Customer Reviews

Wild East: Travels in the New Mongolia

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Jill Lawless's new book about her two years in Mongolia is first of all, a terrific read. I devoured it in one gulp because I couldn't put it down. It will now reside on my bedside table where I can dip into it whenever I want a treat.

This book delivers an amazing amount of information, about Mongolia's grand history, its present day chaotic political situation as well as descriptions of everyday life in the cities and on the steppe, all told in an easy and charming style. It is never text-bookish. In fact, there are so many quirky tales of Mongolian life, told with so much humour, that I spent half my reading time laughing. Jill Lawless's sense of humour is sharp and wry. My personal favourite story is the one about the marmot roast - and I thought Julia Child was creative with a blow torch! The book includes several movie references that I quite enjoyed and it is a good source of trivia. Do you know what a Mongolian Zamboni is?

Anyone who is interested in exotic places, history, politics or just wants a funny, off-beat book to curl up with will love this one. I hope Jill Lawless writes many more - and soon!

In all fairness, there are parts of this book where the author recounts her experiences traveling outside of Ulan Bataar, where she lived for two years. However, I found the majority of the book to consist of anecdotes about life in Ulan Bataar and the current state of Mongolian politics and history. If that is what you want, then I would recommend this book. It is written in an engaging style and very readable. However, I was looking for more of the "travels" promised in the title and came up short. I haven't found the perfect Mongolia travel narrative yet, but I can recommend as an alternate (or additional read), the book entitled "Hold the Dog: 16 Days in Mongolia"Hold the Dog!: 16 Days in Mongolia

I found Wild East to be an eye-opener. I had a naive impression that everyone in Mongolia lived in tents on the steppe. I was surprised to find out that it is a country with a vibrant city life. I also didn't realise there is a lively free press, pop bands, and even night clubs. I get the sense that many westerners view a place like Mongolia through rose coloured glasses (the noble herdsman under the blue sky). That life seems very hard and it is no surprise that many people aspire to move to the city and get their hands on modern consumer goods.

I really enjoyed this book and it has given me the desire to go visit Mongolia and see for myself this fascinating country. I highly recommend Wild East.

I found Jill Lawless' Wild East to be an unusual work of travel writing. She did not just make a pit stop in Mongolia, but lived there for two years as editor of the UB Post newspaper -- a feisty English language newspaper. This is a work in the tradition of the great engaged journalists, a ballsy (without the balls) Hemmingway for the 21st century. Her writing is wise, minus the naive first impressions of many travellers -- it is Mongolia from the inside. Wild East is a reality check on current debates over globalization. Mongolia is a country where even McDonalds dares to not go. Lawless digs deep into the country's own version of the 60s, as Mongolian's lustily embraced there new-found freedoms in the 90s. She takes us across the country, from the remote Gobi desert, to border clashes with Russian Tuva. She is especially good at covering the dynamic and chaotic world of Mongolian tabloid newspapers, including the rise and fall of "Hot Blanket" magazine.

What makes this book so interesting is that it doesn't fall into the cliched sterotypes of Mongolia most loved by foreignors. Mongolia in the 1990s underwent dramatic and painful social, political and economic changes. Those changes have ebbed from the collapse of the country's economy in the early 1990s (and the initial abandonment of the cities for the nomadic way of life), to the later collapse of the rural economy and the drift back towards the capital city, Ulaanbaatar. To make the claim that the capital doesn't reflect the 'real Mongolia' is not only arrogant, it is wrong. It is like saying Beijing doesn't relfect the 'real China'.

The fact remains that the majority of the country's population lives in the capital. People have moved to the capital for the same reasons people gravitate to cities around the world: they seek opportunity and a chance to improve their lives. Wildeast engages with the ups and downs of this world; the shattered dreams and the wild fantasies: and it does use humour to do this. The country sits at the centre of the debates around globalisation and modernisation. It asks us to question what is development and who does it benefit.

Its author edited the country's only independent English language newspaper - a newspaper whose majority staff are Mongolian. Few foreignors have seen Mongolia up close like this, or shared the confidences of its people.

Ulaanbaatar has much to offer the visitor who opens their eyes. They will see a vibrant democratic political scene, nightlife teeming with young people and pop bands, an expanding restaurant scene, and a burgeoning business community. It is also a capital with shocking poverty surrounded by slums, and a nomadic way of life in crisis.

It is the work of a journalist, but it is also the work of a writer who as a result of her role as a journalist, had unusual access to all aspects of Mongolian society, not just hanging out with herders on the steppe.

I found the book to be a great read and it stands out in the crowded world of travel writing. It does not purport to be a guidebook (for that I would recommend Lonely Planet), but it does shine a light on all the facets of Mongolian life that most visitors to the country would otherwise find hard to penetrate in their short visit.

I found Jill Lawless' Wild East to be an unusual work of travel writing. She did not just make a pit stop in Mongolia, but lived there for two years as editor of the UB Post newspaper -- a feisty English language newspaper. This is a work in the tradition of the great engaged journalists, a ballsy (without the balls) Hemmingway for the 21st century. Her writing is wise, minus the naive first impressions of many travellers -- it is Mongolia from the inside. Wild East is a reality check on current debates over globalization. Mongolia is a country where even McDonalds dares to not go. Lawless digs deep into the country's own version of the 60s, as Mongolian's lustily embraced there new-found freedoms in the 90s. She takes us across the country, from the remote Gobi desert, to border clashes with Russian Tuva. She is especially good at covering the dynamic and chaotic world of Mongolian tabloid newspapers, including the rise and fall of "Hot Blanket" magazine.

I started reading WILD EAST out of curiosity for a place I knew nothing about, intending to skip over the "dry" parts. I didn't skip a word. Even the history and politics moved at a rapid pace and kept me enthralled.

While engrossed in this book I remembered a similar feeling from long ago while reading the sci-fi novel DUNE. A dry desert world creates a totally alien landscape with politics shaped by the geography. Only this book is here, now and real.

I would like to read it again, but I can't get it back from my friends. Definitely a good read.

I found Lawless's book of Mongolia both funny and insightful. It makes you want to travel and experience life and it definitely makes you remember to stop and smell the `roses'.

Not normally a reader of travel books, this one was a gift from a very dear friend. Now this is one of my favorite gifts for giving.

I hope she writes more, I thouroughly enjoy her wit and style.

I concur with the other reviewers. This is a well written and humorous book about life in Mongolia after the Soviets left. Oddly enough Mongolians have reversed the urban trend and have moved back to the countryside and their nomadic way of life to survive.

I prefer to read a travel book that provides helpful information on destinations without too much personal bias. To my disappointment, I find plenty in this book that shows the author's close-mindedness and the lack of respect for local hospitality and culture. One example, when the author describes the Mongolian hospitality and the cheese that they offered him, his comments in the book were "...Who first discovered that you could make from milk a dried curd with the consistency of rock and the smell of vomit - and then eat it?". I wouldn't mind realistic descriptions of the places and things, but I find the author's attitude less appealing.