and find him writing an article for Slate in 2006 discussing the "mean-spirited" Apple ad...Stevenson epitomizes mean-spiritedness in this book.
When reading the book you keep looking for adventure...but it never really comes. Basically his job was to circumnavigate the globe without flying, and he succeeded - even if he did leave his girlfriend behind so that he could catch a departing ship. What a swell guy, I guess we now know that her chance of accomplishing the circumnavigation was not a priority for him.
In many places they don't "have time" to stop and see anything...they are the worst sort of travelers in this book - "check it off, so we can say we did it."
Their travels ended with a whimper...back to their wonky D.C. worlds of writing for Slate (which I like) and working as an attorney.
This book is about nothing more than Stevenson saying "look at me, look at me...I can leave a perfectly safe & prosperous Gen Y life behind for a few months, complain about everyone I meet, insult them, write a book that other snarky people might enjoy, and hope for some more of those prestigious 'Lowell Thomas' awards."
If you want to read real travel writing - that sometimes is dark, but analytical and insightful, then save your money on Stevenson and read Paul Theroux.
If you want to read humorous travel writing - well written & inspired by a genuine delight in travel, adventure, and meeting people and making friends then read Bill Bryson.
The ultimate irony of this book offering...the title - Grounded: A Down to Earth Journey Around the World - could not be more misleading. I expected a a payoff of the potential of the double entendre in the title: a clever travel premise - circumnavigate without flying, and a "grounded" author sharing his adventures. Stevenson isn't grounded, he thinks he's better, smarter, and more clever than everyone he meets. Good luck to him.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Somehow not that interesting, May 10, 2010
This review is from: Grounded: A Down to Earth Journey Around the World (Paperback)
I read this book while on a long-haul flight, and the author rambling along about why he dislikes modern air travel got me hooked. However, apart from the fact that a young couple without financial problems (locating the closest ATM seems to be the major thrill here) travels round the globe, there doesn't happen much. A pre-booked cycling tour of Vietnam, a ride on Japan's high speed train or a trip on a luxury cruiseship? Ordinary hotel rooms and a rent-a-car trip across Australia? I had expected a little more adventure!
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Hackneyed. A window into a shallow, shallow couple's travels., August 27, 2010
Seth Stevenson and his wife Rebecca are horrendous travellers.
This may seem like a stern judgment, but when you write an entire hackneyed, vapid book about your empty sneering travels, around the globe without an airplane (gasp!) -- you pretty much write about yourself, and invite judgment, or about people, culture, art, conversation, the world, and invite wonder.
He made the wrong choice. One gets the sense, reading this book, that the author and his wife have exactly zero ability to engage in or record interesting conversations with people they meet. They do not elicit interaction. They chunk down their world tour in great bites of sitting in trains and ferries. They never move much beyond the quotidian, drinking with various other travelers. They offer no insights, no percipient commentary on the world.
On this journey, the star couple are bruited about like a couple of suitcases, moved along the longitudes of the world higgledy-piggledy. You get the sense that the author NEVER has an interesting conversation to offer fellow travelers, that he is sort of taciturn. You get an NPR sense of sneering self-satisfaction.
At one point he is proud to be mistaken for a native German, and to have avoided white socks and shorts, being seen as a north american. Yet he is oblivious to the fact that he cannot speak the language, and that his worldliness is a matter of dressing himself in the right costume.
At one point, he notes that there sure are a lot of containers moving on the container ships of the world.
At one point, in order to keep his lame "no airplanes" rule, he leaves his wife behind and forces her to take an airplane to catch up. Charming, IF you admire the goal and the man. Lame, and totally self-centered, if you find his trip less than compelling.
The author fails the key question asked of all travel writers: OK, you went there. So what?
He can be funny, in a sarky way, but he is never percipient, never engaged, lacks an eye for the key detail, the crucial dialogue. He is a boar and a bore, in an approved east-coast insular fashion. You would not want to travel with him, and nor do you want to read about his self-involved travels.
Read this? Hah!
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