I decided to read Nicolas Sparks "three weeks with my brother " - a memoir about his travels to several historical landmarks around the world with his elder brother Micah for two reasons. One, I had heard a lot about Nicholas Sparks and his wonderful work as an author. Second, due to my immense love for travel and knowing about new places and cultures. Two very good reasons to start the book indeed and I was very upbeat about reading it in days to come. Unfortunately, much to my dismay , the book is far ( read way way far) from justifying Nicholas Sparks image as a great author.

For starters, if you think you'd get to know much about the culture and history of landmarks like Machu Pichu in Peru , Ayers Rock in Australia , The Temples at Angkor Cambodia - which are some of the many places the Sparks brothers visit during course of their three week trip - then - well this not the book for you! What you can expect is a touch and go to these places with juvenile antics of Sparks brothers filled with disregard for local cultures of places they visit , their behaviour often edging on being plain crass .

First thing one should know as a traveler is to respect different people and cultures. Second, I believe a sense of curiosity is very important if one is to capitalize on any small or big opportunity to travel to any known or not so known place. What makes me so flabbergasted is the way , on more than one occasion, the Sparks brother mocks at places which have thousands years of history and tradition behind them. One doesn't expect them or any other traveler for that matter to be filled with utmost reverence for each and every place that they visit. But then expecting a little respect won't be asking for too much! Consider this :

On their first stop on the trip, the brothers visit Yaxhá and Tikal in Guatamala. Yaxhá is both the name of a lagoon and the site of a city built more that 1500 years ago. It was once the third largest city in the Mayan empire. Elder brother Sparks makes a heartfelt comment "I never believed I could get so excited about seeing a pile of dirt!" Subsequently, they visit Tikal - the hub of Mayan life - which has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. As the guide is discussing about the historical context of the site , elder brother Micah whispers " Have someone get a picture of me lying on the ( sacrificial) stone, while you pretend to stab me , wouldn't that be cool?" Younger brother Nicholas , seeing the enraged guide ( who happens to be a Mayan) tries to tell the big bro that the guide looked pretty mad, as did people running the tour." You'r insulting their culture !" to which elder brother replies simply that " Ah, they 'll get over it, They won't even remember it" .

At Ayer's rock in Australia - the largest single unit or monolith stone in the world, the guide is talking about aboriginals and their culture in which brother Micah is least interested. Younger brother Nicholas says " C'mon it's interesting . It's a culture we know nothing about!" to which Micah snaps "The reason we don't know anything about it because it's boring" . What does one say to a statement like that. It leaves me speechless to both sensitivity and sensibility of the speaker!

The conversations ( disheartening as they are to any reasonable person) speaks much about brothers attitude towards other places they would soon visit.

These rather bland descriptions of some on the most intriguing places in the world are backdrop to authors biographical account of his growing up years - the hopes, aspirations, ups and downs. For some parts this makes good reading and is filled with insights into struggles he and his family went through over years and how they bonded in the process . I do admire the fact that the author has come a long way from a not so super privileged ( though reasonably middle class ) childhood to being a best selling author. He , like almost everybody does, has had personal trials and tribulations and has in turn gained strength from them to become a stronger person.However, many a times the writing moves from excessive self pitying to narcissism. Time and again, the author talks about extreme poverty they grew up in , how they did not have as much as other kids, how their relatives always had more, how they ate all cookies they could eat when they went to somebodies house, how they'd break most of their cousins toys during visit to their house, how they didn't have air conditioning during a trip to Grand Canyon, how the first house they owned was sooo small - it just had 4 rooms, an office, a living room, kitchen and a converted garage ( which would be considered a luxurious living in many third world countries the brothers later travel to!) .

As I said, the book far from justifies Nicholas Sparks' reputation as a great writer. It leaves you wanting for way more by way of quality writing. Hopefully his other novels are better than this one! ( )

Oh brother!

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If you have ever wondered why Americans have such a bad reputation as tourists, this book gives an amazingly detailed account of narcissistic and vulgar behaviour while traveling abroad. The picture on the back cover shows two suntanned Americans with teeth whiter than the whites of their eyes smiling as if on a photo shoot for L.L Bean (hm, I wonder who their target audience might be?) - yes, they are definitely ready to explore the world having read up on their Jules Verne, of course...

It almost felt as if I were reading a satire - surely this could not be written as a serious account? It comes across as extremely insulting and condescending, and I happen to be one of "these Norwegians" that the author claims to be "among the friendliest on earth"... As with most of his "observations", he bases his said conclusion on his interactions with the locals that happen to entertain them while out touring away from the hotel. Or as his insights so succintly states "Over the years, I've visited numerous countries, and I've learned that until you meet the people in a relaxed setting, doing what they normally do, you haven't actually experienced what the country is all about". Wow... I wonder what prevented them to "do what they normally do" in India or Ethiopia...

It would mostly be a laughable account suitable for a Christopher Guest mockumentary if it hadn't been for the sheer vulgarity. They shock the natives by pulling selfish pranks on sacred sites, they mock the aborigines and find "this stuff boring", they make fun of the poor guides who are there to "entertain them", they are flabbergasted when a bar in Peru can't find a channel that shows the Super Bowl in English, they make fun of anyone who actually finds interest in architectural details beyond the brochure blurbs and resent their "lecturing", they are bored with ruins if they don't look like a good movie set, they get "museumed out", they call on their cell phones to their spouses back home on top of temples to tell them how incredible it all is...

The irony, of course, is that they see themselves as adventure and culture seekers and acute descriptions such as "awesome", "amazing", "unbelievable" and "breathtaking" are littered throughout the text. For a feel of the complexity of the narrattion, sample these nuggets of travelogue speak:

"I never believed I could get so excited about seeing a pile of dirt".

"There were trillions of flies".

"Entire books have been written on the subject of the carvings alone, and it's far beyond the scope of this volume to even attempt to comment on them".

"As they say, you must see it to believe it".

"Architectually, it's amazing, and I can see why it took decades to build it".

"All we could do was stare out the window (of the bus), wondering how on earth people survived like this".

"This looks...boring. How long are we supposed to be here?"

"Saying that you went dogsledding in Norway with a team that once competed in the Iditarod is more fun than the sledding itself"

In between the travel diary, we get a presentation of the family history. There are musings about their childhood, the trauma of their parent's deaths (which happened after they were grown up), the sad story about their little sister battling a brain tumor, and some rather bland religious ponderings. Some of their childhood memories are quite touching, like all childhood memories are. However, the story about how the brothers took pride in destroying all their cousins' toys (and still seemingly think this is funny) is ironic since it is completely believable.
Also, the author has an almost pathological need to impress his readers with, well, himself...His only seeming fault seems to be that he tries to accomplish too much. After a tirade on how a devoted dad and husband he is, he offers this humble passage: "Somehow, despite all that, I squeezed in time to earn a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, lift weights, and jog daily. I continued to read a hundred books a year. I slept less that five hours a night". Wow - poor superman...By the way, if you go to his website (which is complete with a glossy photo shoot, and where you can read that he has been voted "the sexiest author"), the first thing you get to read is whether you knew if he had a black belt in Tae Kwon Do? I almost feel sorry for the guy...

Finally, the passage that lingers in my mind is the author's claim that when he grew up "they were desperately poor" because they were fed powdered milk, oatmeal and potatoes and only received toys for birthdays and Christmas...
How anyone can actually write that after visiting some of the places they did (albeit in the comfort of guided tours, air-conditioned buses, and endless cocktail parties) is a sad commentary in itself. ( )