Review: This is a wonderful book
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 8, 2012
This is a wonderful book. A great travelogue such as this pulls you in, so you feel you are there with the narrator, experiencing what he is experiencing.In Travelling with Maria, Fred Schafer and his wife Maria leave Germany in the 1970s and explore India, Sri Lanka and Australia. The writer conjures up that sense of wonder that travellers feel when living in a country so different from their own. India's heady mix of beauty, poverty, serenity and bureaucracy often come across as bittersweet sources of delight and humour. Fred's hilarious troubles with officials over his typewriter, screamworthy at the time, are upon reflection lessons in and acceptance of the Indian culture.Will Fred and Maria find happiness in Australia? You must read the book to find out.Overall, an exhilarating read, worthy of comparison with Bill Bryson's work. Travelling with Maria is highly recommended.