Book Review: Border Run
For the past two years Lauren has been running a small book club in Beijing called Book Smugglers. From time to time publishers send books for review. Border Run, by Simon Lewis, was one such book. Below is a review composed by Sam Johnson.
“Looking for a new experience? Try murder.” This intriguing book by Simon Lewis picks you up, takes you running, and doesn’t stop till the end. Full of action and moral choices, you won’t want to pass this up.
Two friends backpacking in south-east China are given an opportunity to go off the beaten path or “mango-smoothie trail” when a friendly guide offers them a free ride to a distant waterfall. The promises of beauty and sex lead to an eruption of violence and a clashing of wills that keep you on the edge of your seat. Friendships are tested and morality is brought in to question in this Burmese jungle far from home. Will, the protagonist, is shocked when a series of events launches him into a deadly situation shared by his friend Jake and their guide. Can they keep this secret? Will’s actions and thoughts sometimes tend towards the implausible, but what would you do in his shoes? Will’s friend Jake at times seems to be his polar opposite morally; it is his decent into darkness that reveals Will’s character more fully. Can he be saved? And finally, what can be made of the chameleon guide. He is their friend one minute and a deadly enemy the next.
As the characters develop you may side with one, then the other in this deadly game of life and death on what was at first a simple Border Run.
Border Run from Simon Lewis, published by Sort of. 2012. 226 pages and available paperback for £7.99 and in the U.S. from $8.00 to $17.00. Amazon details here.
, by Tim Cahill. It is a rare thing that I read a book in one sitting, but that is exactly what happened once I started reading Road Fever. Cahill and long-distance driver Garry Sowerby race to set a new world record from the furthest southern point in South America, Tierra del Fuego, to the furthest northern point of Prudhoe Bay Alaska. They did this amazing feat in 32 1/2 days, a Guinness World Record. It isn’t just the feat that is amazing, it is the fun series of adventures Cahill and Sowerby find themselves enjoying while setting new records. I left this book in Turkmenistan.
, by Paul Theroux. While it is no secret that I dislike Theroux’s writings for their stuck up, holier-than-thou feel, I did enjoy reading these two books in so far as they provided insight into the areas we would be traveling through by rail. Theroux is notorious for his use of ground transportation, an idea we can fully support. Nevertheless, his constant complaints about food and sanitation become pestering the more pages you turn. In Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, Theroux retraces a route he took as a young man, and notes the changes. This had real potential, but fell short because he brought along a cell phone, laptop, and an older man’s need for amenities. I left one of these in Shanghai, and the more recent book in Uzbekistan.
, by Tom Bissell. Another former Peace Corps volunteer becomes a writer. Bissell became deathly ill while serving in Uzbekistan, and was sent home before completing his two years of service. Once healed, the more-healthy and mature Bissell returns to Uzbekistan to finish what he started– a trip to the Aral Sea. Filled with historical insight and a bit snobbish critic of the area and its people, Bissell is no doubt an expert on the country’s water waste and the diminishing Aral Sea. Nevertheless, it is a bit long-winded and egotistical, focusing on his own return to Central Asia and his misadventures more than the people or region. Ironically, I left this book in Central Asia when I departed.
, by Lonely Planet Publications. This compilation of tales focuses on people who have chosen to travel without leaving the ground, proving that getting there is more than half the adventure. Some of these amazing folks are featured on our 
, by Peter Hessler. Like many great travel writers, Hessler got his taste for travel in the Peace Corps while assigned to a small town on the Yangtze River teaching English. He studied Mandarin Chinese daily, and slowly became fluent in the world’s most difficult language to master. Meanwhile, he spent his time trying to understand the people he worked with and around, and to delve into the culture without holding back. As a result, Hessler’s books offer genuine commentary on the Chinese and their massive country, as well as an un-egotistical vantage point from which readers can enjoy a foreign country. River Town, his first book, is the tale of his Peace Corps assignment while Oracle Bones is a montage of information Hessler gleaned while living in Beijing, interviewing locals and learning more about Chinese history and language. I lent a friend one of these books never to see it again, and the other is in my collection in the USA.
, by Charley Boorman. Charley Boorman and longtime travel partner Ewen McGregor have set off around the world together on their motorcycles and then composed Long Way Round. In Race to Dakar, Boorman sets off on his own. While the writing is not 100%, the adventure is, and Boorman details his planning, launch and then start in the Dakar Rally. While he was injured and did not finish the rally, Boorman healed up and continued on several other adventures, including another trip with Ewen McGregor called 
. We were excited to read about these rally adventurers because of our own upcoming 
, by David Fromkin. This telling Pulitzer price book finalist tells of the causes of World War I (on the Eastern front between 1914 and 1922) and how the policies before, during and after the conflict have resulted in the most tumultuous area on the planet– the Middle East. The book begins with a young Winston Churchill visiting the Bosporus and concluding that any army hoping to take the Ottoman Empire would only have to control the Aegean. This thought came to fruition later in Churchill’s life as he sent British troops during WWI up the straights in a failed attempt to destroy the Ottoman Empire and end the war. It is shocking how daringly close the plan came to success. The war rages on and the Ottoman Empire collapses, and is ruled eventually by Ataturk (Mustafa Kemal). They gain in power and reinforce the German’s advances, further prolonging the war on all fronts. Eventually the dust settles to reveal the Central Powers have been defeated, but what is less commonly known is that each government in the Allied Powers Alliance has fallen and their internal opposition parties came to power. Essentially, those who began the war were replaced in all cases except Germany, and the mission and goals of the war changed dramatically as a result of new voices in the arena post fighting. Thus, new faces sat around the table deciding how to divide winnings and the states of Iraq, Iran, Jordan and Lebanon were formed, and the Israeli homeland question was raised. The Allied Powers promised a homeland to the Israelites and set about making it happen, not knowing the cultural and religious currents they would stir in so doing with neighboring Arabs. This book explains the root causes of the Israeli – Palestinian conflict, as well as why modern Turkey is so different from other Muslim countries. This book does not touch on the wars in Iraq (Desert Storm of Operation Iraqi Freedom) or 9/11 or Afghanistan.
, by Mark Bowden. This book about the Iran Hostage Crisis read like an adventure novel, but was in fact very well researched. Bowden interviewed countless survivors, read everything he could get his hands on about the Iranian student’s movements, and fully explains the reasons why Muslims dislike Americans. For an American, this book is almost a must-read simply because Bowden is able to get inside the minds of the students who took the American Embassy hostage, and reveals their motives, desires and, years later, what happened to these children. His subtitle is: “The First Battle in the West’s War with Militant Islam,” and Bowden explains why the hostage crisis was a precursor to events that transpired later between the Muslims and the West, and why westerners often fail to fully grasp the rationale and motivations of those militant Muslims in places like Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan.
, by Peter Hopkirk; 
, by Stephen Tanner; and 
, by George Crile. If it seems all these books represent a trend, then you are an astute reader my friend. We’ve been traveling through predominately Muslim countries, and our books of choice reflect a desire to better understand the historical context of our culture clashes. We are historians, so naturally our interest in understanding the present lead us to the past. At any rate, all of these books were also page-turners that we think almost anyone could easily enjoy.
as Rolf Potts terms it, then this book is an invaluable guide on how to get started with planning and logistics. It is a whimsical yet no-nonsense guide on how to take anywhere from a few weeks to a few years off to travel, and do so successfully.
offered invaluable insight into the inter-workings of a team undertaking the rally.
will be full of inside jokes only you and other China travelers will understand. His insight into the psyche of the Chinese was amusing and comical, but hardly deep. It would be fair to say that more than half of the book was taken with Troost’s comical musings on the Chinese way of life, with the remaining bit concerned with telling where and what he was up to while romping around the Middle Kingdom.
, Thompson gives perky little insightful tales from his own past that involve excessive amounts of cocaine and marijuana done with Alaskan State Government officials, various visits to go-go dance halls (aka brothels) and a ridiculous amount of drinking with all sorts of unsavory characters. Despite this, he manages to weave an attention-grabbing tale of what it is like to travel as a rogue (albeit flawed) writer, a tale that leaves me wondering what his wife (mentioned in only half of his trips abroad) thinks of his new book.
, making it a fast and delightful read. While their insight into the places they visit is minimal, the funny commentary along the route is amusing and delightful.
is for you. Weiner travels across the globe trying to find the world’s happiest locations. He travels to the Netherlands, Switzerland, Bhutan, Qatar, Iceland, Moldova, Thailand, Great Britain, India and America in search of this aim.
