Customer Reviews

Transit of Venus

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I cannot speak highly enough about the writing style of this author. From the very first page he had captured my interest and held it raptly throughout. I picked up the Pantheon Books hardcover edition of this book just before I left for SE Asia, because it had been withdrawn from the Worcester (Mass.) Public Library. A criminal shame because this author deserves much better, but a spectacular find for me! This book is a thoroughly unromantic review of the state of the South Pacific islands he wandered through, written with "passion, biting wit, and lyrical sadness" to quote from the review on the dust jacket. Because it was first published in 1992, I will keep a sharp eye out for an update, revision or subsequent books by the same author. Here is but one example of the excellence of his prose in his confession on page 23 for why he undertook this journey:

"The consolation of travel is the control it offers to cowards: you get up and leave; you abandon people; there are fresh winds and fresh places for faulty egos to dilate in; there is a sort of enjoyment to the fear."

So true!