Customer Reviews

Mister Raja's Neighborhood: Letters from Nepal

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Jeff Greenwald is a funny writer--we should get that out of the way first. From the first page of Mr. Raja's Neighborhood (never mind the title!), I smiled--Greenwald is both humorous and wise in his prose. One other thing on his style: few writers I've read are as brave or creative with a simile, and that makes for lively reading which, in certain instances, borders upon the sublime. But back to Mr. Raja's Neighborhood--the book's premise (it is non-fiction) is that Greenwald has come to Kathmandu, Nepal to write a novel. He felt he had to leave his home in Santa Barbara, California to do this. The catch: he gets half-way around the world and can't write anything. So Mr. Raja's Neighborhood becomes a book about not writing a book--an un-book, if you will. At times, and between laughs, you feel as if you are sitting up with a slightly un-sober Greenwald in his flyblown, noisy, cluttered Kathmandu flat while he neurotically tries to create the novel that, as the pages turn, you begin to realize he will not. And we might be the better for it. Because of Greenwald's year-long case of writer's block, we read his letters home, his journal musings, his abstract (and abject!) thoughts on life in Nepal. Even a newspaper clip published in The Kathmandu Post is included. When finally sandwiched between two covers, Mr. Raja's Neighborhood is a relatively light-hearted spin upon a rather serious theme: one man's struggle with himself and his acceptance--artistically, anyways--of his mortality. One other note: for any traveler who has found him or herself living in Kathmandu for an extended period of time, this book is a must read for its often hilarious insights and observations upon Nepali culture and customs.

I purchased this book after a travel service placed it on their long list of reading considerations, and the Amazon description sounded intriguing. In its favor, I am sure Mr Greenwald's travel documentaries and editing skills have improved since he wrote this one 25 years ago. Soon I began skimming through the book, hoping it was simply off to a slow start; this hope faded as I approached the final pages. I deeply sympathize with the author's many illnesses, bouts of frustration at not having sex as often as he would like, and failure to find a good toothpaste or a good cure for too much recreational herb use. The humor was occasionally OK but often seemed to be at the expense of somebody. It does seem like a good book to explore unedited stream-of-consciousness journalism, and it does give page after page of saying a great deal about a subject without burdening you down with too much description. If you are looking to find out about the author's formative years, go for it, but if you want to find out about life in Nepal or Sri Lanka, I would suggest looking elsewhere. It does have a good title and cover photograph, though!