At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig
Travels through Paraguay
Published on 5. February 2004
Book
Paperback/Softback
400 pages
978-0-09-941655-5 (ISBN)
Description
Paraguay - the name conjures up everything most exotic and extreme in South America. It's a place of hellish jungles, dictators, fraudsters and Nazis, utopian experiments, missionaries and lurid coups. It's not a place for the timid tourist. It doesn't even have its own guidebook. But Paraguay, as revealed in this outstanding new travel book, is among the most beautiful and captivating countries in the world. The beguiling Paraguayans, despised and feared by their neighbours, are unfathomable. They adore Diana, Princess of Wales, as if she were still alive and hundreds volunteered to fight for Britain in the Falklands War. Their politics are Byzantine but when the Vice-President is murdered, they call in Scotland Yard. Discover more about the unique traditions of South American culture through this fascinating piece of travel journalism.
Reviews / Votes
A glorious travel book - Edward Marriot * The Sunday Times * [Gimlette's] account is so rich in anecdotes, so suffused in color and dialect that we are left with a sense of having somehow inhaled all this Paraguayan history and then experienced it through a nightmare or a dream. Gimlette has given us a cast of characters as vivid as any by Dickens or Waugh * New York Times * Full of surprises, this is a riveting read * Sunday Telegraph * Off the wall title, and a great off centre enjoyment, with a smashing, entertaining piece of writing... * Manchester Evening News * John Gimlette's extraordinary book, part history, part travelogue, is so vivid that nobody reading it is ever likely to forget the country. - Max Davidson * Daily Telegraph * Colorful and meandering, by turns hilarious and horrifying, often delightful. . .and very, very odd. . . . An entirely faithful reflection of its subject * New York Times Book Review * Gimlette knows his subject cold, and it's a subject bound to have something for everyone . . . Charming and vivid. . . crammed full of a wild cast of characters and incredible experiences * San Francisco Chronicle * A hilarious, informed anti-travelogue . . . with generous detail grounded in the author's personal experiences, this is a travel book of the mind * The Boston Globe *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Cornerstone
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Illustrations
16
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 24 mm
Weight
477 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-09-941655-5 (9780099416555)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
08/2011
1st Edition
Cornerstone Digital
€12.99
Available for download
Person
Although this is his first book, John Gimlette is already well established as a travel journalist, having won the Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize for an essay which has led to this book, and the Wanderlust Travel Writing Award. He writes regularly for the Telegraph. When not deep in the jungles of Paraguay he practises as a barrister in London. He is currently writing his second book, Theatre of Fish: Travels through Newfoundland and Labrador.