Books : The Motorcycle Diaries: A Journey Around South America
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 918
EAN: 9781859840665
ISBN: 1857023994
Label: Verso
Manufacturer: Verso
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 156
Publication Date: 1996-10
Publisher: Verso
Sales Rank: 412851
Studio: Verso
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
In January 1952, two young men from Buenos Aires set out to explore South America on an ancient Norton motorbike. The journey lasted six months and took them thousands of miles, all the way from Argentina to Venezuela. En route, there was disasters and discoveries, high drama, low comedy, fights, parties and a lot of serious drinking. They met an extraordinary range of people: native indians and copper miners, lepers, police, wanderers and tourists. They became stowaways, firemen and football coaches, and joined in a strike. They sometimes fell in love, and frequently fell off the motorbike. Both of them kept diaries. One of them was a tall and good-looking medical student called Ernest Guevara de la Serna. Using the standard Argentinean nickname, others would sometimes refer to the two companions as Big Che and Little Che. In Ernesto's case, the nickname stuck. Within a decade the whole world would know Che Guevara. This is the story of that remarkable journey, eight years before the Cuban Revolution, in Che's own words, and illustrated with contemporary photographs. For Che, it was a formative experience, and amidst the humour and pathos of the tale, there are examples of his idealism and his solidarity with the poor and the oppressed. But it is far from being the diary of a militant, and sometimes very far from being "political correct", which may be the reason that the manuscript has only been made available now, a quarter century after Che's death in the Bolivian jungle. Instead, it is a record kept by an exuberant, intelligent and observant 23-year-old, describing what might have been the adventure of a lifetime - had his lifetime not turned into a much greater adventure.
Average Rating: 
Rating: -
Very good book to read to learn what goes on in the head on Che. He shares his emotions and passion for life and everything that comes along with it. This book is based more on his personal opinions, likes and dislikes. You would get the opportunity to get in his head and read his thoughts. A little too complicated to read. Its not like reading a chapter after a chapter in a book. Each memoir is his personal diary entry and not based on a day to day basis. Also contains black and white pictures taken either by him or his traveling along friend.
What i did not like about this book was the fact that the pages jumped around. One minute i was reading on pg33 and next minute i was on pg54 or so. It was really annoying because i had to constantly skip around and look for the pages and was always lost.
Rating:  -
I read the book pretty much ignoring the Che of later years and hoping to find the adventure of a young, passionate man free on the roads. I also hoped to get a glimpse at the human underneath the Che image.
As it turns out, Ernesto and Alberto were fairly forgettable guys who apparently had no particular fun on their great adventure. Maybe it is because the writing is very flat. Che was a colorless writer, noting the most banal and unexciting details that a better writer would leave out. He had no talent for descriptive, so places and people remain vague. And there is not an ounce of humor in the guy.
Had Che not gone onto notoriety as a revolutionary, this book would never have been published.
Even as an insight into the man, his fans will find nothing terribly revealing here, especially not what radicalized him. His enemies won't find much in particular worth hating. There is almost no political significance here, just as there is no particular adventure. What made him tick? How did he think and what did he feel? Guevara was not a good enough writer to get that on the page.
All in all, Che comes across as a bit of a cold fish. I expected something livelier and more adventurous.
Rating: -
I understand that he was an important historical figure but his adolescent writings are pretty uninteresting.
I much preferred the movie over the book.
Rating:  -
Che Guevara... Whether you respect him or not there is absolutely no denying the fact that he had a profound impact on the history of Central America and the Caribbean. This book is plainly and simply about a young man on a journey to become the person everyone knows in history. He sets out as a college student in his early twenties on the motorcycle La Poderosa II with Alberto Granado. When he returns a year later he has aged a hundred years. It is almost as though he has become a different person.
On his journey he saw the impoverished and the ignored. He saw indifference and hate. He saw racism and inequality... especially inequality.
This journey across the poor and rich regions of Latin America made Ernesto Che Guevara exactly who he was. In his travels he found he could not understand why some should have more than others. His communist views developed from seeing the unfair treatment of the poor. He was ready, by the end, to do whatever it took to win equality for all: even fight. As he said at the end of his book: "I feel my nostrils dilate, savoring the acrid smell of gunpowder and blood. The enemy's death; I steel my body, ready to do battle, and prepare myself to be a sacred space within which the bestial howl of the triumphant proletariat can resound with new energy and new hope."
Although a few things are lost to us English speakers through the translation and Argentine dialect this is a book which is full of rich detail ... Read More
Rating:  -
If this book were written by any other person, I'd give it 2 Stars. But because it's by Che, you at least get some insights into him, and that makes it a 3.
This was a turning point adventure for Che; it's the trip that turned him from curious medical student to doing down the path of revolutionary. For that alone, it's worth the read.
But if you're looking for an even better book about Che, and with all the adventure, get "Chasing Che" by Patrick Symms. It's an excellent read.
And if you're looking for a motorcycle adventure book, look no further than One-Man Caravan by Robert Fulton. Imagine traveling around the WORLD on a motorcycle BACK IN 1932. Complete with pictures, drawings and great writing ... simply a masterpiece within the genre.
Back to Motorcycle Diaries ... I think this book could have been so much more. Che was a good writer, but he stumbles on himself a lot. And, because he actually wrote this book AFTER the adventure was over, it feels like there is a lot of glossing over and "story fill" that robs it of the spontaneity it could have had.
Still, if you're into Che, it's probably on the "must read" list.
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