Video Night in Kathmandu: And Other Reports from the Not-So-Far East
by Pico Iyer
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Book Summary Information
Author: Pico IyerEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1989-06-18
ISBN: 0679722165
Number of pages: 400
Publisher: Vintage
Book Reviews of Video Night in Kathmandu: And Other Reports from the Not-So-Far East
Book Review: Loved It!
Summary: 5 Stars
While I agree that Video Night is abit dated, I still loved the book. And I was delighted to see Murni's restaurant mentioned in the book. I have heard about her for years from my friend who traveled many times to Bali and other places in Indonesia. What a pleasure to read this book.
Summary of Video Night in Kathmandu: And Other Reports from the Not-So-Far East
Mohawk hair-cuts in Bali, yuppies in Hong Kong and Rambo rip-offs in the movie houses of Bombay are just a few of the jarring images that Iyer brings back from the Far East.Only in India would the American film Rambo be remade with the title role played by a woman--in a sari, no less! Only in Hong Kong would a man at a cocktail party pick up a woman with the line "What do you think of the dollar?" And only in Video Night in Kathmandu will you find detailed, unsettling portraits of a Far East in flux as experienced by Pico Iyer, a travel writer beyond compare. Tibet, China, India, and Thailand--these are among the objects of Iyer's wanderlust, the subjects of 11 essays chronicling his travels. In India, he explores the lucrative Bombay film business: "The process of turning an American movie into an Indian one was not very difficult ... but it did require a few changes.... the Indian hero had to be domesticated, supplied with a father, a mother, and a clutch of family complications." As one film director told him, " ... for example, Rambo must be given a sister who was raped." In Bangkok he finds the sex trade is well nigh impossible to avoid: " ... by the time a third official government tout approached me with the novel invitation: 'My friend. You no like birdwatching?' I was inclined to suspect that ornithology was not among his interests."
Pico Iyer is more than just a travel writer. For four years, he wrote about world affairs for Time, and he brings to these brilliant, comical, and poignant essays his extensive knowledge of politics and culture as well as a journalist's eye for the telling details. Video Night in Kathmandu provides both a stark, unsettling view of modern Asia and an exploration of the ambivalent attitudes Asians hold toward the West.
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