Customer Reviews

Holidays in Hell: In Which Our Intrepid Reporter Travels to the World's Worst Places and Asks, "What's Funny About This" (O'Rourke, P. J.)

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No, this man is too much. I have never read anyone funnier or smarter. From his exalted brilliance in Parliament of Whores to his latest Eat the Rich, P.J. O'Rourke manages to make me laugh out loud on nearly every page. My husband is trying to sleep and I'm pulling his arm saying, just one more, let me read you just one more thing, and then we laugh till we cry. I don't know. P.J. should not be allowed to be this funny. His former editor in Rolling Stone told me that in real life he is every bit as mirthful. I will say that the cynicism has just got to end at EPCOT. I draw the line at Disney World. Everything else is up for grabs, Beirut, Warsaw, go ahead, yuck it up. But leave WDW alone; have you not been on the Maelstrom Ride?

"Holidays in Hell" was the first book to collect the travel writings of P.J. O'Rourke for Rolling Stone magazine. Though a bit dated taday (these stories were from the mid 1980s) it is still quite funny and full of classic P.J. He establishes his mantra here, basically that if you really want to know whats going on in a country you should never interview its politicians who will never tell you the straight story. In this book, P.J. travels to Poland, Lebanon, Panama and Heritage U.S.A. among other places. But the best essay is called "Through Darkest America: Epcot Center" that is an absolutely dead on drubbing of the so-called Magic Kingdom. Through it all O'Rourke reminds me of a more political and funnier Bill Bryson. This book is well worth a read.

Wonder what it would be like to travel to dangerous places as an American tourist? Places like Lebanon, El Salvador, The Phillippines, and Palestine (all during times of active insurrection, of course)? No need... P. J. has done it for you. Reading this book you really get the feeling of having been to these places. It's a miracle P. J. survives even just the opening chapter, a casual ramble across Lebanon during their civil war. His sense of humor through all this is reminiscent of Dave Barry, full of flippant remarks and strange juxtapositions, yet on a deeper level his observations are also deadly serious. (They are occasionally quoted in decidedly serious policy magazines such as "The Economist", for example.) Reading this book may explain for you a lot about why the third world is at it is, but it's also a fun read and a good adventure at the same time.

I read this in 1989, but I still like to go back to it. It's a classic and I believe, the best of P.J.'s books (I have almost all). Though, it seems dated now, going back to '80's history feels like yesterday and I have never forgotten certain lines, like when he was in bleak Warsaw, how "commies love cement." And if you think he encounters only the bizarre international world, his chapters on "Heritage USA (remember Jim & Tammy Bakker's Christian theme resort?) and Epcot Center remind us that the good 'ol USA has some wackiness of its own. His ramble through Lebanon (post Beirut war) where "the beaches, though shell-pocked...are not crowded and ruins of historical interest abound, in fact, block most streets" displays his intelligent humor for places lacking any humor at all. In fact, it reads like some Fodor's Travel Horror Guide, where in El Salvador "you pick [your hotel] according to the kind of fear you prefer."

Whether it was because P.J. was young, fresh and writing for Rolling Stone and other mags at the time, I don't know, but he has never quite matched this level of writing he set up for himself. His "All The Trouble In The World" would be my second pick if you like this one and I just don't see how anyone can't love "Holidays In Hell."

Peege & I would probably never ever vote the same way, but he is one of the sharpest guys on the planet, and not afraid to toss barbs at his fellow conservatives when they deserve it. I own several of his books, but it's Holidays In Hell that I treasure.

The majority of these essays were published in Rolling Stone, and Revenge of the Euroweenies was the first of his essays that I read. That essay was so funny and so ... true ... that I found myself calling friends long distance to read passages to them. Soon thereafter, Holidays In Hell was published and I read it cover to cover with lightening speed, howling all the way. The thing about Peege is that he's not only witty and clever, but many of the essays are thought-provoking and insightful when you look past the funny surface.

The next summer I spent 3 months in Guatemala with an archaeological expedition, and found that Peege was right on the money about so many things. (The essay on driving should be handed out to all Americans upon arrival in any 3rd world country.) I've given this book as a birthday or Christmas present to everyone I know who's been to a trouble spot. Even though it's over 10 years old, and political situations change, it's still a hoot.

Hilarious, insightful and succinct. No word is wasted, and even the smallest throwaway jokes will elicit a chuckle. Even when faced with the most dire situations in the most foreign of lands, the author resists the impulse to grandstand or pander. O'Rourke is the 20th century's answer to Mark Twain or H.L. Mencken, but less of a blowhard than either of those two. This book is a seminal work of gonzo reporting and modern non-fiction, and should be required reading for anyone wanting to be a foreign correspondent.

If you aren't familiar with PJ O'Rourke, the caustic, polically-incorrect humorist who used to write for the Rolling Stone when it was worth reading, this book of collected travel writings from the 1980's is a good place to start. Besides being funny, O'Rourke has an irritating way of insulting your favorite politician or political movement by pointing out their idiocy and forcing you to realize you are an idiot too for believing them. And you still enjoy the article.

O'Rourke is fairly conservative, in a libertarian sort of way, so if you think Gore is exciting, Hillary (or Bill for that matter) is sexy, and Obama is a black descendant of slaves who fought his way to the top via expensive prep schools, Columbia and Harvard, you probably won't enjoy this book. O'Rourke savages Republicans too, but he seems to enjoy skewering liberals more.

That said, this book is a collection of mostly foreign travels (with some American sites thrown in) to various dysfunctional areas of the world. If you have ever spent time in some of these places, he grasps their essence much better than a serious, straight-up political writer. Probably because he realizes that most politicians and official press agencies are steaming piles of horse-apples.

There are chapters on Lebanon, Russia, Nicaragua, Poland, Korea, El Salvador, Disney World, South Africa, Harvard, the Phillipines, and Panama. Most of these chapters were written at the time of some idealogical war. How can you not laugh at things like the Sandinista Director of Censorship denying there is any censorship by saying, "They [Newspaper La Prensa] accused us of suppressing freedom of expression. This was a lie and we could not let them publish it."

On a somber note, you will note that the same Sandinistas are back in power in Nicaragua, Europeans are still weenies ("Among the Euro-weenies" is still spot on), and all the bureacratic and political shenanigans and ironies are identical to what I suffered last time I tried to get on an airplane. (I never did make it since my 6 year old was on the "no-fly" list. Damn, how did they know he was such a spoiled brat?)

So read this and laugh, and then you can cry later when it all hits home.

I have always enjoyed O'Rourke's sense of the absurd, however, he has really connected with the reality - the unreality - of Haiti. Beneath the humor lies a great deal of truth, dealt with in a sympathetic manner. One interesting, bizarre element was his contact with a Canadian in the American intelligence service. He tells of meeting Lynn Garrison in Grand Quartier General, Haiti's military headquarters, where he was - of all things - serving as military spokesman, in addition to his duties as special advisor to General Raoul Cedras, the nation's commander in chief. Lynn Garrison was the key factor in delaying the return of Jean Bertrand Aristide for three years. Later factors would prove he was right as evidence now points to Aristide's control of Haiti's cocaine trade.

I think the book's piece about the rules of third world driving is one of the funniest things ever written.

PJ's been around the world enough times to have had every imaginable episode of culture shock, and he writes about these with fine humour. Although he writes about things like being stuck in the middle of a violent student protest demonstration in Seoul, he also includes destinations where bullets and tear gas don't figure into the plot.

I don't see any racism in the book, and in fact he blasts it in his piece on Apartheid South Africa which first appeared in The Rolling Stone. True, he's a Yank with Yank sensibilities, but that's where the humor comes in... anyone who's been confused by "the way we do things here" in a foreign country will appreciate O'Rourke's wry take on the exasperation and fear known by the stranger in a strange land.

His chapter on covering the America's Cup yacht race out of Fremantle, Australia, is pure genius.

A great addition to any travel library!

Im a pretty traveled person, and I see PJ's glimpses every now and then. It makes a great present for my mates. I read it over again when I feel I need a good laugh. I love the part about the French.