Customer Reviews

The Motorcycle Diaries

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1 star:		(4)

 

 

The hooks are obvious: charismatic revolutionary Che Guevara on a continent spanning motorcycle trip of South America. However, this book is by Ernesto Guevera, a 23 year old middle-class medical student looking for a break from his studies, and the motorcycle doesn't last through two countries. It is a rare glimpse into the young mind of a major cultural revolutionary. The book is also a unique look into the everyday life of South America in the middle of the 20th century. The point of view is of sons of privilege wandering the countryside and living off the land. Sometimes they are encountering the workers and experiencing their simple hospitality and honest struggles. At other times, they rely on their social class and education to open doors to more polite society. What I found compelling about this book is that in such a brief work the author was able to present a sweeping portrait of South American life. it was, for me, a wonderfully human introduction to the people and lands of this vast continent.

I grew up in Loma Linda, a University town with a medical school. I never heard of anybody taking off on a motorcycle, even after graduation, for a journey like this. But Che Guevara was an exception to the rulers. The young (Everything he did was young--he didn't live to see 40.) Ernesto "Che" Guevara, left the university & his life of privilege for seven months on the road, touring South America, first on a motorcycle, then as a vagabond, with his compadre Alberto.

The two of them posed as Argentinian Doctors, specialists in the treatment of leprosy. This gained them food and lodging, as well as special treatment at times. It also gained them face-to-face experience with the impossible living conditions of people suffering from this disease.

Alberto & Che traveled on their own resources. When money got tough, they scammed & stowed-away, sometimes even working for a meal, but they didn't cable home for money or assistance. During this experience, Che became personally acquainted with the poverty and disempowerment prevalent in South America.

Reading the book was a delightful experience. Che has a poetic way with words. He doesn't take himself too seriously, telling tales of purloined wine, of scamming for sustenance, of bravely shooting a "puma" in the dark of night. By daylight it turned out to have been a local rancher's dog. He tells of hiding with a shipment of melons, hoping to stow away on a boat, but getting busted when sailors noticed melon rinds floating by the dock. Ernesto & Alberto were indeed a couple of scallywags, but loveable, the kind you'd sit down with for a stein of beer or a cup of mate.

This book tells a human story, one that's unselfconscious enough to be truly enjoyable. Almost enough to make me want to sell the house, buy a motorcycle ...

I think the title of this book was a calculated effort to sell this book to people like me--people who care more about motorcycles than revolutionaries. If you pick it up determined to read about a guy who rode a motorcycle all over South America, you'll be disappointed. If you're seeking an adventure touring story, you won't be. I finished the book in a few hours and walked away glad I didn't give up when a youthful Che's motorcycle broke for good 30 pages into the book. The rest detail the travels of Che and a friend, total slackers posing as doctors and leprosy experts (which they were, in loose senses of the words), as they scam their way across the continent by hitching rides, sucking up to cops and brown-nosing anyone with food, booze and a warm place to sleep. The reader gets the feeling that this journey was perhaps the defining experience in Che's pre-revolutionary life, and that his worldview really came into focus based on the things--beauty, oppression, generosity, treachery--that he saw on his bohemian-style trip. This compelling read changed my impression of the man we call Che--much for the better.

If like me, you are one of those people who always wondered about the real thing behind a young man from Argentina who became such an influential character in the world and a major threat to global capitalism, I highly recommend reading this book. There is no mention of how Che Guevara became one of the top leaders in the Cuban revolution and a catalyst in many movements throughout the world, including Baader-Meinhof (Red Army Faction) in Germany, the Red Brigade in Italy as well as in many other countries in South America and Africa. This book, however, will share the experience of a passionate individual who was truly moved by the human suffering and was determined to do something about it. In short, it was not his strategies as much as his love and respect for all beings that made him the "Che" we know.

Not being a huge fan of Marxism (not practical), I truly believe that a Gandhian (non-violent) Che Guevara would turn the world into a substantially better place for all. But the good news is that there is a Che in every one of us. What we generally lack, however, is the courage and the conviction to set him free. So we resort to reading books about our favorite heroes, watching the society's problems on our big plasma screen HDTV and hoping that the next guy will do something about it.

I also highly recommend "The Motorcycle Diaries" movie.

Over time, Che Guevara has emerged as a larger than life figure. It's difficult not to spot someone wearing a Che t-shirt in downtown Lima or Mexico City. The film, "The Motorcycle Diaries," attempted to tap into the cult of Che Guevara, and also create a road movie in the tradition of such Hollywood films as "Easy Rider," "Thelma and Louise," and "Rain Man."

While I enjoyed the cinematic version of "Motorcycle Diaries," the book is even better because it's more honest. Reading Che's notes about his Latin American journey allows one to see first-hand how his revolutionary consciousness begins to develop over time from his chance encounters with numerous dispossessed peoples. I decided to read this book after a recent trip to Peru and was astounded by how accurate Guevara's observations are even today. The bourgeois still sip coffee in their gated communities in Lima while the poor suffer horribly in the countryside, either mining or trying the eek out a living from the harsh land.

This book, though, also contains the humor and adventure one would expect from a classic travelogue. That he and his companion had very little money on the trip and had to rely on their wits and the kindness of strangers to survive makes this book that much better. Unlike many modern travel writers, who stay in five star hotels, and write glowing descriptions of their surroundings for "Travel and Leisure," Che slept with pigs, traveled with cows, and suffered constantly from the elements and frequent asthma attacks. In short, there's often not much physical separation between him and the poor people he observes, and that makes for a better yarn. Regardless of what you think of Che and the revolution he ultimately helped to lead, this book should be read by anyone interested in traveling to South America.

although this book was edited by che some time after returning from south america, he acknowledges this at the beginning of the book by saying, "the person who wrote these notes died the day he stepped back on argentine soil. the person who is reorganizing and polishing them, me, is no longer me, at least i'm not the me i was." and in the next paragraph, commenting on how people might interpret his words he states, "i present a nocturnal picture, you have to take it or leave it, it's not important. unless you know the landscape my diary photographed you've no option but to accept my version." it doesn't get much more simple than that. take me or leave me, i don't care.

i read the pages of "the motorcyle diaries," and was completely blown away! i wanted to be right there on la poderosa with che and his amigo, alberto - drinking at all the dives; conversing with the people; playing soccer with whatever team, in whatever town/country they happened to be; scamming places to eat and sleep, and making their way across the continent on the back de la poderosa until, bless her little hot-rod heart, she literally came apart. then, it was hitching, stowing away on boats, and, finally, floating downriver atop a not-so-navigable homemade raft, the whole while surrounded by the mystery and beauty of wild and mountainous south america. it was an awesome adventure to share! che's writing style is so conversational, and his wit will run up on you like a hairpin turn. i laughed out loud so many times. might i suggest you get a map of south america before turning the cover of this fantastic, freaking adventure. believe me, you'll get so wrapped up in it that you'll want to pinpoint each madcap pitstop. en fin, this is a tale of a grand adventure, of determination, willpower, curiousity, and guts. a great first read of the che. he was a believer in the underdog. sin duda.

i really enjoyed the motorcycle diaries. when the movie was in theatres i decided to read the book first so that i could understand the film better, but i chose to read it in the original spanish version. it was thought provoking prose. i was impressed that such insight came from the child of a wealthy argentinean family. when i read the translation in english i was a little disappointed. i did think that it was very good, but a little bit of the nuance is lost. if at all possible i suggest that you read it in the original spanish text, it is a little bit more inspiring.

The text of the original motorcycle diaries gives a strong sense, much more than the movie, of the factors that influenced this artist/activist as young man. Idealistic, cheeky, sexually libidinous, political, strong minded. Che and his older companion set off on a wild journey across South America. The wretched poverty they witness across that continent - especially when he shares a blanket with a destitute beggar high up on the Andean Sierra - strikes home, as well as some of the aesthetic beauties of the wild and mystical land, such as the Inca ruins around Cuzco, Peru. Che's description of the stonework at the Sacsaywaman fortress rivals the greatest travel writings of Robert Byron, Bruce Chatwin or Patrick Leigh Fermor in its stylishness and accuracy of description.

In places the narrative drags though, obviously written at points of sheer exhaustion, or boredom, or lack of inspiration.

I was familiar with Che Guevara-the legend, the poster-before I read "The Motorcycle Diaries," but only vaguely. The book is a revelation. I would like to know more about its publishing history. Was it widely read? When was it first available in the United States (I almost said "America," but after reading Guevara's eloquent plea for a United Latin America, I won't make that mistake again)? This tale of two friends from a middle-class background-one a medical student, the other a biochemist-hitting the road on a beat-up motorcycle ("La Poderosa II-the Mighty One) is both archetypal and mythic. The discoveries they make are of a type that look forward to the men they will turn out to be. Guevara continued to travel the rest of his life, even after he had married and fathered two children. He died at a tragically young age, 39, in mysterious circumstances, and was buried in an unmarked grave in Bolivia. The book is often poorly edited (I found a number of typos), but the Ocean Press edition more than compensates by providing several helpful features, including a chronology of Guevara's life, an introductory essay by his daughter, and a speech to medical students (potential "revolutionaries") from 1960. Together, these features provide a much-needed context, especially for readers unfamiliar with Latin American history. But the charm of the book lies in its evocation of the youthful "Che," who is in so many ways a typical, as he puts it, "child" of his environment-the highly politicized Argentina of the Peron era. The epiphany he achieves on his physical journey through post-colonial Chile, Peru, Colombia, and Venezuela is both a spiritual and a prophetic one: "I now knew...I knew that when the great guiding spirit cleaves humanity into two antagonistic halves, I would be with the people." But don't be put off. Along the way, he and Alberto Granado have a raft of adventures, often side-splitting, and the editors have provided a couple of dozen photographs from the journey to keep you "in the picture." Above all, Guevara's personal charisma shines through the pages of this beautifully written book, which provides welcome insight into the heart and mind of a true revolutionary and man of the people.

In anticipation of the new film, the previews of which cast an intoxicating spell beyond its obvious travelogue aspects, I wanted to read the original source, Che Guevara's diary of the cross-continental journey he took with his best friend Alberto Granado. What I found is a book whose voice is purely that of a young man looking for his place in the world. There are many books of this ilk around, but obviously what makes this one resonate is Guevara's history after the end of this diary - doctor, Marxist revolutionary alongside the more politic Castro, Cuba's minister of industry, martyr for the Communist cause shot by a firing squad in Bolivia, photogenic icon emblazoned on T-shirts and college dorm posters.

It's a slim volume, mostly observational as would be reasonable to expect from a 24-year old. By no means is the book deeply introspective, as an older man would probably write in nostalgic hindsight. The young Che describes his and Granado's race around South America on a Norton motorbike, and true to someone whose world was ahead of him, he makes broad generalizations about everything he sees - the sight of a stag running as a symbol of the calm before the storm, the political unrest in Chile, the police state he felt Peru was becoming. As road trip stories go, this is decent if rather callow. But what saves the book from being purely youthful treacle is the increasingly darker tone the book takes foreshadowing his development into a revolutionary. Granted it ends far too short of his true achievements to be meaningful as biography, it helps to keep in mind where his life was about to lead. This new edition also has a nice expanded foreword by his daughter Aleida and lots of previously unpublished photos taken by Guevara and Granado on their journey. Definitely worth seeking out if you want to understand the beginning of Che's myth but not if you want political biography.