Customer Reviews

No Touch Monkey!: And Other Travel Lessons Learned Too Late (Adventura Books Series)

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

I've read many, many books of travel essays-- and am always a fan of humorous ones-- but Ayun Halliday's book is my favorite, by far. "No Touch Monkey" is a riot from page one, and I had such a hard time putting it down that-- I swear this is true-- I kept reading it while I was in labor with my fourth child. (Yes, an epidural helped with that). She is so funny and at the same time so vulnerable-- never afraid to delve into her own bad hygiene, grievous errors in judgment, or embarrassing situations if it's likely to give the reader a good belly laugh. It takes courage to write that way. There is an innocence and sense of adventure to her viewpoint that makes her writing original and a pleasure to read. I look forward to much more from her-- traveling with her children, perhaps? Uh-oh!

I bought No Touch Monkey based on title alone. So funny, it perfectly describes situations I've seen while traveling. That said, I found the writing to be less funny than the title. Not bad by any means, just not gut-splitting or snicker inducing. I had the same response from two of my traveling friends who'd read it. They smiled, but no laughs.

Ayun Halliday's self-deprecating and sarcastic writing is likeable. But the pattern in each chapter quickly becomes apparent: she and her companions make incredibly naive and/or dangerous choices in oddball foreign places and bumble through the results. Halliday's younger self is often whiny or dislikeable, which is to the author's credit and done in a self-mocking manner, but even this becomes tiring when combined with the predictability of the essays. Sadly, the "No Touch Monkey" chapter that I'd been anticipating was a bit of a let-down. Maybe the brilliant title dooms the book. Compared, the writing lags. Which is a dead shame, because Halliday is a genuinely funny lady. Her column in Bust magazine is a spirited and slightly twisted take on motherhood and she also maintains an excellently quirky website.

While I love to travel and enjoy getting away from the usual tourist spots to experience something more authentic about the places I visit, I must confess that I enjoy my creature comforts far too much to have any desire to experience the type of travel described in this book. The stories here are about traveling on a truly low budget, in ways that the vast majority of travellers would probably find objectionable for any number of levels. Yet the author clearly revels in her experiences, finding excitement and happiness in the adventure that almost inherently follows from the nature of her travel style.

The low budget nature of Ms. Halliday's travels also means that she visits many place that I would probably never consider visiting, because of concerns about safety, or the sheer lack of modern facilities that I simply would find unacceptable. All of which means that this book has a value, in that it provides me a glimpse into these places, a chance to vicariously visit places that I probably will never see in person. So, while I may not embrace her style of travel, I'm glad that she both enjoys it and writes about her experiences.

Ms. Halliday has a gift for finding the humor in the lowest of situations - being robbed in Asia, having disgusting mishaps in foreign bathrooms, buying cigarettes from an 8-year-old Vietnamese kid. The book is not a travel guide so much as a funny account of what happens when you're traveling on a budget. Halliday spends a fair amount of time on herself and her thoughts, but then, that's the book's going for. Overall, a pretty funny misadventure guide.

It has such a cute cover, but as they say, "Don't judge the book by the cover." This book is about a young woman and her misadventures, not only traveling, but in dating.

I really didn't want to read chapter after chapter of her describing her bad gas, or the farting of her roommates, or how filthy her clothes or body were. I didn't need to hear that she was releasing fluid from all of her orifaces, including her eye balls. Nor did I need to hear how she got drunk or stoned yet again.

I put the book down about 2/3 of the way through, and am literally debating throwing it away rather than resell it. It's that bad, I don't want to subject some poor soul to this mediocre writer who sounds like an absolute idiot to have as a travel companion. She makes good, decent backpackers sound like scumbags who mooch, steal and have no idea what proper hygiene consists of.

She's not a "hippie" as she keeps calling herself, she's an unwashed pig who doesn't have the human decency enjoys living like a homeless person as she "travels". She's a transient, not a traveler. There is a big difference. I wonder what fratboy editor agreed to publish this poor excuse for a novel.

There are very few books that I am unable to find any redeeming value in, but this is one of those books.

After getting a recommendation for this book from my friend, and reading Stephen Colbert's plug on the front cover, I was expecting a lot of laughs and entertainment from "No Touch Monkey." Well, as I read through it, I kept waiting for the laughs to come, but it didn't happen. I made sure to read the whole book, expecting it to get better as I went along, but ended up being disappointed.

I admired the writer's sense of adventure and willingness to try new things as she went from country to country on a shoestring budget, but her methods of describing her trips didn't really catch my attention. She focuses mainly on herself, and how miserable the situations make her feel, instead of describing the events of the trips. That just didn't interest me. I suspect that she might have been having trouble remembering the details of what happened during her travels, and therefore couldn't really include them in her writing. Also, I found her selfishness to be a huge turn-off. She only seems to care about her own wishes, and what SHE wants to experience on vacation. If her boyfriend/traveling companion's wishes don't match hers, then she puts up a huge fuss. For instance, on most of the trips that she took with Greg, they mostly did what she wanted to do, and he went along with it. The one time they partake in an activity of Greg's choosing (riding camels across the desert), Halliday is determined to make the worst of it.

When she talks about losing her freedom due to being a mother in the last chapter, I felt sorry for her child, Inky. All Halliday talks about is what a burden Inky is to her carefree lifestyle. Yes, children cause parents to do less of what they'd like to do, but I would hate to grow up being constantly reminded of what a burden I am to my mother. If Halliday didn't want to limit her lifestyle, she shouldn't have had a child. I just hope that Halliday hasn't been taking her resentment out on Inky over the years.

This book had me laughing out loud on the plane - more than once! I couldn't read it fast enough and was so sad when it was over! Granted, I'm glad I got to read it and not experience some of these events with her! She can be coarse and she can be wild but Ayun is definitely entertaining. Her humor and openness show how traveling with great expectations or 'written in stone' itineraries is the best way to miss the experience you were looking for. I'm just glad I'm not her mother!!!

I laughed out loud as I read this cautionary tale of world travel and could not put it down. The incidents with the monkeys and her description of a painful camel ride were among my favorites.....a very humorous read.

Most of the negative reviews focus on the author's silly, naive, self-centered misadventures. But I seriously think this is the stated theme of the book. Maybe she doesn't come out and call herself "self-centered," but I get the feeling she is aware of foolish missed opportunities here and there. She is certainly aware of mistakes born out of ignorance on her part.

There are drug references, too, but not tons of them (don't go NEAR "Do Travel Writers Go to Hell" if drug stories bother you), and in almost every case she expresses some sort of regret over the experience--not guilty "drugs are evil" feelings, just the sense that she was an idiot.

I read the book in two days, sitting in front of an electric fan during a heat wave. And I had a good time.

It's a silly, frivolous bunch of stories, written in lightweight form. Take it or leave it.

funny as heck book. I am not sure that I like the writer much. I almost cannot wait till the next disaster happens on her trip. She is such a great story teller.