Meh...I enjoy travel books, especially well written ones. I was reading another book where this one was referenced and decided to read it. The part that got my interest was the distinction between tourist and traveler that the author - Sutcliffe, supposedly makes. The premise is some young (19 y/o) mates (male/female - but not a couple) travel to India on a pre-uni trip. The reason I chose the book is that it allegedly poked as much fun at the "hippie-esque" 'travelers' who castigate tourists for their shallowness, while indeed being quite shallow themselves. The book did that, just not in a particularly insightful, or even amusing way. The cover and back of book blurbs tout the wit, humor, and risqué nature of the book...but it was none of that. I finished it, but am somewhat abashed at doing so. I seldom toss books after reading them, but this one's going straight to GoodWill, although I'm having second thoughts on even inflicting any other readers. Skip it, you'll respect yourself more in the morning. ( )

Light humour; a perfect quick holiday read. ( )

I was expecting something a bit more profound, given that it's a Penguin book. Clearly they're not all literary. This book started off with a rather naff bit of dialogue between the main character and his eventual travelling companion. There was some amusement to be had early on during their travels in India (the man whose job it was to put backpacks on top of the bus, for example), and the bit about the tantric centre was wryly amusing, but largely it felt like chick-lit. At best, Nick Hornby without the clever language ( )

Hilarious! ( )

Rather funny book with (some) earnest points. ( )