Customer Reviews

One Foot in Laos

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Murphy presents a candid portrait of Laos as it is today. Contrary to what the other reviewers have to say, she is a good observer and writes accurately. As a Lao, I can say that is true. The book is enjoyable.

The only problem with Murphy's writing is her quaint outlook that bemoans even benign development. It seems she'd be happiest in a world without cars, television or money. Unfortunately she will not find that in Laos or anywhere else, though she may keep travelling and keep trying.

Dervla Murphy, a dauntless sixtysomething woman from Ireland, decides to explore Laos on foot. Although she begins in Vientiane, Murphy quickly gets off the beaten path and visits areas inaccessible by road. At one point, she injures her foot (hence the book's name) and resorts to a bicycle, while at other times she uses bus, boat, and an airplane. I found this to be the most disappointing of Murphy's books. Normally, what brings travel narratives to life is the conversation between the traveller and the locals. But there's relatively little of that here, since Murphy doesn't have a common language with these people. The author instead fills innumerable pages with her political musings. She hates Americans, who she describes as 'consistently evil,' and reminds the reader of this every few pages. Americans are hardly heros in the history of Laos, but 'beating a dead horse' is the apt idiom here. She sees the Pathet Lao, in contrast, as the angels of Laotian history, and their abuses of human rights are excused or glossed over. She explains how low-level government employees were incarcerated in 're-education camps' for years, but does intellectual somersaults to explain it away as resembling a summer camp. Murphy also falls into the trap of idealizing third-world poverty. She sees such things as electricity and paved roads as a cancer upon society, and sings the praises of subsistence agriculture. This is ironic considering that Murphy's homeland, Ireland, wasn't exactly a utopia in its subsistence-agriculture era, yet she would gleefully freeze the Laotians in that stage of development if she could. All in all, this book is a sad let-down from a writer whose earlier work comprises so many memorable travel narratives.

Once I was able to get beyond Dervla Murphy's annoying bashing of the United States and the capitalist system, and her romanticizing of the noble savage, her travelogue provided, in the least, a good bench-mark of how rapidly Laos is changing. At best, her book was thought-provoking in that it made me question the benefits of development, and made me appreciate the resiliance of a nation that not too long ago was ravaged by war and continues to suffer from its effects. In addition, the book had rare moments of insite that conveyed the unique Laotian culture.

Her anti-US sentiments were so ridiculous and pervasive that I had to attribute them to the rantings of a curmudgeony, old lady who had drunk one too many BeerLao.

Having recently travelled through northern Laos, you could sense the change and growth brought on by tourism. The changes appear to be primarily physical. In contrast to the book the towns may look different, and have more restaurants, accomadations, and internet cafes, but the culture described by Dervla still appears to be in tact. I can not put in words, but I noticed and felt distinct, yet subtle differences between Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. At times, when she was not ranting about US imperialism and the negative effects of development, Dervla was able to convey this uniqueness.

The author has a keen eye, is curious and knows how to share her emotions through her words. Her travelogues are always informative, and this is no exception. I have read it after my own trip to Laos and enjoyed it because she helped me see things, even retrospectively, that I had not seen, and also provided confirmation for what I did see and notice. She goes out of her way to find how people live, to get off the beaten track, to meet those whom tourists avoid and spares no effort to do so, giving up every comfort and even safety. I have done a little of what she has done, so I can admire the effort.

I do find she is too uncritical of the regime and her openly declared far left ideological bias is evident in every paragraph. I don't share it, but that does not bother me. We all have our prejudices and she has hers. I still think the travelogue part of the book is highly valuable, even unique. As for political and economic issues there are many other sources one can find and draw one's own conclusions.

She also makes frequent references to a few academic studies of Laos, but neglects many others. Perhaps she chose those that fit her theories best. In any case, again, she is free to choose her sources, and this is not an academic book, so her selectivity did not bother me. I have of course read other books on Laos to enrich my own opinions.

read this book and immediately wrote the publisher as to how poor written it was. i have lived in laos and my wife is lao and we could write a book on what is wrong with this book.comments on history wrong , lao word usage wrong, saw things in one day we have never seen, wondeed if same country, laced with her political ideas of war between us and vietnam, very pro communist in all things throught book...that part would be ok if but she givesw the impression that hte people of laos are pro communist and like their government, nothing could be further from the truth...all everyone does is complain about corruption in government...as i say we could write on book on this...i have read every book i can find on lao and own many..this is the only one that isn't worth reading..thank you..

As someone who has spent a lot of time in Laos since 1993 and who knows most of the areas visited by the author, all I can say is that I'm not sure she was in Laos.

Her opinionated style probably reflects how she related to people (locals and expats) in Laos, and it's no wonder she has such a biased view of the place. People were probably not levelling with her - or she wasn't listening.

The Laos that I know, and particularly the expats whom she criticises, are not at all the way that I know them. The book isn't worth the trouble of opening the cover if you want to know about Laos. But if you want your prejudices reinforced then this is the book for you.

I just returned from a three week trip in Laos. Before I left I was given her book as something to read while gone.

I felt disgusted and angry after reading her narrative of a country I grew to love over three weeks. As other reviewers have stated, her book was so full of unsubstantiated political rantings I had a hard time giving her any credibility as a source. It was almost impossible to enjoy her few cultural encounters and descriptions of the country because of the uneccessary commentary which accompanied it.

Having been in Laos, I also noticed that many of the 'brave' and 'independent' things that she did were just plain stupid. Furthermore, although she constantly referred to her own cultural sensitivity and bemoaned the horrendous behavior of other travelers, I have to say that a good number of the things she did were in fact wrong and insensitive to Lao cultural norms.

The idea that this woman has somehow 'discovered' Laos in 1997 - some 22 years after its fall, is simply ludicrous. By the way, Laos has been open to those who care to enter it with an open heart and mind for some time.

I wonder if she actually went to the places she talks about? What the US did there was horrible and some Yankees need to wake up to this. But her hatred is pervasive, you can feel it. I couldn't imagine going through life with such a cluster of inbuilt fear and loathing.

Still, Laos is a great place to visit. Go the country and not the book.