by JennyDiski (Author)
In spite of the fact that her idea of travel is to stay home with the phone off the hook, Jenny Diski takes a trip around the perimeter of the USA by train. Somewhat reluctantly she meets all kinds of characters, all bursting with stories to tell and finds herself brooding about the marvellously familiar landscape of America, half-known already through film and television. Like the pulse of the train over the rails, the theme of the dying pleasures of smoking thrums through the book, along with reflections on the condition of solitude and the nature of friendship and memories triggered by her past times in psychiatric hospitals. Cutting between her troubled teenaged years and contemporary America, the journey becomes a study of strangers, strangeness and estrangement - from oneself, as well as from the world.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 288
Edition: New e.
Publisher: Virago
Published: 15 Jan 2004
ISBN 10: 1860499953
ISBN 13: 9781860499951
Book Overview: * Author PR activity to include media interviews and appearances at literature festivals * Review coverage * Submitted for trade promotions * Reading copies available * Advertising campaign in the literary press I.e. Granta, London Review of Books and Waterstone's Books Quarterly
Prizes: Winner of Thomas Cook Travel Book Award 2003 and Joe Ackerley Prize 2003. Shortlisted for Thomas Cook Travel Book Award 2003.