Tuesday, February 13, 1996

Slowly Down the Ganges

by Eric Newby

Supposedly a tale of how he and his wife traveled down the Ganges in a variety of boats.  More like how he and his wife traveled along the basic course of the Ganges in a variety of buses and trains.  A very patchily written book, at times it would be fascinating – whether describing ancient history, the author's own reminisces, or the events of the voyage (which were also at times hilarious) – and at times it would just be page after page of pure description of ruined forts or the banks of the Ganges (cliffs, forest, silt, sandbars, ho hum).  The last chapter was particularly boring, being in toto a run-down, a bare litany, of all the landmarks on the Ramganga down to the Bay of Bengal.  Too bad; it had a lot of potential. 

three stars

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