Internet had barely a presence in Asia at that point, and only the rich had mobile phones. 1 users rated this 5 out of 5 stars 1. I think this is Pico Iyer's first book.It is not as polished as the later ones.It is a journey through several Asian countries in the 1980s.It didn't quite meet my expectations,after having already read The Lady and the Monk. Try again. This was a fun book, very fast reading, even though quite dated (the 80s), about how East meets West through popculture. Especially when describing the poverty and hope of Thailand, the Philippines, India, or Indonesia, Iyer's experiences aren't particularly different from what one faces today. For China, it is westernization, and for Bali, the clash of tourism and paradise. Each country has its own chapter in the book but the sequence is not chronological. In Nepal he saw how the Dharma path met Freak Street, and witnessed in China how doors locked to trade were thrown open with breathless courtesy. The exception was his description of India, where I found him to be off mark. The first chapter is about the paradise island of Bali focusing on the effect of the tourism to the previously gentle and virgin island. Please try again. He found too much prostitution in Thailand when he should have found beauty. Rambo, Madonna and Bruce Springsteen are mentioned throughout the book. But he doesn’t seem to carry the enthusiasm throughout the other portions of the book, and always seems dull. Video Night in Kathmandu And Other Reports From the Not-So-Far East By Pico Iyer 376 pages. He checked on how Tibet was faring as the word's last secret to be revealed to full view. The book is gives readers an intriguing look at the Western world’s impact on Eastern culture, and how the tourism industry has affected the lives Asian citizens so heavily bombarded by propaganda, politics, and US standards. When Pico Iyer began his travels, he wanted to know how Rambo conquered Asia. Visit musicMagpie for great deals and super savings with FREE delivery today! $15.95. I loved reading Video Night because I felt like I was walking alongside Pico, but at the same time, I wasn't really thinking his thoughts because he largely kept the commentary at a minimum. ‘Don’t travel to Kathmandu just for transiting to third countries,’ Indian nationals advised Sensex surges 558 points as banking, metal stocks rise; Nifty settles above 14,650 This was a fun book, very fast reading, even though quite dated (the 80s), about how East meets West through popculture. Sorry, there was a problem saving your cookie preferences. The book is now dated, having been written in the mid-eighties, but that isn't one of my motivations for its rating. In fact, except for The Philippines, the East is imbibing everything West offers but in the end each country emerges still intact albeit changed. His chapter on India is almost solely about India’s movie industry, although it’s interesting. The book is a travelogue of East Asia set in late 1980s. Video Night in Kathmandu and Other Reports from the Not-So-Far East by Pico Iyer Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. 2001), Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 September 2014. From Bali, the other chapters are Tibet, Nepal, China, The Philippines, Burma, Hong Kong, India, Thailand and Japan. Quiz #1 Progress? To see what your friends thought of this book, Video Night in Kathmandu and Other Reports from the Not-So-Far East. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. It seemed that in his nascent work Pico really shied away from making too much judgment. $19.95. Well, no. It’s as if we’ve polluted the West, in some ways. He gets to Nepal and encounters a whole community of washed-out hippies who are literally there because the Grateful Dead told them to go, treating Nepal like a glorious hookah lounge, roused out of their drug induced sloth only long enough to haggle over a $5/night room with somebody who makes $200 a year. Having captivated readers with such gems of travel writing as Video Night in Kathmandu, Pico Iyer now presents a novel whose central character is another place: the melancholy, ebullient, and dazzlingly inconsistent island that is Castro's Cuba. It’s as if we’ve polluted the West, in some ways. About those countries which I was not able to visit like Tibet, Nepal and Burma, I learned a lot from reading those chapters. by Vintage, Video Night in Kathmandu: And Other Reports from the Not-So-Far East. In China, a million people raced to see First Blood within ten days of its Beijing opening, and black marketeers were hawking tickets at seven times the official price. --Los Angeles Times. This book recounts Pico's Asian travels in the late 1980s. His "analysis" ends up reinforcing pre-existing stereotypes everywhere he goes. The songs that were ruling out the airways like Bruce Springsteen's Born in the US (the title of the chapter) and USA For Africa's We Are The World were truly the hits of that year. B, Iyer in his introduction tells us this is “less like a conventional travel diary than a series of essays” of a “casual traveler’s casual observations” of the Asia he saw “over the course of two years... [spending] a total of seven months crisscrossing the continent.” Each chapter covers his thoughts about one country: Bail (Indonesia), Tibet, Nepal, China, Philippines, Burma, Hong Kong, India, Thailand, Japan. “I loved the quiet places in Kyoto, the places that held the world within a windless moment. Video Night in Kathmandu: And Other Reports from the Not-so-far East, Choose from over 13,000 locations across the UK, Prime members get unlimited deliveries at no additional cost, Dispatch to this address when you check out, Previous page of related Sponsored Products, Bloomsbury Publishing; New edition (4 Jun. Disappointing. In Nepal, he saw how the Dharma path met Freak Street, and witnessed in China how doors locked to trade were thrown open with breathless courtesy. Nicely put, Mr. Iyer! There was a part about Japan too, and judging by it I'd say the author has a good insight into the cultures he's writing about, for someone who doesn't speak the languages of the countries he's visited. In other words, the book is about how the West (the US in particular) has influenced these countries from their economy, politics, sports, morality, etc. But I certainly remember how the 80s played out here in the states and it was fascinating to read what was going on halfway around the globe... Ah, the 80s...no matter where you were, who could forget? Iyer's chronicling of the east in the 80s will remain a classic for this very reason: It is literature as time-travel. I'm obsessed with it.) "Paradise seduce tourist, tourist reduce paradise." I was late by more than a decade since the Iyer wrote his book but I still saw most of what he wrote about - the expats in Hong Kong, the night life in Patpong, the tourist bus in China, the slums in Mumbai and the salary men of Tokyo. In his Afterword, he offered his answer: both. For example, having said the above, he followed it up with the question: who is really influencing who? I'll let you know. `Yes, yes,' he said, thinking that I doubted him. Each country has its own chapter in the book but the sequence is not chronological. I'm not typically a fan of travel books, but I found this one really enjoyable. Free delivery for many products! It's a very dated book, from a privileged male solo traveller perspective. Best Seller. It reminded me of my own adventures, and the well written narratives brought back much of the fascination I felt originally. He never bothers to encounter anybody except tourists and taxi drivers. 5.0 1 rating. The Overstory: Winner of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, "A wild and wonderful tour through the westernized East" --. Ebook $11.99. Approved third parties also use these tools in connection with our display of ads. Once in a while I like to read a good travel book, preferably about Asia. Amid his sharp reportage and analysis, Video Night in Kathmandu ‘s greatest strength is Iyer’s refusal to draw prim moral conclusions as Western popular culture bumps up against the traditions of the East. Pico Iyer was more nuanced in his observations and they never felt too colonial or too preachy. Internet had barely a presence in Asia at that point, and only the rich had mobile phones. Bali as paradise lost, Nepal as Hippie Magic Bus Tour, India’s Bollywood, Thailand its skin trade, Japan and its passion for baseball. The exception was his description of India, where I found him to be off mark. The actual author seems to be a bit stuck up; I recall he called short Asian women dwarfs or something of the like. If he was eager to learn where East meets West, how pop culture and imperialism penetrated through the world's most ancient civilisations, then the truths he began to uncover were more startling, more subtle, more complex then he ever anticipated. When Pico Iyer began his travels, he wanted to know how Rambo conquered Asia. Obviously, Asia has changed immeasurably since then, and his descriptions of a Beijing full of bicycles, the Philippines under the Marcos regime, or Bollywood movies where the women are all plump, give the book a quaint "snapshot" feel. He expressed as many sad and disappointed feelings as he did exciting ones, and it seemed like he had an energy about him that was neither too hippy-dippy-backpacker nor too stoic. Set in the mid 80's, Pico's travel writing worked on two levels for me - one, in terms of his destinations, and the other, in terms of time. Disappointing. Right from the first page, with his interpretation of the Rambo phenomenon in Asia, his sharp wit makes this book a great read. I understand that he wants to be ‘real’ about tourism, and expose the realities of it, but you’ve got to also share the positives with the negatives. I read this book in preparing for a trip to Asia - also, my boyfriend happened to own it. For one the book is aptly titled. I'm shocked, shocked! several years before its time (first published 1988, the Soviet Union still existent), Iyer's relentless accounts of dynamic and hustler Asia, decadent and work-averse West predicts a state of affairs that comes to pass thirty years later... but the average Chinaman, of cours. Now it was my turn to look horrified. Is it because of them illustrating a time in the past, almost a history, and not the flavor of "right now"? It being the 1st of March, the book club lounge is now open for discussion on this one. If you have any question about this novel, Please don't hesitate to contact us or translate team. Video Night in Katmandu on the other hand, was written in 1989, and it was a very different world then. Be the first to ask a question about Video Night in Kathmandu and Other Reports from the Not-So-Far East. He is remarkably prescient about so much that's to come, and yet little of the writing is dated, if at all. His thesis is how American pop-culture is being exported and adopted throughout Asia. He does point out some contrarian aspects of each culture, but the bulk of the writing seems to confirm stereotypes. Iyer travelled to Bali where despite tourism he realised that Paradise might not be lost after all. Noopur Raval is a student of Masters in Arts & Aesthetics, JNU, a photographer, blogger and interesting character! Ship This Item — Qualifies for Free Shipping Buy Online, Pick up in Store Check Availability at Nearby Stores . 5. It's difficult for me to put a finger on it - is it because usually these travel accounts are written by the Westerners? Lowest Price ; Video Night in Kathmandu: And Other Reports from the Not-so-far … We work hard to protect your security and privacy. The book is gives readers an intriguing look at the Western world’s impact on Eastern culture, and how the tourism industry has affected the lives Asian citizens so heavily bombarded by propaganda, politics, and US standards. Obviously, my favorite is the chapter about Iyer's experience in the Philippines. But why? I think what I really look for in any travel memoir, or basically any nonfictional narrative, is a stable narrator figure. View All Available Formats & Editions. Paperback $15.95. His "analysis" ends up reinforcing pre-existing stereotypes everywhere he goes. I want, for all the merging and de. What a clever fellow! It was interesting, but to me, it was more that it captured the 1980s in Asia, rather than delivered any ground-breaking insight into the culture. For anyone who has been around the world a bit, this book is just too obvious, and for anyone who hasn't, it's a cynical and jaded expose of...nothing too interesting. Nothing like The Global Soul. Video night in Kathmandu by Pico Iyer, 1988, Bloomsbury edition, in English The character of Wayan, the child-father who was deserted by his wife put the human perspective in what has happened to this Australian haven. For anyone who has been around the world a bit, this book is just too obvious, and for anyone who hasn't, it's a cynical and jaded expose of...nothing too interesting. Find Video Night In Kathmandu by Iyer, Pico at Biblio. And now I see that d 3 most popular reviews on goodreads app are 2 or 3 stars. (Yes, I know that this is what most readers hate about Iyer's central voice, but I can't help it. Alfred A. Knopf. There are no discussion topics on this book yet. The actual author seems to be a bit stuck up; I recall he called short Asian women dwarfs or something of the like. "On almost every page you can smell the dust, the cheap perfume and the rum of Havana today, or better still, tonight." “Nw a kind of no-man's-land occupied by a neo-Elizabethan hugger-mugger of racketeers, drug dealers, gangsters and abortionists, the shark-toothed area seemed only a rowdier version of the city all around — a freewheeling, free-spending center of free enterprise.”, Jenny Lawson Talks Humor, Depression, and the Underrated Virtue of Kindness. Most of the essays have an overarching theme through which he looked at the country. I found some bits good and other bits a bit tedious. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Iyer wrote the truth, however painful. (Yes, I know that this is what most readers hate about Iyer's central voice, but I can't help it. Usually ships within 6 days. The first chapter is about the paradise island of Bali focusing on the effect of the tourism to the previously gentle and virgin island. There was a part about Japan too, and judging by it I'd say the author has a good insight into the cultures he's writing about, for someone who doesn't speak the languages of the countries he's visited. I read this book while I was travelling in northern India, and while it is a little out of date now (published in 1989), it captures so many of the weird and wonderful things about Asia. Part of Vintage Departures Part of Vintage Departures. Video Night in Kathmandu is a collection of essays describing his travels though Asia in the mid-1980s. Especially enjoyed Japan, Tibet, and Nepal. He posits the book as some form of postmodern inquiry into the nature and effects of globalisation, and accepts that globalisation - and the relationship between the global and the local - work both ways but I think he fails to answer one of his initial questions,'how America was regarded and constituted abroad'. Inside the temples, Nature held her breath. You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition. Some of them were naturally interesting, particularly Burma, which he describes as this land lost in time. Start by marking “Video Night in Kathmandu and Other Reports from the Not-So-Far East” as Want to Read: Error rating book. As an acclaimed travel writer, he began his career documenting a neglected aspect of travel -- the sometimes surreal disconnect between local tradition and imported global pop culture. In some ways, I was nostalgic for the world described in this book at a time before the great homogenization of the internet. This book was patronizing bordering on the repulsive. © 1996-2021, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates, Pay over 3-months interest-free with an Instalment Plan on your Amazon Mastercard, The Global Soul: Jet Lag, Shopping Malls and the Search for Home, Click here to see what's on their shelves. He found too much prostitution in Thailand when he should have found beauty. Re: Video Night In Kathmandu I found it very uneven. We’d love your help. Why did Dire Straits blast out over Hiroshima, Bruce Spingsteen over Bali and Madonna over all? And as someone who has hired a Filipino, I can certainly confirm the last point. What else did I gather? Pico Iyer is a British-born essayist and novelist of Indian descent. When did this pursuit of illusions and vested interests, with it's curious mix of innocence and calculation, turn from confrontation into the mating dance? He admitted he had never formally studied Asian affairs and didn't know any of the languages of the countries he visited, but he is well-traveled and well-informed. Well written, witty and fascinating account of travelling in Asia in the 80s. Suggests reading modern Asia writers Leithauser and Morley. E-mail after purchase. Though I'm a big fan of Pico's work - and, okay, this is a really weird reason to award something three stars instead of the requisite four - I didn't think there was enough "judgment" or "opinion" contained in his prose. Pico Iyer is a British-born essayist and novelist of Indian descent. His fascination with young Asian girls is creepy in the extreme. Share - Video Night in Kathmandu: And Other Reports from the Not-So-Far East by Pico Iyer (Paperback, 1990) Video Night in Kathmandu: And Other Reports from the Not-So-Far East by Pico Iyer (Paperback, 1990) 1 product rating | Write a review. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. Paperback. We use cookies and similar tools to enhance your shopping experience, to provide our services, understand how customers use our services so we can make improvements, and display ads, including interest-based ads. In her first post she writes about her favorite travel read – Video Night In Kathmandu by Pico Iyer, on HappyReading Blog: Pico Iyer is a talented writer and a thoughtful cultural analyst. Why did Dire Straits blast out over Hiroshima, Bruce Springsteen over Bali and Madonna over all? Video night in Kathmandu by Pico Iyer, 1988, Knopf edition, in English - 1st ed. Video Night in Kathmandu: And Other Reports from the Not-so-far East Pico Iyer Snippet view - 1988. Please try your request again later. Though I'm a big fan of Pico's work - and, okay, this is a really weird reason to award something three stars instead of the requisite four - I didn't think there was enough "judgment" or "opinion" contained in his prose. Details are so distracting, it is worth getting them right. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Refresh and try again. 4. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of, Published Welcome back. Jun 18, 1989 | ISBN 9780679722168 Buy. This is a world where the movie star has become a god and Rajiv Ghandi a celluloid hero and to travel with Iyer is to experience the seductions and ironies of today's Asian cultures - and our own. $11.99. A book of "I traveled to ____ and saw how East Meets West" stories. `I am porridge.'" Video Night In Kathmandu is written by the author Pico Iyer,Is a wonderful light novel,Currently Www.WuxiaLeague.Com has been updated to Chapter 16,If you like this novel of Video Night In Kathmandu, please share it with your friends. I think it was arranged according to how Iyer would like to impact or influence the mind of the reader and I think he was able to do that effectively. … Obviously, Asia has changed immeasurably since then, and his descriptions of a Beijing full of bicycles, the Philippines under the Marcos regime, or Bollywood movies where the women are all plump, give the book a quaint "snapshot" feel. When did this pursuit of illusions and vested interests, with it's curious mix of innocence and calculation, turn from confrontation into the mating dance? Michael Jackson cd's for sale in Indonesian villages? I have to admit, I was hoping for something else. It was interesting, but to me, it was more that it captured the 1980s in Asia, rather than delivered any ground-breaking insight into the culture. I mean, nothing wrong with that. Pico rails about how badly the West has polluted the rest of the world, lamenting the ruined purity of far-flung places. If you do not want to accept all cookies or would like to learn more about how we use cookies, click "Customise cookies". This book was patronizing bordering on the repulsive. What a clever fellow! In may cases, it was almost as if Iyer saw what he wanted to see - a single-minded Chinese populace, an introspective and peaceful Burma, an efficiency-oriented Japan etc. Pico Iyer tries so hard to be arch and snide towards careless, self-absorbed Western tourists only to end up acting just like them, every time, everywhere he goes. The book is comparable to the video houses in Kathmandu showing different movies or programs that are mainly about US stuff - Rambo, American football, etc. And if you don’t know her, just read one of her books and she becomes the funniest person you... Mohawk hair-cuts in Bali, yuppies in Hong Kong and Rambo rip-offs in the movie houses of Bombay are just a few of the jarring images that Iyer brings back from the Far East. Paperback (Reprint) $ 15.95. View all » Common terms and phrases. Of the dozen or so pieces, the one on Japan was superb, so were the introduction and conclusion. But the rest made me wish I hadnt picked up this book. This is a perfect example of how being aware of colonialism does not magically prevent you from participating in it. This is a world where the movie star has become a god and Rajiv Gandhi a celluloid hero, and to travel with Iyer is to experience the seductions and ironies of today's Asian cultures - and our own. Then I heard him interviewed about his interactions with the Dalai Lama on the NPR program Fresh Air. His fascinati. At the time of his travels he was a writer on world affairs for, The book is about his 6-month visit to the different countries in the Far East in 1985. Video Night in Kathmandu: And Other Reports from the Not-So-Far East 400. by Pico Iyer | Editorial Reviews. Video Night in Kathmandu: And Other Reports from the Not-So-Far East (Vintage Departures) eBook: Iyer, Pico: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store Select Your Cookie Preferences We use cookies and similar tools to enhance your shopping experience, to provide our services, understand how customers use our services so we can make improvements, and display ads. Who was hustling whom? In each chapter, he writes about a particular experience or theme for each of the places he visited. He is quite different in the final chapter of the book, stating that he had experienced so much beauty in his travels, and sharing how long the relationships he made with locals lasted and that the East has just as significant an impact on the US as we have on the East. Hope you enjoy it. If he was eager to learn where East meets West, how pop culture and imperialism penetrated through the world's most ancient civilisations, then the truths he began to uncover were … True. several years before its time (first published 1988, the Soviet Union still existent), Iyer's relentless accounts of dynamic and hustler Asia, decadent and work-averse West predicts a state of affairs that comes to pass thirty years later... but the average Chinaman, of course, is still a Guangzhou hustler of middle-school education and the average Westerner still a junior-college office worker with four weeks' vacation a year. "PIRATE!" I think what I really look for in any travel memoir, or basically any nonfictional narrative, is a stable narrator figure. When Pico Iyer began his travels, he wanted to know how Rambo conquered Asia. better to be fascinating wrong than boringly nigh-correct, one supposes, and in this regard, Pico Iyer's most famous work 'Video Night in Katmandu' deserves its sort of backpacker fame, it's name dropping in Bali and Lhasa. This is a perfect example of how being aware of colonialism does not magically prevent you from participating in it. He finds what he expects to find; this book is about as interesting as a restaurant review of Chil. I want, for all the merging and destruction and going on in the outside world, to have a narrator that I can depend on and turn to in times of confusion. Instead, he casts things in terms of a tenuous romance. The book is about his 6-month visit to the different countries in the Far East in 1985. The author's time in Asia happened in the mid 80s, with the latest visit being 1987. I didn't realise on starting this book that it was written in the 1980s. Especially enjoyed Japan, Tibet, and Nepal. Video. Overall, a quick amusing journey into a past Asia I'll never experience - supposedly, MUCH has changed. Come visit LightNovelsOnl.com sometime to read the latest chapter of Video Night In Kathmandu. Video Night In Kathmandu summary: Video Night In Kathmandu summary is updating. hotels menus luxuries "American Dreams are strongest in the hearts of those who have seen America only in their dreams" Corruption Philippines Women living off of bodies obsession of the English language drug Category: Travel: Asia | Travel Writing Category: Travel: Asia | Travel Writing. I think it was arranged according to how Iyer would like to impact or influence the mind of the reader and I think he was able to do that effectively. Conditions apply. Jenny Lawson is the funniest person you know. Planet Food. No wonder, Pico Iyer is a TIME writer. He finds what he expects to find; this book is about as interesting as a restaurant review of Chili's or TGI Fridays. I first heard of Pico Iyer by reading his liner notes in THE ESSENTIAL LEONARD COHEN compilation. I found the glimpses of things that have definitively changed to be interesting, and often they made me wish I had some sort of comparative current nonfiction text about the region, to compare, but this is really a problem of my lack of comprehensive reading, not the book's. Or is it because the personality of the author barges in way too much at times? It's beautifully written and realized. This means that Thailand listens to American Top 40 music but in the end it is still Thailand and not America. Video Nights in Kathmandu is a travel-lit classic. Clearly, he is a devout seeker with an admirable curiousity. Globe Trekker. It reminded me of my own adventures, and the well written narratives brought back much of the fascination I felt originally. His vocabulary is definitely deeper than Nicholas Sparks. From his accounts, I’ve seen the poverty and the riches, which I quite like. Excellent read.I reread half of this book in Dec. 97 and still enjoyed it. I read this book in preparing for a trip to Asia - also, my boyfriend happened to own it. Since then, he has written ten books, exploring also the cultural consequences of isolation, whether writing about the exiled spiritual leaders of. The writing itself was entertaining enough to keep me engaged though - clever, colorful, even sometimes a bit too much so. I was able to relate to this book because since 1999 up to couple of years back I traveled extensively to most of these Asian countries. Iyer in his introduction tells us this is “less like a conventional travel diary than a series of essays” of a “casual traveler’s casual observations” of the Asia he saw “over the course of two years... [spending] a total of seven months crisscrossing the continent.” Each chapter covers his thoughts about one country: Bail (Indonesia), Tibet, Nepal, China, Philippines, Burma, Hong Kong, India, Thailand, Japan.