Holidays in Hell |  | Author: P.j. O'rourke
Publisher: Random House Audio
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
Buy Used: $4.29
You Save: $11.71 (73%)
Rating:  34 reviews
Sales Rank: 1977069
Format: Abridged, Audiobook
Media: Audio Cassette
Edition: Abridged
Number Of Items: 2
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 4.5 x 0.8
ISBN: 0679419381
Dewey Decimal Number: 814.54
EAN: 9780679419389
ASIN: 0679419381
Publication Date: October 4, 1994
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Condition: Tapes are in great condition. Box has normal wear. Ex-library copy with usual stickers and markings. Free delivery confirmation on all domestic orders.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
No doubt about it: P. J. O'Rourke has a bizarre sense of fun. "What I've ... been," he writes in his introduction to Holidays in Hell "is a Trouble Tourist--going to see insurrections, stupidities, political crises, civil disturbances and other human folly because ... because it's fun." Forget Hawaii or the Poconos--O'Rourke gets his jollies in places like war-torn Lebanon where he is greeted at the border by a gun barrel in his face, or Seoul, just in time for election-day violence. Wherever he goes, however, O'Rourke takes his quirky sense of humor, laser eye for detail, and artful way with words: a Philippine army officer is "powerful-looking in a short, compressed way, like an attack hamster," and the Syrian army is described as having "dozens of silly hats, mostly berets in yellow, orange and shocking pink, but also tiny pillbox chapeaux.... The paratroopers wear shiny gold jumpsuits and crack commando units have skin-tight fatigues in a camouflage pattern of violet, peach, flesh tone and vermilion on a background of vivid purple. This must give excellent protective coloration in, say, a room full of Palm Beach divorcees in Lily Pulitzer dresses." O'Rourke's flip, sarcastic style isn't for everyone, of course; the concept that anyone could find sightseeing in the Beirut or El Salvador of the 1980s fun might prove offensive to more than a few readers right off the bat. But love him or hate him, P. J. O'Rourke knows how to tell a good story, and if you like your travel writing laced with more than a little cynicism, Holidays in Hell could be just the book you've been looking for.
Product Description
A spin with P.J. O'Rourke is like a ride in the back of an old pickup over unpaved roads. You get where you're going fast, with exhilarating views -- but not without a few bruises."
-- The New York Times Book Review
P.J. O'Rourke travels to hellholes around the globe in Holidays in Hell, looking for trouble, the truth, and a good time. He is pepper-gassed in Korea; has a close encounter with a Philippine army officer he describes as "powerful-looking in a short, compressed way, like an attack hamster"; and concludes from these and various other journeys that "Some people are worried about the difference between fight and wrong. I'm worried about the difference between wrong and fun."
Victor Slezak's film work includes The Saint of Fort Washington and Strictly Business. He has starred on Television in "The Good Policeman" and "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles," and has guest starred on "Law and Order" and "Crime Story."
The Bachelor Home Companion, Give War a Chance, Parliament of Whores, and All the Trouble in the World, by P.J. O'Rourke, are also available from Random House AudioBooks.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 29 more reviews...
 Humorous, sarcastic and profound at the same time. September 18, 2008
Mark E. Baxter (Layton, UT United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you aren't familiar with PJ O'Rourke, the caustic, polically-incorrect humorist who used to write for the Rolling Stone when it was worth reading, this book of collected travel writings from the 1980's is a good place to start. Besides being funny, O'Rourke has an irritating way of insulting your favorite politician or political movement by pointing out their idiocy and forcing you to realize you are an idiot too for believing them. And you still enjoy the article.
O'Rourke is fairly conservative, in a libertarian sort of way, so if you think Gore is exciting, Hillary (or Bill for that matter) is sexy, and Obama is a black descendant of slaves who fought his way to the top via expensive prep schools, Columbia and Harvard, you probably won't enjoy this book. O'Rourke savages Republicans too, but he seems to enjoy skewering liberals more.
That said, this book is a collection of mostly foreign travels (with some American sites thrown in) to various dysfunctional areas of the world. If you have ever spent time in some of these places, he grasps their essence much better than a serious, straight-up political writer. Probably because he realizes that most politicians and official press agencies are steaming piles of horse-apples.
There are chapters on Lebanon, Russia, Nicaragua, Poland, Korea, El Salvador, Disney World, South Africa, Harvard, the Phillipines, and Panama. Most of these chapters were written at the time of some idealogical war. How can you not laugh at things like the Sandinista Director of Censorship denying there is any censorship by saying, "They [Newspaper La Prensa] accused us of suppressing freedom of expression. This was a lie and we could not let them publish it."
On a somber note, you will note that the same Sandinistas are back in power in Nicaragua, Europeans are still weenies ("Among the Euro-weenies" is still spot on), and all the bureacratic and political shenanigans and ironies are identical to what I suffered last time I tried to get on an airplane. (I never did make it since my 6 year old was on the "no-fly" list. Damn, how did they know he was such a spoiled brat?)
So read this and laugh, and then you can cry later when it all hits home.
In History August 28, 2008
Dagmar F. Pelzer (Miami, Florida)
Great book about travel in the 80's. Gives you a real feeling of how these places might have been back then, and my favorite was Lebanon. I imagine some war torn areas are like that now. The first few pages were amusing, but then they became serious as hell, though O'Rourke probably tried to be funny.
 Not funny July 31, 2007
Leizoor (Finland)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Ok, O'Rourke has this style of being intentionally very scholarly and distant to add to his entertainment value, but in my opinion the constant tongue-in-cheek-I'm-just-an-outside-observer-documenting-the-kookiness writing gets a little tedious after a while. Maybe it was fun in the 80's.
I have no problem with his humorous approach to serious issues if that's what you're thinking. Being a strange foreigner and all. I don't think it's offensive at all. But his stories read like all the crappy western travel anecdotes you've already heard combined. Like the ones Finnish dads are so excited about. Getting stuck in the Russian customs and bribing them with ballpoint pens. Problems with hygiene in all the poor countries. And France. And such. Not just funny anymore.
Irreverent, funny, and dated May 14, 2007
Gregory R. Rampton
Written in the 1980's, the 3rd world political references are a bit dated but his experiences in these countries and witty, irreverent observations are still relevant and entertaining. A good, light read with some quotable quotes.
 Now you know where Borat got his storyline! November 14, 2006
Katy Lake (The People's Republic of New Jersey)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I know this book goes back to when Reagan was president and the commies were one-upping one another in Siberia, but "Holidays in Hell," now more than ever, is still a freaking hysterical book!
I remember reading it after I got hooked on O'Rourke in college. I had to put the book away for the weekend, because I'd be sitting in British Lit and remember something O'Rourke said, then I'd start snickering like an extra in Reefer Madness. Dangerous book to read and try to keep your mind on anything else.
P.J. O'Rourke is a humor god, as far as I'm concerned - and as for Borat, he obviously plagerized "Holidays in Hell" for his movie!
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