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The Journeyer Gary Jennings 9780765349644 Books

Download As PDF : The Journeyer Gary Jennings 9780765349644 Books

The Journeyer Gary Jennings 9780765349644 Books

First, a confession: i couldn't finish this book. In fact, I barely got to page 200 (out of 821 - and the type is VERY small). I almost never drop a book once I'm that far into it. Occasionally, I'll read 50 pages or so and drop it, but that's quite rare as well. So my giving up on this one is quite remarkable.

I read Jennings's "Aztec" years ago and loved it. In fact, my copy was so dog-eared that I bought a new copy a few years ago so that I could read it again without having it disintegrate. I recently realized that I'd had "The Journeyer" on my bookshelf, where it had gone unread for 25+ years, so I picked it up. A big mistake, but at least now I have quite a bit of room on the shelf. The book reminded me of all those Calvin Klein commercials of years back (bear with me on this); you know, the ones where Brooke Shields said "if my jeans could talk...". Well, I figured if her jeans could talk it would be boring as all get-out. "She sat next to a fat lady on the bus." "She spilled tomato sauce on me." And so on. In other words, even the most fascinating lives can be deadly dull when nothing is edited out.

And so it goes with "The Journeyer." The life and travels of Marco Polo should be fascinating, but when nothing - and I mean nothing - is left out, his life seems interminable and tedious to the max. Even his descriptions of exotic locales are boring, with detailed descriptions of how fabrics were dyed in Baghdad (can you hear me yawning just thinking about it?) and the like. And the portions of the book that should have been at least titillating - i.e., the descriptions of the seemingly thousands of sexual encounters - reminded me of nothing so much as teenage boys talking about the time they got to second base (and I don't mean baseball); lots of clinical descriptions and references to pink nipples, "artichokes" (I will not explain) and other parts of the anatomy. I'm sure that, had I read more of the book, there would have been descriptions of sex with boys and men, or even sheep and other farm animals, but I just don't have the stomach for it - or, more important, the patience.

If you want to read something about world travel in the ancient or medieval world, read Gore Vidal's "Creation." There may have been lot of sex in that book as well, but if my memory serves me correctly, it was witty and interesting and much shorter.

I'm now concerned that if I go back to re-read "Aztec," it will be just as bad as "The Journeyer," but I hope not. More to come on that one, but probably not for a while.


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The Journeyer Gary Jennings 9780765349644 Books Reviews

I didn't think that Gary Jennings could top himself after the masterpiece that was "Aztec," but I was wrong. The amount of research that must have been done, and the attention to detail, then woven into this mesmerizing tale of a world that was on the brink of linking cultures previously kept separate by geography, topography, fear, and peril. You will love this book. You will alternately praise Jennings for his mastery at the craft of weaving a tapestry of curiosities and curse him for the sleep you lose when you absolutely must find out where the story leads. This is exactly the kind of book that can awaken in the reader a thirst for knowledge, history, and adventure. Be forewarned if you lend this book out, you'll never set eyes on it again.
Gary Jennings researched his novels to exacting detail, which gives his usually first-person-narrated stories an accuracy and sense of "being there" that few other authors can accomplish. Since Marco Polo was broadly quoted as saying that he had reported only half of what he had seen and done, Jennings took that quote as the springboard to tell the "other half" in The Journeyer. Oh, and does he! Jennings is a true tale spinner, a titillating yarn teller nonpareil. Although this review site's parameters for violence and sexual content are limited to only three perfunctory levels, Jennings' inclusions of violence and sexual content are of the most exquisite and delicious descriptive language. To be clear if heat bothers you, this kitchen is likely not for you. Nevertheless, once begun, The Journeyer is a hard read to put down. It's erudite, historically and argot accurate, and just plain fun to consume.
I'm an aspiring writer, so when I sit down to read a book, I'm not just reading it, I'm also looking at the nuts and bolts the author slapped it together with. So for me, finding a book with a writing style I enjoy is hard because I'm picky about the quality of the bits its made of and how those bits are soldered together. This one has a few ups and downs

Pros
- Solid writing style I have not found one, single, solitary typo, syntax issue, or vocabulary imbalance. Good job Gary!
- Easy read the author doesn't spend needless amounts of time describing places or objects and the plot follows a singe protagonist on a linear plot. It's impossible to get lost.
- Casual length its not too long, this book is only a few hundred pages.

Cons
- Booooorrrrrriiiiiing!!!!!!! Good lord, this book is boring. It starts slow, continues slower, and probably ends in a veritable crawl (I don't know because I couldn't finish the darn thing). Aside from 1 creepy scene where Marco is captured Acre, nothing happens. Ever. And when that kidnapping in Acre is over, Marco shrugs his shoulders at the gruesome, near-death experience and decides, "I guess I'll tell no one about this." The sorcerer doesn't come after him again for destroying all his urns and ruining his ritual; and the only permanent impact it has on the main character is, "figs and sesames are yucky now." Wow Jennings... profound. Marco doesn't develop paranoia, or revulsion, or a hatred of dark arts practitioners. He doesn't try to get revenge on the boys who drugged him and left him to a horrible fate. He doesn't report it to any authority figure to prevent others from befalling the same fate. Nothing. Just "oh well, moving on." So why was it even in the book?

As Jennings regales us about one uneventful scene and sets another, I keep waiting for something of significance to happen, a challenge to make the protagonist grow, getting separated from his dad and uncle, the appearance of a love interest, ANYTHING. I kept telling myself, "surely there must be a reason the author decided this middle-of-nowhere pit-stop was noteworthy enough to expend ink on," But we get nothing. Bad form, sir Jennings, bad form.

- Weak Protagonist The protagonist is a one dimensional, unlikable dolt with almost no interesting qualities. He doesn't have any goals or ambitions and just bounces around from place to place "experiencing" things, being led by his father and uncle---who are much more interesting characters than Marco, as they actually seem to have personalities and things they're striving for.

- Too many pointless side characters As he travels, Marco bumps into a ton of other people from paupers to princes, and -none- of them have any impact on the tone, direction, or pacing of the story. Marco doesn't really learn from them, none of them have anything unique or wise or memorable to say. Jennings could literally have deleted 90% of these dialogues and lost nothing from the actual plot.

- Pedophilia Uhh... Okay, so I get that other cultures are different, and this book takes place during a time period long before the present day... but I don't see how the incessant reemergence of little boys diddling each other and offering up their anuses adds anything to the story. Its uncomfortable, unnecessary, and serves no actual purpose other than perhaps to sate some unforgivably disgusting fetish for the author. Blegh.... what a wince-inducing waste of narrative. Jennings was better served by talking about architecture, ancient tools and tech, linguistics and cultural etiquette. Those are interesting ways to delineate their time / culture from ours. Not that any of that adds to the plot either. Which brings me to my next issue...

- What is the plot, exactly? At the beginning Marco sort of gets an ambition get laid. Its weaker than watered down Bud Lite, but at least he was trying to accomplish something. But after Marco's imprisonment in Venice, the plot becomes go somewhere else, I guess. But he doesn't do anything. He just follows along. He doesn't learn any cool skills or develop concerns / goals / needs of any variety. Anything can happen in the big open world, especially in those times. Would it have killed the author to invent something besides, "we bought a camel today, then rode that camel for like 5 months. One day I swallowed a bug." The End.
First, a confession i couldn't finish this book. In fact, I barely got to page 200 (out of 821 - and the type is VERY small). I almost never drop a book once I'm that far into it. Occasionally, I'll read 50 pages or so and drop it, but that's quite rare as well. So my giving up on this one is quite remarkable.

I read Jennings's "Aztec" years ago and loved it. In fact, my copy was so dog-eared that I bought a new copy a few years ago so that I could read it again without having it disintegrate. I recently realized that I'd had "The Journeyer" on my bookshelf, where it had gone unread for 25+ years, so I picked it up. A big mistake, but at least now I have quite a bit of room on the shelf. The book reminded me of all those Calvin Klein commercials of years back (bear with me on this); you know, the ones where Brooke Shields said "if my jeans could talk...". Well, I figured if her jeans could talk it would be boring as all get-out. "She sat next to a fat lady on the bus." "She spilled tomato sauce on me." And so on. In other words, even the most fascinating lives can be deadly dull when nothing is edited out.

And so it goes with "The Journeyer." The life and travels of Marco Polo should be fascinating, but when nothing - and I mean nothing - is left out, his life seems interminable and tedious to the max. Even his descriptions of exotic locales are boring, with detailed descriptions of how fabrics were dyed in Baghdad (can you hear me yawning just thinking about it?) and the like. And the portions of the book that should have been at least titillating - i.e., the descriptions of the seemingly thousands of sexual encounters - reminded me of nothing so much as teenage boys talking about the time they got to second base (and I don't mean baseball); lots of clinical descriptions and references to pink nipples, "artichokes" (I will not explain) and other parts of the anatomy. I'm sure that, had I read more of the book, there would have been descriptions of sex with boys and men, or even sheep and other farm animals, but I just don't have the stomach for it - or, more important, the patience.

If you want to read something about world travel in the ancient or medieval world, read Gore Vidal's "Creation." There may have been lot of sex in that book as well, but if my memory serves me correctly, it was witty and interesting and much shorter.

I'm now concerned that if I go back to re-read "Aztec," it will be just as bad as "The Journeyer," but I hope not. More to come on that one, but probably not for a while.