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Riding the Iron Rooster | 
 enlarge | Author: Paul Theroux
Publisher: Ivy Books
Category: Book
List Price: $7.50
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You Save: $7.49 (100%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  39 reviews
Sales Rank: 336472
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 464
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 0804104549
Dewey Decimal Number: 915
EAN: 9780804104548
ASIN: 0804104549
Publication Date: March 28, 1989
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Product Description
Paul Theroux invites you to join him on the journey of a lifetime, in the grand romanttic tradition, by train across Euope, through the vast underbelly of Asia and in the heart of Russia, and then up to China. Here is China by rail, as seen and heard through the eyes and ears of one of the most intrepid and insightful travel writers of our time.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 34 more reviews...
 Reading the Iron Rooster March 9, 2008
I enjoy the writing of Paul Theroux. This book is a train book about crossing China in the 80's. It gives a glimpse into life in China post mao.
If you enjoy Paul Theroux's writing this want disappoint.
A China Travel Time Capsule October 21, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
From curmudgeon to comedian, Paul Theroux plays many roles. So too does China, and this is why they make such a good match. Certainly, this book drags in places, but to that end it only mirrors actual travel. It isn't just about the destinations, but the time spent between the destinations, or in this case the time the author spends riding China's trains. Those looking for an informative history of the Great Wall or an amusing anecdote concerning the Terracotta Warriors will have to look elsewhere. Theroux shuns tourist sites almost as much as he shuns foreign tourists. When he does encounter a famous place, he often gives it a one-line assessment. He sums up Beijing's abundant cultural offerings, for example, by saying that everything was "very big and very impressive."
There is no doubt that Theroux can be caustic, but his cold appraisals should ring true for anyone who has traveled in China, at least to some degree. The problem with many China books is that they are often penned by people who are smitten by the Middle Kingdom and therefore don't wish to offend. But Paul Theroux doesn't care who he offends. In any of his books. Period. Simply put, he calls it as he sees it. Despite his penchant for snobbery, one thing that Theroux is exceptionally good at is getting in on the ground level and talking to people. This makes for many of the volume's brighter moments, like when he asks to see a commune and a group of Cantonese laugh so hard they almost fall over.
RIDING THE IRON ROOSTER is a thorough inspection (pun intended) of China during the days it was emerging from the long shadow if Maoism, but before it had begun rocketing toward the realm of capitalism. As mentioned, it can be frustrating, but no more frustrating than China itself. And like China, it's worth it for those gripping moments and laugh-out-loud encounters. I have to hand it to Mr. Theroux. He traveled around China for an entire year, a trip so extensive that he visited several places twice. To my way of thinking, he deserves four stars just for that.
Troy Parfitt, author
 Fascinating journey across Europe via Rail August 13, 2007
Armchair travelers and actual travelers will positively become immersed in the lives and countries of fellow travelers and foreigners as Paul Theroux journeys accross Europe. Scents, sights, sounds and a dead-on ability to skewer irritating passengers and crew, off-train traits and culture give much zing to the chugging train trip. Another Theroux treat.
What would Theroux say today, over 20 years later? October 13, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I read this book over a week-long period, almost 20 years after he rode the Iron Rooster through China. The many commentaries of country life, the weird customs of the people and the constant yearning to shoot birds for food made me wonder if China today is still like it was 20 years ago. I certainly hope it is not, but Theroux's style and detailed observations of miniscule events make this a very interesting, graphic read. I had the sense of where I was in the country, from the barren desert to the freezing mountains and every track inbetween. I didn't want to get off the train.
This was my first Theroux travelogue. I will certainly read many more.
Scrutinizing The Inscrutable August 18, 2006
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
For many travel writers, the point is more in the journey than the destination. That is especially true with Paul Theroux here. Whether it is the rubble of the Great Wall, the desolate wastes of Inner Mongolia, or the awe-inspiring vistas of Tibet, Theroux uses the various places of China he encounters by rail as a backdrop for what interests him most, the people.
Published in 1988, as China emerged from the darkness of the Cultural Revolution and just before the Tiananmen crackdown of 1989, "Riding The Iron Rooster" captures the world's most populous nation catching a wave of democratic sentiment, embracing materialism and such symbols of Western decadence as Jan and Dean. Whether government handler or fellow rail passenger, most everyone Theroux meets has regrets about the country's hardline past and doesn't mince words expressing it, in the process challenging his (and our) expectations of encountering a continent of doctrinaire Maoists.
"We can always fool a foreigner" is a Chinese proverb Theroux quotes right off the bat, and he takes it as his job proving otherwise. Better equipped than most Westerners, he has not only been to China before but speaks the language, enough so he can distinguish genuine laughs from politeness or insecure warning, while asking questions that would have gotten him in trouble ten years ago but now evoke amusement and curiosity.
The result is a highly subjective, idiosyncratic blast, of a self-admittedly rude foreigner pushing boundaries in an attempt to uncover deeper truths from a populace unaccustomed to giving them. His admiration of the Chinese is not without frustration. "I hated sight-seeing in China," he writes. "I felt the Chinese hid behind their rebuilt ruins so that no one could look closely at their lives."
Score this one China 1, Theroux 0, but he does put up a noble fight, and provides you with an entertaining glimpse at a country that engages your deeper interest, and admiration for an author always willing to go the extra mile, even in a cold and filthy railcar.
The book does lack some sense of geography; even consulting the map on the flyleaf doesn't help as Theroux expands and contracts the reader's sense of time and space. He may dismiss the terra-cotta soldiers' ranks of Xi'an with a couple of paragraphs, while spending pages on the quality and universality of public spitting. But you wind up with a journey that tells you as much about the complexity of Theroux, a dyspeptic but very talented observer in the tradition of Evelyn Waugh, as it does about the great land he visits here.
"Travel is frequently a matter of seizing a moment," he writes. "It is personal. Even if I were traveling with you, your trip would not be mine." Here, you sort of are traveling with him, and the result is a literary journey as intoxicating as it is educational.
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