Book Log 2013 #22: Last Train to Zona Verde by Paul Theroux

In Dark Star Safari, Theroux traveled from Cairo to Cape Town, returning to places he first saw while in the Peace Corps and reflecting on the changes in Africa - and to himself - that occurred in the intervening years. Last Train to Zona Verde picks up in Cape Town, and is planned as a last trip through the continent, a journey to see new places, meet new people, and say goodbye.

This trip is up the west coast, and does not go well. There are travel delays (and a notable lack of trains, the preferred method of travel), lack of services, unfriendly locals, and a serious case of theft. This all mounts over the course of the trip, resulting in a first (spoiler alert!): the trip is abandoned, with a fair amount of pessimism towards the purpose of the trip and Africa in general.

The end of the trip says as much about the author as the conditions he encountered, as there's much musing about age and the idea that this is his last big trip. I'd like to think that I'd be game to try such an adventure when I'm 70, but I'm probably not even game now. I am hoping that Theroux will get the travelin' jones and make the one trip he's not made - a lap around the US on Amtrak. I'm not holding my breath.

I can't say I liked this book, as the way things transpire make it hard to use the word "like" in reference to it. But if you've read Theroux's other books you can't not read it, I suppose.