"The Old Patagonia Express is I think travel literature at its best. I hadn't really read any travel literature that was quite like this. The idea itself was very provocative, I thought. The author Paul Theroux gets on a train in Massachusetts, and he rides a train all the way to the tip of Patagonia; and he writes about it in a very personal way and also very fresh, open and honest way that I think is fabulous.

I remember the opening scene in which he gets on the commuter train, local commuter train right there in Massachusetts; and he describes the workers who are commuting to work, and described their vagrant - their vacant stares and their resigned looks and that in contrast to himself who was off on this grand adventure. Was very moving, and I immediately had to read the rest of the book.

I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the whole book. I enjoyed learning not only more about the fabulous places that he's visited in his adventure but also more about the author, which you get out of this book. You learn a lot about who he is and how he thinks and feels, and it adds depth to the travel literature.

I would recommend that anyone who is traveling, particularly to South America, read this book because it gives you depth and understanding about the people, the culture; it gives you a flavor of the various countries in South America, and it's timeless. It doesn't matter that this was written I think more than 20 years ago. It's a timeless piece of travel literature. I would give this book five stars."

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