To Hellholes and Back

October 5, 2009
If you’ve ever wondered how a frat boy would fare in the Congo, then Thompson (Smile When You’re Lying
) has written the book for you. It’s not just the Congo either; the former Maxim
editor and “extreme tourism” expert also slogs across Mexico City, India and Disney World. Along the way, he encounters elephant penises, eight-year-old boxers and naked gurus who climb into the shower with him. Thompson’s stated reason for his extreme tourism is that Americans have grown soft, and he must prove his travel writer toughness by going places he doesn’t want to go. Thompson uses a Maxim
-derived prose that features present-tense narration and unfortunate similes. Every page is disfigured by a phrase like “Flat as the Kinshasa investment market, and brown as a turd....” Thompson poses as an iconoclast, but his critiques skew toward the obvious (he notes that there are two Indias, one rich and one poor, and that Disney “runs a very tight ship”). Sanctimonious liberals provide one target, as does soccer—not manly enough for Thompson, and they don’t score enough goals. In the end, Thompson’s observations and strained prose will wear thin on readers.

October 15, 2009
Veteran travel writer Thompson (Smile When You're Lying: Confessions of a Rogue Travel Writer, 2007, etc.) faces personal fears and journeys to places he has deliberately avoided his entire adult life.

The author defines"extreme tourism" as travel that tests personal boundaries—physical or emotional—and he chooses four destinations simply because they are places he does not want to visit: the Congo, India, Mexico City and Disney World. Thompson claims that he has always been afraid of the Congo due to disease; India because of the gastrointestinal peril that seems to affect everyone who visits; Mexico City for its violent crime and pollution; Disney World because it represents everything wrong with America today. As he treks across the globe, his assumptions and fears about each destination are addressed, if not debunked, with wry, self-deprecating humor. The author was never robbed in Mexico City; everyone he met was warm and hospitable. He put himself in incredible danger while on safari in the Congo by foolishly venturing off alone, but dodging deadly pathogens took a backseat to his quest to discover the funniest joke in Africa. The worst part of India were the cab drivers, and Disney World was not the villainous cultural black-hole of his nightmares—a chat with a former"Dream Squad" worker about a cancer-stricken family member moved him to tears. Yet as Thompson deftly sums up in his epilogue,"as my catalog of international experiences stacked up against the Bush-Obama-Palin electoral circus and dissolving economic fortunes in the States…I began to realize that my travels had become less about surviving horrors abroad and more about facing up to ones at home." The author makes no bones about his political or social views, from the Bush Administration to childhood obesity, but his observations are sharp and honest.

A witty, provocative tale that may not encourage extreme tourism but packs in plenty of local flavor and amusing anecdotes.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

November 15, 2009
As a former editor at Maxim and Travelocity and the author of Smile When Youre Lying, a gleeful trashing of travel industry fables, Thompson is a well-traveled and street-smart kind of guy. Here he turns out a riveting, hilarious, and wildly entertaining account of trips to four destinations he has long avoided. The hellholes on his no-go list include the African Congo, India, Mexico City, and Walt Disney World. Readers will enjoy following his adventures and running commentary, whether hes tangling with crooked officials in Africa, a scary mob in India, having the time of his life in Mexico City, or merely perplexed in Orlando. Thompson makes it his business to smash popular misconceptions about travel, all while offering up his own ironic observations and provocative opinions. Will be a hit with readers who enjoy smart, funny, and unorthodox travel writing.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)