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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Some of Jennings best,
This review is from: The Journeyer (Hardcover)
I admit that I thought Aztec was a better book, but I'm still giving Journeyer 5 stars. Why? Well, it really is an interesting and captivating book that draws you in as you read it. Journeyer is the story of Marco Polo and his journeys to Asia, supposedly the other half that he did not actually tell the scribe who recorded his journeys in real life. I am not familiar with the history of that period, so I cannot vouch for the historical accuracy, but I will say that this book made me want to read up on the history. There is danger and adventure on every turn as Marco and his father and uncle make their way to China. The book is at turns violent, sexy, and dramatic, but also enlightening and fascinating. I found it very hard to put down, once I had picked it up, even moving quickly through some squeamish parts. Jennings really knows how to get the reader's attention and keep it.
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The quintessential expeditionist tells his rambling tale,
By
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This review is from: The Journeyer (Mass Market Paperback)
Whoever came up with the title for this book was surely a genius, because it manages to convey multiple things about the novel in one word. First of all Marco Polo was a journeyer, perhaps the quintessential explorer of who that we are taught of in school with his amazing adventures along the silk road that spanned the length of Asia. Secondly, reading this book feels like you are going on a journey, not only the physical one that Marco Polo takes but one of the spirit, a journey of growth, not only in age and maturity but in philosophy. And last of all, this is a book about what it means to be a "journeyer" at heart, a man with a wandering spirit and soul who has a constant drive to explore.
I'm not going to go into details about the plot, mainly because the plot is the story of the journey and to tell it would be to write the book again. This is a long book, divided up by the place in which Marco Polo is at the time and told in the first person, but from a removed standpoint because he is writing it all down long after the events occurred. It is very, very well written, and I say that not liking first person narratives too much. In a sense it reminded me of "Shogun", if perhaps only in the description of landscapes. In other ways, well... This book is extremely sexually explicit. In every way possible. Every persuasion and perversion is mentioned (some in great detail) and though our narrator himself is fairly decent a great deal of the sex stuff in this book is upsetting and disgusting because it describes sex with children and animals and the sexual norms of the many cultures we move through, many of which are (justly) felonies today. This is NOT a book for prudes or people who can't handle anything that's sexually upsetting or explicit. In fact I would have to rate it (movie style) "X"-and there is a great deal about sex in the book. Some of it is normal, run of the mill novel sex though. What isn't about sex is very interesting. Though I have no idea about the actual accuracy of the novel when it comes to Marco Polo's journey there is a ton to be learned from this book in historical and cultural tidbits. And as I said, it's a very well written book. But it's also very long and has some boring stretches (like between pages 400-700 but after that it really picks up) as well as those of great excitement. What really struck me about this book is how complete it is. This book has more of a sense of being completely written, perfectly filled out, than anything I've ever read. The beginning really starts off the story, the middle is the adventures and the ending wraps things up so perfectly-with so much poignancy about the true journey and what it means to be a journeyer-that I was slightly stunned. It's obvious that Gary Jennings is talented not only in the creative sense, but in the technical aspects of writing as well. 4 stars. I really enjoyed this book and found it to be very well written both in technical aspects and in creativity. But there were those boring spots (which were quite boring) and all of that sex, which while I understand was used to describe the culture and times of the book in a complete way, was still too explicit in some cases.
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Total sensory satisfaction in a written word!,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Journeyer (Hardcover)
It's been many years since I read The Journeyer, and it still is first in line when I recommend a book to a serious reader. I am not one for historical reading; "Marco Polo?" I said, rather haughtily," over my dead body!" However, out of respect for and curiosity over my friend's glowing description, I picked it up and COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN! I carried it everywhere with me, stayed up nights, read at stop lights in the car...wherever I could find a moment, I devoured the book. Jennings' descriptive prose let me feel the textures, smell the aromas, taste the delicacies, hear the crowd and the silence, and see all there was to see. I was there in all senses, immersed in the life and times of his multidimensional characters and interwoven story lines. A timeless classic!
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