|
Travels in a Thin Country: A Journey Through Chile (Modern Library) |  | Author: Sara Wheeler
Publisher: Modern Library
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
Buy Used: $2.21
as of 7/29/2010 09:17 CDT details
You Save: $12.79 (85%)
New (27) Used (39) from $2.21
Seller: thrift_books
Rating:  9 reviews
Media: Paperback
Edition: Modern Library paperback ed
Pages: 336
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.1 x 0.7
ISBN: 0375753656
Dewey Decimal Number: 918.30466
EAN: 9780375753657
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
| |
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Squeezed between a vast ocean and the longest mountain range on earth, Chile is 2,600 miles long and never more than 110 miles wide--not a country that lends itself to maps, as Sara Wheeler discovered when she traveled alone from the top to the bottom, from the driest desert in the world to the sepulchral wastes of Antarctica. Eloquent, astute, nimble with history and deftly amusing, Travels in a Thin Country established Sara Wheeler as one of the very best travel writers in the world.
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 9
 lover of travel lit November 9, 2009
Julianne Clark
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This was one of the most delightful travel books ever! Not only do you get a glimpse of the entire country, from north to south, but you get a real social feel for class differences between the oligarchy and the poor. The author has a great sense of humor, which is always a plus.
Journry through Chile July 26, 2008
John N. Lee (La Canada CA USA)
0 out of 5 found this review helpful
Travels in a Thin Country: A Journey Through Chile (Modern Library)A very intertaining journal of travels through Chile.
 kept the magic of Chile alive... March 15, 2006
L. Fafard (San Francisco, CA USA)
13 out of 15 found this review helpful
I disagree with the other reviewer's comments who felt he had to slog through the book waiting for it to payoff. I thoroughly enjoyed Sara Wheeler's writing on Chile and reccomend this book to anyone who has traveled to Chile or is contemplating a trip.
I started reading her book at the end of a 2-week adventure in Chile and many of her comments and thoughts resonated with my own experiences in Chile. I hated to leave the country and its beauty behind, but her book allowed me to retain and relive the magic of my own trip for another week+ as I savored her writing.
 Walking on a thin line August 26, 2007
Bjørn Chr Tørrissen (Oslo, Norway)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
Since I did a similar trip to the one in this book a few years ago, I was curious to see whether Sara and I also had the same experience. We didn't.
Whereas I just left home, Sara apparently first spent much time learning Spanish and gathering a network of contacts in Chile, including a number of official tourist offices that gave her free or cheap accommodation and transportation, very briefly mentioned here and there. Her contacts in Santiago, some at the British Embassy and some filthy rich families, Chile's de facto aristocracy, gives her access to interesting people and a level of luxury that "normal" travellers seldom encounter.
So reading the book is not the best way to figure out what you can expect to see and do on your own trip through Chile. Nevertheless there's a lot of background information about the country which may be useful to you. Also because she did her trip in the early 1990s, so a LOT has changed since then. All the destinations she mentions are still very much open to tourism, and you get a general idea of what they are like. I was disappointed that she only spent half a day in Torres del Paine, which to me was the most beautiful spot in the country. Also, she goes to "Chilean Antarctica", but there's not much of value to be gathered from reading her account of it. She only spent one day there, being guided by Chilean officials in and around a tiny settlement.
Sometimes she's funny in a very British manner, but it rarely lasts more than one sentence at a time. One of the other reviewers appears to find Sara rather promiscuous, going off with one man after the other on, well, overnight adventures to remote places. I often travel like that, and although it may seem like a stupid/crazy thing to do to some people, travelling in certain regions often means suddenly sharing a car/tent/meal with people you just met the day before. Although I'm sure there must have been short-term romance in the air at times, I certainly don't think less of Sara for not "admitting" it in her book. It just wouldn't add any value to the tale.
 Disappointing July 19, 2009
L. Brown (Nashville, Tennessee)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I eagerly snatched up this book, as there aren't that many armchair travel books about Chile. Unfortunately I just got bogged down with this one (twice!) and couldn't finish it, and I'm an avid reader who can slog through most any book. Though I wasn't expecting or even hoping for the liveliest of writing, I found it dull in both presentation and choice of material. Too bad. Two stars for choosing an interesting, beautiful country to write about.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 9
|
|
|
|
| |
