Molvania: A Land Untouched By Modern Dentistry (Jetlag Travel Guide) (Paperback)

by Santo Cilauro (Author), Tom Gleisner (Author), Rob Sitch (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From The New Yorker
The Republic of Molvanîa, known as the birthplace of whooping cough and the Molvanîan Sneezing Hound, has been largely ignored by the backpacking set in its sweep through post-Communist Europe. This may have something to do with the country's miserable landscape, miserable weather, miserable food, and miserable, surly populace; on the other hand, it may have something to do with the fact that Molvanîa doesn't exist. In format and page layout, this inspired send-up of a travel guide looks exactly like the real thing, and it displays an acute feel for all the clichés of the genre, including testimonials that instruct how to have an uncomfortable "authentic" experience, rather than a "bland, westernized" one. The nation's new national anthem is set to the tune of "What a Feeling," from the movie "Flashdance" useful phrases include the Molvanîan for "Please," "Thank you," "May God send you a sturdy donkey," and "What is that smell?"
Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker

Product Description
The funniest book about travel you will ever read: atravel guide to the fictional European republic Molvania, birthplace of the polka and whooping cough. Australian authors. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: The Overlook Press (September 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585676195
• ISBN-13: 978-1585676194
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #253,069 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Molvania: Love It or Leave It...If You Dare, October 3, 2004

By	Ed Uyeshima (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I would have never thought those comprehensive Lonely Planet guides would be ripe for parody. However, this book is hilarious, an observant mock-guidebook to a fictitious Eastern European country named Molvania, which sounds like a cross between the Marx Brothers' Freedonia from "Duck Soup" and the duchy of Grand Fenwick from "The Mouse That Roared". So backward is this new backpacker destination that "visitors can share a glass of locally brewed zeerstum (garlic brandy) while watching a traditionally dressed peasant labourer beat his mule". Sadly the country suffers from "bleak post-war cities and deforested hills", but at least the adventurous traveler can revel in the capital city of Lutenblag, where one can enjoy a traditional Molvanian puppet show or use the particularly unique female urinals installed all around town. Surely any book that provides the complete list of asbestos-free restaurants has to be considered essential preparation reading.

What I enjoy most about this book isn't so much the imaginative and rather sadly destitute world the co-authors created, but the way they capture the condescending tone that mimics accurately the smugly conveyed expertise of the writers behind the Lonely Planet and Rough Guide books. For example, in explaining the complexity of the Molvanian language, the co-authors state in pseudo-helpful prose: "There are four genders: male, female, neutral, and the collective noun for cheeses, which occupies a nominative sub-section of its very own. The language also contains numerous irregular verbs, archaic phrases, words of multiple meaning and several phonetic sounds linguists suspect could represent either a rare dialect or merely peasants clearing their throat." Priceless stuff here. The aptly named Jetlag Travel editors apparently have an entire library of upcoming titles, which sound equally amusing. I can't wait. So pack your toilet paper and bring those water filter tablets, as the good, dentally challenged people of Molvania will welcome you with a hearty "Zlkavszka!". Just make sure you read the instructions on how to leave before you get there. Bon voyage!

33 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Kyunkasko Sbazko Byusba?, July 21, 2005

By	Robert I. Hedges - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

"Kyunkasko sbazko byusba?" tops the list of useful phrases in this well-conceived parody of overly stuffy travel guides (like Fodor's), and, of course, translates into "Where is the toilet paper?" The book is essentially a realistic looking satire of real-world travel guides and carries the joke to the extremes of realism including fake maps, photographs (real, yet surreal), phrases, lists of eateries and hotels, etc.

The guide details such attractions as the "Museum of Medieval Dentistry" (Muszm Dentjk Medjvl), which features a 150 minute presentation on Inflammatory Gum Disease. Details like that and the fact that the Molvanian diet is largely based on parsnips and pickled herring contribute to the faux-authenticity of this book, which is further aided by the realistic "Jetlag Travel Guide" binding.

At least one reviewer took offense that this book mocked Eastern Europe, but I don't agree: the book specifically invented a fictional country to avoid ridiculing a real nation. There is certainly no mistake that Eastern Europe is economically behind the west, but given that this book was clearly written as satire, I think in general that a reader would have to be unusually sensitive to be truly offended by this work; I agree with noted travel author Bill Bryson: "this book is brilliantly original and very, very funny." The book is a bit redundant and lengthy, which are the main detractors, in my view. It is a "one joke" book, but it is a good joke, and a very well executed one at that.

37 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a one joke book, but a funny one joke, November 9, 2004

By	Mike Garrison (Covington, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Yes, this is a one-joke parody. It's not so much what they say but how they say it. It is a brilliant parody of travel guides. However, just like a real travel guide, it quickly becomes boring to linearly read through. The best way to read it is just pick it up and open it to a random page. Read a few pages and then set it aside while you are still chuckling.