Twitchhiker - Paul Smith

"It was quiet and still, the
very dead of night when the
dead themselves might consider
turning in, and I had no business
being awake."

Date Finished: 12th July 2012

There were five rules of Twitchhiker. I can only accept offers of travel and accommodation from people on Twitter. I can't make any travel plans further than three days in advance. I can only spend money on food, drink and anything that might fit in my suitcase. If there is more than one offer, I choose which I take. If there is only one, I have to take it within 48 hours. If I am unable to find a way to move on from a location within 48 hours, the challenge is over and I go home. 

My Thoughts: First impressions of this book were good - it seemed to have the dry wit and humour that the likes of 'Yes Man' entertained me with, and I was really looking forward to getting stuck in. It seems like a fascinating idea, to travel the world with nothing but the good-will of others to help you on your way.

And so you would expect really interesting cultural observations, crazy characters and heart-warming, funny tales. And you get very little of any of this. Paul Smith tells us mainly about him being drunk; waking up with hangover after hangover; complaining about being tired and far from home; crying a lot; and throwing up a lot.

I could forgive the drunkenness if there were some bizarre escapades and hilarious events that happened during these episodes. I could forgive the endless descriptions of hangovers if he didn't tell us that he sat around on his computer for the rest of the day. And of course he's tired and missing home - we don't need to be told this over and over. Too much vomit and too many tears.

The locations he visited during the course of his travelling must have been amazing, and they would have been brilliant to read about. But Paul doesn't really get chance to explore until the very end. This might not have been his fault, but as a reader I want to be captivated by the locations and entertained by amazing sights and the awesome things that happen. Even just a bit of down to Earth reflection on his deeper thoughts would have sufficed.

As for the other people in the book, Paul doesn't really do them much justice. A brief (and usually quite shallow) physical description and an outline of their personalities - and they are each just another sentence on another piece of paper. Don't get me wrong, he might be a lovely fellow when he isn't being moody and tired, but I really don't like Paul as a person in this book.

In short, although this Twitchhiking business might have been an amazing adventure for Paul and the others involved, and the journey did raise a lot of money for charity (good for him!), as an entertaining read it failed. I'm not quite sure whether the critics on the book cover were reading the same book as me to be honest.

Recommendation: I would be quite reluctant to recommend this to anyone really. Perhaps somebody who is an avid reader of travel literature might be good to give this a go. Or anybody fascinated with Twitter and its social implications. It's not a terrible read after all, just not a particularly good one. 

I RATED THIS 4/10

Click here to grab this at Waterstones.com