The Ridiculous Race

by Steve Hely (Goodreads author)

book data

163 ratings, 3.72 average rating, 62 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		23%
4		38%
3		25%
2		11%
1		1%

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published

July 8th 2008 by Holt Paperbacks

binding

Paperback, 336 pages

isbn

0805087400 (isbn13: 9780805087406)

description

<DIV>

The most absurd, hilarious, and ridiculous travelogue ever told, by two hit-TV comedy writers who raced each other around the world—for bra

...more

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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 313)

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02/25/09

Jan rated it:

bookshelves: non-fiction

Read in March, 2009

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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03/16/09

Christiane rated it:

bookshelves: non-fiction

Read in March, 2009

Fun, light reading, perfect for a plane or train ride, though sadly I read it at home. Not quite your ordinary travel guide since the boys do get to places very few of us will ever visit voluntarily.

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01/25/09

thefourthvine rated it:

bookshelves: humor, travel-essays

Read in January, 2009

Here's what I learned from this book: those who can, do. Those who can't, write for television. Seriously, this is a book about the most incompetent travelers ever to make it back home without losing a limb. And I realize that was part of their shtick, but even when they're not being incompetent for humorous effect (which is a tough trick to manage, and they mostly don't, because, hey - incompetent!), they're still hopeless. I spent a lot of this book wondering why it wasn't called Two Mostly Us...more Here's what I learned from this book: those who can, do. Those who can't, write for television. Seriously, this is a book about the most incompetent travelers ever to make it back home without losing a limb. And I realize that was part of their shtick, but even when they're not being incompetent for humorous effect (which is a tough trick to manage, and they mostly don't, because, hey - incompetent!), they're still hopeless. I spent a lot of this book wondering why it wasn't called Two Mostly Useless Guys Wander Vaguely Around the Globe Running into Things.

And, sadly, one of the (many) things they can't do is write a book. They know how to write - although Vali has some annoying tense switches - and they know how to be funny, but they can do these things only in short bursts. So this isn't so much a book as it is a collection of very brief set pieces. And when I say "very short," I mean "several paragraphs." On the up side, this means it's easy to pick this book up and put it down. On the down side, this means it has absolutely no flow whatsoever, and the humor's a lot less, well, humorous, because there's no build at all.

So why did I give this book four stars? Because it is - or it contains - a rare, rare bird, one I've longed to see for the last ten years or so. See, travel and adventure writing is almost exclusively a white man's game. Occasionally I can find travel or (more rarely) adventure books written by women. But I basically never find any written by people of color. And Vali is Indian. It was fabulously refreshing to find anything, anything at all, written about traveling that wasn't from the perspective of a white man. I'd give a lot worse book than this one four stars for that.

Of course, that means I wish this entire book had been written by Vali; Steve's narrative, while it covers more off-the-beaten path areas, could have been written, and written better, by any of a thousand writers in this field. Vali's, on the other hand, is basically unique. Depressing? Yes. But it makes this book worth reading for anyone who enjoys travel and adventure writing, just so we can see how it could be. (less)

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12/29/08

Michael rated it:

Read in January, 2009

I'm 75 pages into this 315 page failing effort to be really really funny. The conceit is that the two young TV sitcom writers will be provide laugh-a-minute descriptions of their race to get around the world without using airplanes, one heading east, the other west. There is an obvious difference that becomes clear between writing funny stuff for sitcoms and writing about funny adventures, however - the first just requires some creativity in making things up, the latter requires actually doing...more I'm 75 pages into this 315 page failing effort to be really really funny. The conceit is that the two young TV sitcom writers will be provide laugh-a-minute descriptions of their race to get around the world without using airplanes, one heading east, the other west. There is an obvious difference that becomes clear between writing funny stuff for sitcoms and writing about funny adventures, however - the first just requires some creativity in making things up, the latter requires actually doing stuff for real that is funny when described.

Both the authors are smart (they went to Harvard, which they make sure they include in their two-sentence bios) but apparently they think their readers are idiots. (This could be an outcome of writing for sitcoms. . . ) For example, Chandrasekaran travels east from LA south across Mexico rather than straight across the U.S. in order to describe his meeting with a fellow there who sells jet packs - you see, he'll win by crossing oceans with a jet pack. He claims he's surprised to learn that a jet pack can only fly for thirty seconds and won't get him across the Atlantic. This would be fine if his description of his meeting with the jet pack guy was funny, but it's neither funny nor interesting.

It's pretty obvious where they screwed up - they traveled separately. One can imagine that their describing their adventures together in Outer Mongolia might be amusing, but instead they travel separately and the story switches from one to the other every ten pages or so, competing to see who can bore or annoy the readers more. Occasionally they talk to each other by satellite phone in order to exchange insults.

I'm going to keep at it just because it intrigues me - can it really stay this bad? No - it has to get better. Right?

And no, I didn't waste any money on this. It's from the public library.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OK, I finished this 300-plus page around-the-world travel book. After the first 75 pages, the book improved slightly. Steve spends more time in his segments describing local history and culture (albeit briefly) and connecting this with his experiences in ways that occasionally are amusing - basically what one would expect. Vali continues for the most part to fail at being humorous with stupid one-liners, although somewhere in the second half he tires of this approach and starts offering some description of what he encounters, too. (He has several pages of background on Cambodian history near the end.)

Steve's contributions are more consistently interesting, but occasionally Vali's observations are more engaging - he is an Indian American he describes some experiences that flow from that background. In Cairo he dressed up as an Egyptian and went to the pyramids and attempted to sell souvenirs, learning that it isn't so easy to sell stuff to tourists. (He sold nothing.)

Mostly this book has a problem with identifying who its likely readers are and then staying "in character" for those readers. (less)

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11/20/08

Jeanine rated it:

Read in November, 2008

I paused before rating this book a "5" because it's more silly humor than true literature ... but I really did enjoy it that much. John can attest that I actually laughed out loud many times (and I'm really not a giggler). It's a perfect book for the busy working mom because instead of long chapters, the stories are broken up into little 1-2 page vignettes about the belly dancers in Cairo or being a passenger on a German cargo ship. This enabled me to read one amusing adventure, play r...more

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05/27/08

Ryan rated it:

bookshelves: lightweight, nonfiction

Read in May, 2008

This book is so fucking funny I can't tell if the authors are con artists or geniuses. Repeatedly I laughed to the point of embarrassment and read passages aloud to friends. Just go read the first five pages somewhere and you'll see what I mean.

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12/07/08

Sam added it

Oooh, delicious. These guys are young, and they're GUY-GUYs, and normally I can't relate to that perspective, but they're also smart (went to Harvard.) They challenge each other to a race around the world, one going east and the other west, with the only rule "no airplanes." Everything else that happens is a surprise travel narrative, and therefore irresistible. I love great travel essays, these are even better because half the time the guys didn't know they were going to end up so...more

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12/27/08

FicusFan rated it:

bookshelves: book-groups, humor, non-fiction, read-2-09, read-2009, travel, world-wide

Read in February, 2009

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

This is a non-fiction book that takes the idea of Around the World in 80 Days and updates it, sort of. Two friends decide to race around the world, with the stipulation that they can't use air travel.

One goes east and one goes west and they are supposed to return to California. The winner gets an old bottle of alcohol. Both are involved in TV writing and seem to think they are funny. So the whole book is written to be one laugh after another. Sometimes it is funny but often it is ...more

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08/22/08

Meagan rated it:

bookshelves: humor, nonfiction, travel

Read in August, 2008

I'm a big fan of funny books, and a big fan of books about exotic travel locations and experiences. This book was the perfect read for me! It's organized into very small anecdotes written by one or the other of the authors about their experiences racing around the world from opposite directions and using only ground transportation. The two authors, who are obviously great friends, have the kind of snarky rapport that you only find when two really funny people (both of them write for sitcoms) ...more

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07/06/08

Sara rated it:

bookshelves: 2008, non-fiction, travelogues

Read in September, 2008

recommended to Sara by: Entertainment Weekly

I decided to read this book after reading about it in Entertainment Weekly. Two friends make a bet to see who can race around the world the quickest - without using airplanes. They also make a few other bets along the way, like who can win in the "Awesomeness Content" and who can visit the most countries. I loved the premise of this book and the snippets in the magazine article made it sound promising, so I went to read it.

At the beginning of the book, I was kinda unsure...more

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10/02/08

Clarissa rated it:

The story of two men, both writers for comedy shows, who make a "gentleman's bet" to circumvent the world using everything but airplanes. The problem?...these are not gentlemen. The first one back gets a bottle of the most expensive Scotch they can find in LA.

First off one of my favorite things about this book was completely unintentional. The title "The ridiculous race" and the cover art of one dark skinned man, and one light skinned man, meant that anywhere I...more

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09/02/08

Derek rated it:

Read in September, 2008

recommends it for: Anyone who likes humor and travel stories

I haven't laughed while reading a book as much as I did reading this one in a while. It is exactly what you would expect from a couple of television comedy writers (My Name is Earl and Family Guy!) who decide to race around the world without using airplanes. While their comedic talents really shine through in the book, the book is also fascinating from a travel and cultural perspective. For example, this is personally the most I've ever read about Mongolia. Of course, based on the description...more

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01/13/09

Molly rated it:

Read in December, 2008

recommended to Molly by: Jeanine
recommends it for: travelers

Amusing account of two guys who race around the world - starting in LA - one going east, one going west - all without planes. It made me laugh out loud several times and had great stories of the often amusing/frustrating moments of international travel. And I was psyched to learn that, like me, Steve was inexplicably drawn to eating at Los Bandidos, a Indian-Mexican restaurant in Ulan Bator.

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09/08/08

Valerie rated it:

bookshelves: read-in-2009

Read in June, 2009

This is the story of two friends/TV writers (Steve Hely and Vali Chandrasekaran) who challenged each other to a race around the world, without airplanes. The prize is an expensive, aged bottle of scotch. In addition to finishing the race first, they also worked to have the best stories to tell...the Awesomeness Contest. I'd give Steve's portion of the book 3.5 stars, and Vali's portion 2.5. Simply put, Vali is a punk and I found him to be very annoying. Steve's stories were more interestin...more

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02/26/09

Kathleen rated it:

I got rather tired of the "racers" talking about how many books they had to sell to pay for the trip, how much they drank, how often one guy cheated (total of 10 times) and how cool they were. I would have loved to know what the people they encountered thought of them. There were a couple of shining moments like in the Sistine Chapel. Otherwise, I would say if you are really interested in reading about two Hollywood writers racing around the world and supposedly not using airplanes t...more

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01/18/09

Leah rated it:

bookshelves: travel

Read in January, 2009

Fun and irreverant. Filled with silly stories. Warning to my conservative friends: plenty of drunken behavior and cursing in this one. Two friends (who earn a living as tv writers in LA) make a bet (while drinking) to race each other around the earth in opposite directions without using airplanes. What does it say about me that I liked the one who cheated better?

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12/23/08

Megan rated it:

bookshelves: 2008, nonfiction, travel

Read in December, 2008

I just couldn’t get into this one. The premise sounded interesting and funny enough, two guys racing around the world in opposite directions. But I don’t know why – maybe I’m not in the right kind of mood for their kind of humor, or something, but this book wouldn’t hold my attention. I got 2/3 of the way through so I’m considering it “finished”, but I don’t think I’ll pick it up again.

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03/21/08

Nick rated it:

Read in March, 2008

recommends it for: maybe Matt Schedler, chuckleheads

found on the take shelf and read on blurbed recommendation of seth mcfarlane (family guy). slapstick circumnavigation travelogue - my favorite literary genre - written in alternating sections by two TV comedy writers, Steve Hely and Vali C. Steve's parts are largely earnest and hilarious while Vali tends toward the sometimes abrasive easy laughs... but both have their highs and lows, and the alternating perspectives keep the converging plots from plodding. Maybe most funnily is that both of thes...more

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11/25/08

Bizzyd rated it:

Read in October, 2008

Well, this book was kind of interesting. It had an interesting premise, but (spoiler alert!) one guy cheated and that just ruined the whole book for me. I wouldn't really recommend it, but I also won't knock it to the ground if I see you reading it.

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06/09/09

Lisa rated it:

A really funny book. It started out strong - I was laughing out loud. I thought the end was a little weak, though. The best thing about this book was that it enticed me to do some research on many of the visited locations.

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