Holidays in Heck [Hardcover]
- Author by O'Rourke, P J
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Editorial Reviews
O'Rourke embarks on supposedly more comfortable and allegedly less dangerous travels--often with family in tow--which mostly leave him wishing he were under artillery fire again. The result is a hilarious and often moving portrait of life in the fast lane--only this time as a husband and father.
Reviews
- From Publishers Weekly
- In this cheeky follow-up to Holidays in Hell, former war correspondent O'Rourke trades battle zones for more appealing travel destinations, often with his family in tow. Deciding after the Iraq War that he was "too old to be scared stiff and too stiff to sleep on the ground," O'Rourke switches to travel writing after 21 years covering various conflicts. The exotica sailing trip to the Galápagos Islands in "Republicans Evolving" or a horse trek through the mountains of Kyrgyzstan in "A Horse of a Different Color"rub shoulders with the more mundanea family skiing vacation in "Round on the Ends and Hi!' in the Middle," a trip to Disneyland in "The Decline and Fall of Tomorrow"and all of them share O'Rourke's razor wit. The family skiing vacation is made more hilarious by its being in Ohio (his eldest daughter doesn't like long hills), and the plethora of wildlife observed during the Galápagos jaunt become stand-ins for our country's political parties. The majority of essays were assigned by Forbes Life and reworked by O'Rourke for this collection; "Capitol Gains," the O'Rourke family's aborted tour of the Washington, D.C., sights is previously unpublished. O'Rourke loses none of his sly humor, finding many opportunities to lampoon American politics under his new guise as a traveling family man. (Nov.) Copyright 2011 Reed Business Information.
- From Booklist
- Two decades after Holidays in Hell (1988), the travelogue of a former war correspondent in search of fun in some of the world's most desperate areas, O'Rourke follows up with the travel adventures of a writer, husband, and father, which are thrilling and humbling in their own way. To venues ranging from China to Kyrgyzstan to Disneyland, O'Rourke offers the fresh perspective of a neophyte civilian and family traveler along with his own acerbic wit about politics, recreation, economics, and family life. There's skiing in relatively flat Ohio, which exposes the id of winter sports, and there's reading the European Union Constitution on a beach in Guadeloupe in 2005 while pondering French and Caribbean politics and economics. Political humorist O'Rourke discusses animal-cruelty issues and the class tensions underlying stag hunting in Exmoor in England and the love of birds and bird hunting in the Galpagos Islands with a bunch of Republicans, and in Brays Island Plantation, South Carolina, with his newly rifle-educated wife. The essays are as humorous and charmingly meandering as his travels. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Best-selling political humorist P. J. O'Rourke follows up on his classic travelogue, Holidays in Hell (1988).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)
Quote Reviews
- "A spin with P.J. O'Rourke is like a ride in the back of an old pickup over unpaved roads. You get where you're going fast, with exhilarating views--but not without a few bruises."
-- "The New York Times Book Review" on "Holidays in Hell"
Product Detail
ISBN: 0802119859
EAN: 9780802119858
Media: Book
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
Publication Date: 11-2011
Language: English
Pages: 288
Dimensions: 9.10 x 6.47 x 1.02
Weight: 1.17
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