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Day Trips to the Desert: A Sort of Travel Book
This travelogue/autobiography covers journeys to the edge of the Sahara in Morocco and across Australia, a day trip to the Pyramids and his return to the deserts of California, Arizona and New Mexico, as well as his thoughts on a failed marriage, a new union and the imminent death of his father.
- GenresTravel
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1992
9 people want to read
About the author
Geoff Nicholson
52 books55 followersGeoff Nicholson was a British novelist and nonfiction writer. He was educated at the Universities of Cambridge and Essex.
The main themes and features of his books include leading characters with obsessions, characters with quirky views on life, interweaving storylines and hidden subcultures and societies. His books usually contain a lot of black humour. He has also written three works of nonfiction and some short stories. His novel Bleeding London was shortlisted for the 1997 Whitbread Prize.
The main themes and features of his books include leading characters with obsessions, characters with quirky views on life, interweaving storylines and hidden subcultures and societies. His books usually contain a lot of black humour. He has also written three works of nonfiction and some short stories. His novel Bleeding London was shortlisted for the 1997 Whitbread Prize.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 29, 2024
Geoff Nicholson is a pretty quirky author. I have read a fiction book of his previously - What Did We Do on Our Holiday? and I think very much to read and enjoy him you need to 'get' his humour. It will definitely not work for everyone, or probably many.
This is non-fiction, and as can be seen from the title, it is ostensibly about deserts. It was cheap in a second hand bookshop, I recognised the authors name and thought I would give it a go.
I say ostensibly about deserts. It contains four sections, each about travel to a desert, but the thing that ties this book together is the death of the authors father. He is at a different stage of dying for each section, and it is a particularly sad read in the parts about this - very real, and very honest with his thoughts - actually that last part applies right through, the author shares all his thoughts. Many of these are humorous - I am not sure all are supposed to be.
Nicholson's trips to the desert consist of - a group tour in Morocco which doesn't really reach the Sahara, but gives a 'flavour of the desert'. The only quote I marked comes from this section: P35, upon reaching a traditional Berber hut, with a family dressed in traditional clothes...
They take the Indian Pacific (train) from Adelaide to Kalgoorlie, hire a 4WD and puddle about a bit in the outback, taking enough care not to expose themselves to much danger, but it is the outback nevertheless. They visit some interesting places and some dull places, they get lost (for a few hours) and they interact with various locals. They travel for short distances on the Gunbarrel Highway and the Warburton Road.
Egypt was not really a place Nicholson wanted to visit, but his publisher insisted that people who think desert think Pyramids. His father had just passed away, and he felt he needed to be with his mother, so a long trip was not viable. In this section he describes teh circumstances around his fathers death. He and Sue (the girlfriend) flew from the UK to Egypt for a two day one night tour. Amazing! They though they were on a tour of 20 people, and spent time on the flight trying to pick out the ones who would undertake such a ludicrous tour - it turned out the entire flight was a charter for the tour - six coach loads of people being moved around Cairo at high speed with a police escort to clear traffic out of the way!
If the Egypt visit was too short, the American desert visit was probably too long (for me at least). Las Vegas hold so little appeal to me, I can barely be bothered reading about it, but that is where they start. The Mojave Desert and the Sonoran Desert are the focus here. Death Valley, Monument Valley, the Panamint Dunes and White Sands (gypsum) Dunes are the main visits. It is in the White Sands Dunes that Nicholson scatters (some of) his fathers ashes.
Perhaps this book was cathartic for the author - to be able to record the circumstances around his father passing away, combine it with what was going on in his life at the time - divorce, writing a book about deserts and his travel required for this.
It isn't a great book about deserts by any means. It is probably not a great book about coping with your fathers passing. It is a bit of a mixed up thing, but it is quite easy reading.
3 stars.
This is non-fiction, and as can be seen from the title, it is ostensibly about deserts. It was cheap in a second hand bookshop, I recognised the authors name and thought I would give it a go.
I say ostensibly about deserts. It contains four sections, each about travel to a desert, but the thing that ties this book together is the death of the authors father. He is at a different stage of dying for each section, and it is a particularly sad read in the parts about this - very real, and very honest with his thoughts - actually that last part applies right through, the author shares all his thoughts. Many of these are humorous - I am not sure all are supposed to be.
Nicholson's trips to the desert consist of - a group tour in Morocco which doesn't really reach the Sahara, but gives a 'flavour of the desert'. The only quote I marked comes from this section: P35, upon reaching a traditional Berber hut, with a family dressed in traditional clothes...
We were told we were free to take pictures of the scene, but it would cost us a couple of dirhams each. Some of our group lost the moral high ground here, handing over eh money and began snapping their cameras. Others, myself included, felt that this was a fairly unedifying spectacle. We never expected much human dignity from tourists, but we'd hoped for more from the Berbers.The section on Australia was more significant. The book is not running a linear timeline - each section of the book is in order and he overall narrative flows, but within each section he jumps about, telling about an event near the end, then looping back to the start and working forward. It is a little confusing if you are not paying enough attention. By this section Nicholson has divorced his wife and is travelling from here on with a new girlfriend. While Nicholson is in Australia, his father is unwell, and the prognosis, while undefined is not looking good. He is in hospital, but won't hear of his son cancelling his Australian trip. They arrive in Darwin and make their way south they visit Alice Springs, Ayers Rock, Coober Pedy.
They take the Indian Pacific (train) from Adelaide to Kalgoorlie, hire a 4WD and puddle about a bit in the outback, taking enough care not to expose themselves to much danger, but it is the outback nevertheless. They visit some interesting places and some dull places, they get lost (for a few hours) and they interact with various locals. They travel for short distances on the Gunbarrel Highway and the Warburton Road.
Egypt was not really a place Nicholson wanted to visit, but his publisher insisted that people who think desert think Pyramids. His father had just passed away, and he felt he needed to be with his mother, so a long trip was not viable. In this section he describes teh circumstances around his fathers death. He and Sue (the girlfriend) flew from the UK to Egypt for a two day one night tour. Amazing! They though they were on a tour of 20 people, and spent time on the flight trying to pick out the ones who would undertake such a ludicrous tour - it turned out the entire flight was a charter for the tour - six coach loads of people being moved around Cairo at high speed with a police escort to clear traffic out of the way!
If the Egypt visit was too short, the American desert visit was probably too long (for me at least). Las Vegas hold so little appeal to me, I can barely be bothered reading about it, but that is where they start. The Mojave Desert and the Sonoran Desert are the focus here. Death Valley, Monument Valley, the Panamint Dunes and White Sands (gypsum) Dunes are the main visits. It is in the White Sands Dunes that Nicholson scatters (some of) his fathers ashes.
Perhaps this book was cathartic for the author - to be able to record the circumstances around his father passing away, combine it with what was going on in his life at the time - divorce, writing a book about deserts and his travel required for this.
It isn't a great book about deserts by any means. It is probably not a great book about coping with your fathers passing. It is a bit of a mixed up thing, but it is quite easy reading.
3 stars.
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