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"A
collection of travel pieces which convey the sights, sounds and
smells of the often desolate countries of South America with
great sensitivity, a sense of history, and at times, poetry. Seldom
has the task been better done." "South America has inspired an enormous number of travel books.
This one is dinstinguished by two principal virtues. First, theauthor
has an enviable ability to select facts, linking individual experiences
with larger themes. Second, he looks at the chacetristics of each
country in isolation rather than forcing his observations into generalisations
about the whole continent. In Brazil he finds a culture of body worship,
in Argentina a sad mixture of colonial grandeur and impoverishment.
With its brutal regime, Chile offers him the chance to see the subversive
hopes of a people that never unite in public demonstration. The chapters
are brief, but each paragraph reflects a rare depth of thought." "In the long shadow of Bruce Chatwin, Burns acquits himself
well…This book is full of charm. Burns is a shrewd observer,
deftly evocative of place." "The most enduring image is of Siamese twins in Ecuador. They
lie on the back of a cart covered in flies. Burns thinks they are
dead, but suddenly they jerk alive in a fit of epilepsy. For some
reason, it was a scene where the continent's hard, unyielding
soil seemed most like giving." "The strength of Jimmy's book is in the hard detail
and common sense, adding up to a vision of South America which looks
realistic to someone who has never been there." "His scenes and landscapes have a vivid, cinematic quality." |
