Customer Reviews

Zephyr: Tracking a Dream Across America

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

 

 

This book is a wonderful look into the travels of the people who ride Amtraks California Zephyr. This is a wonderful human intrest book that will facinate you wether you are a railroad fan or not. The stories of the peoples lives, and the reasons that brought them to the train, are facinating. It is a must have for anyone who has ever experienced, or wanted to experience the thrill of riding the rails!

I could imagine myself riding in the Zephyr as I read the book. Great vivid pictures that I could play out in my own mind. Only negative was that he and another passenger spoke about some mystery novel for a chapter. Other than that, I would suggest this book to any railfan.

Kisor clearly enjoys train travel, and while he loves trains he wisely refrains from burying the reader in the sort of minutia that rail buffs feed on. Seldom does the story drag.

The style is open and friendly, and it's clear that Kisor has respect and affection for the staff and passangers he meets on the train.

The narrative style reminds me a little of John McPhee; Kisor has the same talent for fading into the background and letting the story tell itself.

Started reading this book on my first USA train ride in 25 years, the Zephyr heading to Chicago. With the exception of him expounding on a mystery story he and another passenger tried to concoct the book kept my attention. Essentially it is a story of taking the Chicago to San Francisco train and events on that trip, histories of points along the route, and rail anecdotes of all sorts woven into the train trip. The book also offered useful insights in my trip such as the fact that sleeper compartment passengers had a special lounge they could adjourn to in Chicago. It all makes me want to hop aboard again.

I wanted to use this book as a guide for planning my own cross-country trip on the Zephyr. It's a wonderful book if you want to know the history of railroad depots and the ups-and-downs of passenger train history.

But if waiting to see what's outside the the train windows, the book is a big disappointment. 150 pages into the book, Mr. Kisor has barely looked out the window. His book is a catalogue of all the minutia that occurs during his trip, from his first conversations with the chef and the steward all the way to the ramblings of drunken passengers. Mr. Kisor seems extremely people-oriented, which I am not criticising; I just would have liked more descriptions of the passing countryside to get a sense of Americana seen from passenger trains.

Kisor also seems to focus too much on unpleasant, uncelebrated side of train travel. "The second coach stank of stale farts, bodily crevices and morning breath..." His reporter's sense of detail is sometimes too keen; he reports on everything around him with impeccable accuracy, whether pleasant or unpleasant. While everyone has experienced cantankerous passengers and garrulous bores, we don't really want them jumping from the pages of a book to spoil our ride. There were sections of this book that made me think twice about scheduling a cross-country trip. If Kisor's purpose was to celebrate the passenger railroads and encourage people to ride them, he might consider trading more uplifting paragraphs for these truthful, but depressing, episodes.

All in all, it is still a good read if you want well researched train history mingled with a hefty set of personal anecdotes. But please, Mr. Kisor, the next time you ride the Zephyr, look out the window!

I read this to obtain background information before taking a trip on the California Zephyr. Thank goodness the real thing is better than this book. The book is fairly boring with too much "nuts and bolts" detail. I wanted to know about the Zephyr but not down to baking potatoes and obtaining missing silverware from another nearby train. This did accomplish my goal of getting some background info but there was too much disconnected stuff to have to slog through.