The Saddest Pleasure: A Journey on Two Rivers (Graywolf Memoir) [Paperback]

Moritz Thomsen (Author), Paul Theroux (Introduction)

Book Description

Series: Graywolf Memoir | Publication Date: February 1, 1990

The Saddest Pleasure

The Saddest Pleasure is a deeply personal look at the people, poverty, beauty, art, music, literature, and passion of South America by an American who has spent most of his life there.

Moritz Thomsen was one of the early Peace Corps volunteers. Through his skill as a writer he vividly brings to life the people and landscapes he loves. The Saddest Pleasure tells the story of Thomsen's desperate departure from Ecuador at the age of sixty-three and his soul-searching journey through Brazil and the Amazon River. Along the way the author reflects on the meaning of his own life and the world around him, his friendships, and on the distances between people and cultures.

Thomsen's spirited observations are tinged with irascibility, as he moves from city to feudal countryside, from primitive conditions to the startlingly contemporary details of a culture in transition.

Paul Theroux's introduction to this book is a testament to Mr. Thomsen's remarkable life.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

All travel narratives are self-revealing to some extent, but few go as far as this one. The author was a 1960s Peace Corp Volunteer in Ecuador who stayed on in an attempt to farm. (His account of his farming experience appeared in The Farm on the River of Emeralds, LJ 7/78). When that eventually fell through, Thomsen took a trip to Rio and up the Amazon River, which is the backdrop for this book. The author is an introspective, tormented, and bitter man, and he tells us much more about his failures and his struggles to face old age (he was 63 at the time of writing this) and death than many readers will want to know. Nonetheless, he is a brilliant writer, and in the process he gives us a view of South America that balances the more conventional travel writing and political commentary generally available.
- Harold M. Otness, Southern Oregon State Coll. Lib., Ashland
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Back Cover

The Saddest Pleasure

The Saddest Pleasure is a deeply personal look at the people, poverty, beauty, art, music, literature, and passion of South America by an American who has spent most of his life there.

Moritz Thomsen was one of the early Peace Corps volunteers. Through his skill as a writer he vividly brings to life the people and landscapes he loves. The Saddest Pleasure tells the story of Thomsen's desperate departure from Ecuador at the age of sixty-three and his soul-searching journey through Brazil and the Amazon River. Along the way the author reflects on the meaning of his own life and the world around him, his friendships, and on the distances between people and cultures.

Thomsen's spirited observations are tinged with irascibility, as he moves from city to feudal countryside, from primitive conditions to the startlingly contemporary details of a culture in transition.

Paul Theroux's introduction to this book is a testament to Mr. Thomsen's remarkable life.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 284 pages
• Publisher: Graywolf Press (February 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555971245
• ISBN-13: 978-1555971243
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #327,470 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a beautifully sensitive author discovered., September 18, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Columbia, MO, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Saddest Pleasure: A Journey on Two Rivers (Graywolf Memoir) (Paperback)

Thomsen writes of traveling through Brazil and on the Amazon while remembering his unrecon-ciled struggle with his father and his hard ten years living poor on a farm in Ecuador. This is one of the very best books I have read, and I am 78! That Paul Theroux is his friend and wrote the Inro is one more recommendation.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A writer faces down both his own past and unavoidable death., February 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Saddest Pleasure: A Journey on Two Rivers (Graywolf Memoir) (Paperback)

Having read Living Poor, Farm on the River of Emeralds and Journey of Two Rivers, I savored every line, every word of Thomsen's last work. What beautiful insight, honesty, and soul. My favorite narrative, perhaps ever.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Startling epiphanies, August 1, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Saddest Pleasure: A Journey on Two Rivers (Graywolf Memoir) (Paperback)

This is the kind of book one is reluctant to continue reading, because each session brings one closer to the end, and thus closer to the end of its startling epiphanies and immeasurable riches. A sad pleasure indeed