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The Backpacker

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The Backpacker

By: John Harris
Narrated by: Tom Lawrence
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About this listen

A gripping adventure that takes the listener on a backpacking trip through South East Asia.

John’s trip to India starts badly when he finds himself looking at the sharp end of a knife in a train station cubicle. His life is saved by the enigmatic Rick, who persuades John to abandon his mundane plans for the future for much, much more.

Fast forward to the Thai island of Koh Pha-Ngan, where they pose as millionaire aristocrats in a hedonistic Eden of beautiful girls, free drugs, and wild beach parties. Soon pursued by the Thai Mafia, they escape to Indonesia, Australia, and Hong Kong, facing danger at every turn.

©2001 John Harris (P)2011 Audible Ltd Travel Writing & Commentary

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All stars
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Interesting book but the guy is a c*ck.

Spends his time in India making fun of disabled people and throwing stones at animals. Not exactly what you would expect from a ‘zen’ traveller.

The guys a c*ck

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I have listened to this book twice now and can relate to many of their stories. Great book and well read.

favourite audiobook by far

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The draw of this was to reminisce about my time travelling back in the '90s, back when travelling was safe.
The descriptions of the places ran pretty true to memory, but one thing that bothered me constantly through-out the book was Dave. First, I don't know any black guy in England who's name is 'Dave', let alone someone from New York! At least get the characterisation of the people right, the other was his associated dialogue. Awful, and completely none authentic.
As an easy book to listen to, yes, it was somewhat compelling and I was intrigued enough to find out how John and Rick went from penniless backpackers to riding a Rolls towards a yacht. The best description is that of an OK holiday read.

Worthy of a listen but no masterpiece.

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thoroughly enjoyable insight and we'll performed didn't expect to like this book but was very pleasantly surprised.

brilliant

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I listened to this book twice before writing this review because it left me feeling conflicted. It feels like someone rewrote Alex Garland's The Beach but did a poor job of reproducing it. There are a lot of themes and settings that are the same across both books. I read a review before buying the book, which referred to the protagonist as a d**k, which I have to agree with. I can't decide whether the author has deliberately written him this way or whether the author believes the comments made are acceptable. There were scenes of ableism, sexism, racism and transphobia all put across in the context of the protagonist having a laugh with other characters, which is not ok. The author appears to think nothing of referring to people as fat. This may have been workable if we were to see some kind of development of character over the course of the story, but we really don't which makes me feel the author may just be ok with this kind of language.

The story could have been really good in the hands of someone else. The similarity in some of the settings really could have been a way to appeal to fans of The Beach, I do think there were enough differences for this to have been amazing. Sadly, this feels like it was written by someone who read about the countries he used as a backdrop whereas the beach felt like the author has genuinely spent time understanding the cultures of the countries he wrote about.

The thing that carries this book for me is the narrator. He does a really good job and is pleasant to listen to, which has prompted me to look for a buy other books read by him.

Overall, the book is ok. It's worth a listen when you're in a bit of a book funk and have nothing else to read.

I feel so conflicted about his book.

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Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes would recommend as it was a fast moving entertaining story.

What other book might you compare The Backpacker to, and why?

Not the usual genre I read, so cannot really compare but would recommend

What does Tom Lawrence bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

I like listening to books and Tom Lawrence read the book extremely well and I could really imagine where his character was.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I never listen to books in one sitting but there were times when I did not want to switch it off as I wanted to know what happened next.

Good Book

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Great story to listen to whilst lying in the sun by the pool or on a beach

Awesome tale

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Decent length, plot doesn't die in itself and get dull. Perfect for an explorer at heart.

Di Caprio in The Beach if he grew some balls

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An exciting story of backpacking through Asia. Brought back some memories. Not very high brow but i wanted some escapism and this was perfect.

Brilliant fun

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I really enjoyed this book. It has everything, exotic cities, drugs, girls, sex, intrigue, deceit, friendship, sun drenched beaches, high seas adventure as well as exploitation, painful loss and new beginnings.
I felt very connected to all the main characters and lived their wonderment and pain with them.
Thoroughly recommend this book!

Total escapism, totally nail biting..... BRILLIANT

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