The Bolivian times

Tim Elliott

3.40 · Rating details · 40 ratings · 7 reviews

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Unknown Binding, 263 pages

Published January 1st 2001 by Random House Australia

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Oct 23, 2013 Bel Vidal rated it really liked it

As a Bolivian born Australian, my antenna goes up straight away every time an Australian author publishes a book about Bolivia. When I saw the blurb on the front cover of this one, which reads 'a very funny story about tear gas, heartbreak, bad Spanish, COCAINE and deadlines', I thought "here we go again" - for it seems that there cannot be a book, an article or a program about Bolivia that doesn't focus on cocaine. And yet, there is so much more to this country, its landscapes, its culture and As a Bolivian born Australian, my antenna goes up straight away every time an Australian author publishes a book about Bolivia. When I saw the blurb on the front cover of this one, which reads 'a very funny story about tear gas, heartbreak, bad Spanish, COCAINE and deadlines', I thought "here we go again" - for it seems that there cannot be a book, an article or a program about Bolivia that doesn't focus on cocaine. And yet, there is so much more to this country, its landscapes, its culture and its people - A country in which I lived for 20 years without ever seeing as much as a milligram of the infamous white powder!

The previous book I read about Bolivia by an Australian author, 'Marching Powder' made me angry at so many levels I could hardly begin to describe them (however I managed to outline most of them in my review of that book, and thanks to the wonders of electronic media was able to express them directly to the author, Rusty Young, via a lengthy email correspondence exchanged in 2005) so I expected 'The Bolivian Times' would make me equally mad.

Not so. Instead, I found myself laughing out loud and having to read whole sections aloud to my (English) husband, who wanted to know what was so funny. I found myself wanting to cry at the end, over a soccer match, of all things. My knowledge of Bolivian history stops in the late eighties, when I left the country. This book filled me in on what happened the following decade as well as any history book would have. It presented a balanced view of what makes Bolivia so ugly and yet so attractive, so terrible and wonderful, so alluring and repelling all at the same time. It managed to capture with a certain degree of accuracy the complexities, simplicities, idiosyncrasies, and contradictions of Bolivian culture, as seen by a foreigner.

True, 'The Bolivian Times' is no literary masterpiece. Elliot's metaphors are particularly cheesy - but they might have been intended that way. Perhaps he should have stuck to his journalistic/humorous style. As a narrator, the author can at times come across as annoying, self-centred and immature - but he is 10 times more likeable than Thomas McFadden, the narrator of 'marching powder'. ...more

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Mar 30, 2019 Dan rated it it was amazing

I used to spend a fair amount of time doing touristy things in Bolivia, including reading the odd and now defunct English-language weekly paper, published in La Paz, that supplies this memoir's title. I came across the book years later, and it took me back instantly and vividly via Elliott's experiences reporting for the Times. One thing that makes it so good is that Elliott doesn't try to pass himself off as a knowledgeable, or even particularly competent, expat. I think you had to be there, bu ...more

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Jul 24, 2011 Rebecca rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2011, travel, non-fiction, memoir

Just very average. It gave very little insight and the author came across as a bit of a tosser. Off to borrow Marching Powder from the library instead.

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