Wild Coast: Travels on South America's Untamed Edge (Vintage Departures)

i've read all of Gimlette's books and they all enlighten and entertain. these are not 'travel' books in the traditional sense. you won't learn about how to get cheap flights or hotels but you will learn plenty about local history and people, good and bad. in 'Wild Coast', i learned about the complex (and ultimately tragic) history of slavery, Amerindians and European colonists of three small south american countries: Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. Gimlette travels deep into the interior where not even the locals want to go. he follows the paths of earlier explorers but brings history right up to the present and its lasting impacts. of course, there are historical figures but also present day characters, and they are all colorful real people. the land (along with its flora and myriad crawlies) is described in detail and let me admit that it did not inspire me to go there. Gimlette has surely taken me to those places. it was a wild ride which in fact completed just a couple of days ago.

I like this book. Some parts, I love 'em! Yet, it is not a perfect book, and I believe that he author enjoys picturing these lands in a darker way than they really are. I love they way the author describes the cities, the villages, and the land. I love how he creatively depicts all the characters he encounters along the way - a mixture of thieves, scums, workers, politicians that seem to blend all together in these three countries. I also loved the research done by the author before travelling to these countries, telling us a lot about the history and the "why" things are what they are today. Yet, as an anthropologist I feel that sometimes he over-simplistically tries to judge what people do. And he has a negative outlook that makes these people look more like damned souls than normal people. He seems to deny these people the opportunity to be happy and to actually enjoy their lifestyle - perhaps all the people he met had problems? Also, I can see his interest in describing everything negatively from the use of adjectives (dark, ghostly, haunted) that he often uses even for describing the pristine rain forest. But, you know, everyone has his/her biases, and they certainly don't spoil the enjoyment out of what is a welcome addition to the (poor) collection of books on Guayana, Suriname, and French Guyana. If you like travel literature, you will enjoy this book.

A comprehensive travel through the 3 Guyanas. John’s writing style is witty, sarcy and unsimple. References and resources are plentiful 👍

After reading the blurbs on the back cover and inside jacket, one would assume that this is a tale of high adventure and exciting exploits, sprinkled with wit and humor...not quite. The author's intent and gutsy undertakings are to be commended but the redundant theme of gruesome atrocities and brutalities wears away on the reader. These were horrific acts of human nature and we should be aware of these butcheries and bloodbaths on both sides of the slavery issue, but again, this subject matter is overdone. Taken as a whole, it is a good history of a land few dare to venture but do not expect thrilling, attention-grabbing content.

I've been waiting for this one. We've been on John Gimlette's adventures before. He's hauled us along over muddy wartime roads (Panther Soup: Travels Through Europe in War and Peace), through unforgiving territory (Theatre of Fish: Travels Through Newfoundland and Labrador) and into a mysterious country that is not Uruguay (The Tomb of the Inflatable Pig: Travels Through Paraguay). Now we're in the Guianas and this time. . . Wow, what a trip! The Wild Coast is not to be taken lightly. But Mr Gimlette is an eternal optimist and is fascinated by residents and boat captains, hangers-on and roomers, wanderers and dangerous characters who tell him their stories, take him to ghastly sites, uncover long-hidden relics or (after considerable soul-searching) decide they cannot talk about what they have seen. Yet despite setbacks and eternal waits in the rain or days wandering down endless rivers that are either "huge and spectacularly violent" or "thin and slinky, carnivorous and black", he never loses his sense of wonder. Mr Gimlette's descriptive powers are boundless. "Lizards held the stage. They were usually tegus--each four feet long--and would spend all day on the lawns, taxiing up and down like little airliners, waiting for their wings. Along one wall of my hut was a beautiful toga, behind which lived a colony of bats." He considers everything worth asking about ("How had [the city of Parmaribo] ended up with square coins and a banknote for 2 1/2 dollars?") or describing ("We were five miles down the Essequibo [River], and half-way up Turtle Mountain. . . .We were now surrounded by giant amber crabs and vines as fat and smooth as transatlantic cables. Meanwhile, up in the canopy, there were balls of mud, assembled by the ants, the size of cars. . . .Everything here seemed to cackle and scream." And we never know what to expect next. We see Jonestown through the eyes of Guyana's residents, including a single soldier's story of the aftermath. We reach Guyana's golden savannahs, something like the Wild West, only . . . wilder. A cattle roundup is done bareback and barefoot by the "ponytails": vaqueros with "long knives, El Greco faces and leather gaiters--they were like some ancient barefoot cavalry". And we keep going through Suriname and French Guiana, up and down treacherous river highways and nearly non-existent roads, in search of whatever is there. Throughout the trip Mr Gimlette makes us acutely aware of the pervasive misery caused by centuries of slavery. It is overarching, omnipresent, shameful, shocking, brutal, immoral and unforgettable. It affected not only its victims--Africans, Amerindians and Javanese--but also their descendants, many of whom (as offspring of runaway slaves) were forced to learn to survive by hiding deep in the forests, far out of sight of even the most insignificant river, some to the present day. This is the Wild Coast we see through Mr Gimlette's eyes, and we are privileged to be along on such a remarkable trip. So put on your boots, take a deep breath, and get on board!

This is a very interesting read taking the reader into a part of the world we don't hear much about. The mighty rivers, vast Savannahs, races of people who live there, and the history surrounding it all, including Jones Town, is fascinating.

Gimlette took me to three places I had not even dreamed of before. Yes, we've all heard of the strange South American jungles, and read a little about them in books like "Fordlandia." But we've yet to meet the strange people who prowl those dark, fusty places. Gimlette changes that. Colonizers, slaves, tribe members, some wacky adventurers -- they are fully introduced and explain how these three countries remain as mysterious as they were hundreds of years ago. And by adding details of his own travels, Gimlette shows you what a trip to the dark side would be like today. I, for one, was glad to read about it, although being alongside him as he tread through the underbrush is not the way I'd like to spend my summer vacation. It's a great read, especially in light of today's news of the quest for oil off the South American coast. History could definitely repeat itself. Read "Wild Coast" and you'll see what I mean.

I purchased this book as research for a two week trip to Guyana and Suriname I just returned from. The author had me staying up late and reading through the night. I loved this book. I can't wait to get his other books. This book is totally worth reading, even if you're not traveling to the wild coast.