Review of the TV mini series (2004)

It is quite an adventure,Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman ride their motorbikes from London to New York.Along the way they pass through several countries in Europe and Asia,alongwith Alaska.

For me,the most interesting part of the trip was when they passed through Mongolia's vast uninhabited landscape.There are few such open spaces left in the world now.

The motorcycles often malfunction and sometimes get bogged down in muddy and watery obstacles.There is also some very inhospitable terrain,including that of Siberia to pass through.

These guys are not necessarily the most likable ones,but they somehow stay the course.It makes for a thrilling adventure.

3.5 stars for the mini-series.I presume the series is more interesting than the book.The primary intention was to film the journey,and the book was more of a by ptoduct.

3.5 stars A bit better than average. Down deep, this is the story of two friends who take off on a Great Adventure. Along the way they find people and sites, experience hardships, see great poverty, and cement a friendship that withstood the events. Story told by seesawing between Ewan and Charley as narrators--and it works.

A good travel story and tale of adventure. Made me want to take a trip desperately and seek the same solitude they struggled with, appreciated, and then missed in turn. I always love glimpses into how other people live and this provided that in many ways as they talked about their travels through less-visited locations.

3.5 Stars. Unfortunately too many years have passed since I watched the Long Way Round docuseries to say whether or not this book offered anything new. I will say I probably enjoyed the docuseries more as the distinctions between Ewan and Charley’s personalities are more apparent on television and obviously there’s the visual component. That said though, this book is still worth reading if you enjoy either actor or crave a vicarious road trip.

The book switches back and forth from Ewan and Charley’s points of view, indicating who is speaking at the start of each segment. I have no doubt that these accounts of the trip came from Ewan and Charley, it’s just that the editor or whoever went through and polished things up polished them so thoroughly that Ewan and Charley’s “voices” as well as the few snippets of dialogue often sounded too similar. While Ewan and Charley share similarities like choice of profession, love of motorcycles, etc, I do think they are probably more distinguishable from one another than it tended to feel here.

Like I mentioned it’s been a long time since I watched the television series of this trip, so I also don’t recall whether Ewan and Charley’s whining felt as prominent on TV as it does in this book. During their most recent docuseries trip, maybe because they’re older, they seemed more laid back about things than they do here. There really is a tremendous amount of complaining here for two people who are being paid to go on a dream vacation. Sometimes I was like, well, we’re all occasionally guilty of whining about things that aren’t really worth whining over, it’s human, and good for them that they’re willing to include that flawed side of themselves here rather than presenting as perfect, but other times it just really got on my nerves since like I said, they were being paid to go on a dream vacation.

The content of the trip itself, the countries they visit that aren’t places often visited or documented, issues with the bikes, the moments where they reluctantly place their trust in strangers, it’s all interesting stuff, but I think it could have been that much better, had the book gone with slightly different formatting. As is too often the case with many books, there are photo sections rather than interspersing them throughout the book where they could have actually lined up with the timeline of the trip. It also seemed that the appendix in the back thoroughly detailing dates and destinations was so wasted there when I would have appreciated such specific details throughout the book where the sense of time in relation to place was often more vague than I would have preferred.

Long Way Round is a fairly well-known TV series documenting the journey undertaken by actors Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman in 2004, riding motorcycles all the way around the world from London to New York, across very remote and wild terrain in Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Siberia. McGregor was already quite a famous actor, appearing in Star Wars, Trainspotting and Big Fish; Boorman was considerably less well-known, in the shadow of both Ewan and his more famous father John Boorman (the director of Deliverance). Long Way Round turned out to be the largest success story of both their careers.

I'd already greatly enjoyed the TV series, and since I have motorbikes on the brain at the moment, I recently rewatched it and then picked up the book, which is ostensibly written by both of them but is actually obviously ghostwritten. The style is a bit strange, actually - it regularly cuts between Charley and Ewan, prefacing their segments with their names, but there is no difference whatsoever in their writing style (because, of course, they didn't really write it) and the only way I could ever remember who was talking was to see whether it was "Charley and I" or "Ewan and I" doing something. I'm really not sure why they chose that style.

The book is related in a fairly conversational tone, as though the two adventurers are telling you stories at the pub, and the chronology jumps around quite a bit in the early stages, with flashbacks to the planning sections while they're already riding through Europe. It's a very easy and quick read, and one which I found very enjoyable, but I wouldn't recommend it to somebody who hadn't already watched the TV series.

For somebody who has watched the TV series, however, it's a fascinating in-depth look at the journey. There were a lot of things which happened to them that weren't featured in the series simply because they didn't catch them on film and therefore couldn't work them into the narrative; my favourite would have to be Charley pulling two people out of a car crash on the Road of Bones. There's a deeper insight into their relationship with their two producers, Russ and David, including a crucial confrontation in Prague; there's also a deeper insight into the two men themselves. Both Ewan and Charley are extremely honest about what they think about themselves and each other: their flaws, their strengths, the things they do that really piss each other off... and the fact that, at the end of the day, their positives outweigh their negatives and they're still best friends. There's also appendices detailing the exact mileage and destinations they covered on every day off the trip, and a full inventory of all the equipment they carried on the bikes and in the support vehicles.

Overall, Long Way Round is an excellent supplement to its televised brother, but probably wouldn't work as a stand-alone book.

This is a great book! Ewan and Charley's travel stories inspired me to take my own journeys around the world. This details their travels on BMW motorcycles starting from London going all the way across Europe, Russia, Mongolia, taking a short plane across the Bering Strait, arriving in Alaska and driving across Canada and the United States to their final destination in New York City.

Although I'll probably never explore this earth on motorcycles the way they do, I definitely plan on seeing more of the world and some of the places they talk about in this book. This book is the first of three global journeys for this duo. I have also watched the documentaries and I highly recommend watching all of them.

Книга - сплошное разочарование.
Обожаю ли я Эвана МакГрегора? Дааа. Было ли интересным путешествие Эвана, его друга Чарли и их команды по Украине, Казахстану, Молдове, России, США и другим странам? Уверена, что да. Можно ли было о нем круто рассказать? Определённо. Получилось ли это у авторов? НЕТ.
Книга состоит из НЫТЬЯ. ПОЛНОСТЬЮ. В этом плане конкуренцию может составить разве что автобиография Дайан Китон.
Сначала авторы ��оют, потому что не могут найти продюсеров для своего путешествия-мечты. Потом (это нытьё занимает примерно 4/5 Книги) - о том, что они не укладываются в тайминг, что им тяжело, что они скучают по дому и хотят к семье, а не разъезжать по дикой восточной Европе, на жестах объясняться с местными, спать в палатках и вот это вот все. В конце они ноют потому, что приехали в Америку, бездорожье кончилось, вокруг - цивилизация, а приключение внезапно подошло к концу.
Реально, это невозможно терпеть. Я еле добралась до конца этого нуднейшего и скучнейшего повествования людей, которые побывали в офигенно интересном путешествии, но почему-то вообще не смогли о нем рассказать.
Им стоило бы поучиться у Брайана Крэнстона, который в своей автобиографии потрясающе рассказывает о том, как они с братом ездили по США вдвоём (если мне не изменяет память, как раз тоже на мотоциклах!)

I am a total sucker for armchair travel. I love reading about adventures and long distance travel, especially if done on a bike, foot or some other odd thing. I love reading about the details of what people ate, what gear they brought, funny stories of misunderstandings and the significance of meeting people on the road.
This book of Ewan McGregor and his buddy taking a motorcycle trip from London through Europe, into Kazakstan, Mongolia and Russia seemed initially to have all of those things. Win win, right? This was an easy read, and I am still glad I read it but the dialogue in this is fucking ridiculous. The two bicker constantly like an annoying married couple and then say things like, "I'm sorry I was short with you. I am missing my family, please forgive me. Let's go fix our motorcycles." They fight, make up like robots, and then swear they are going to relax and open them selves up to the joys of travel . Over and over and over and well, you know. Some of the travel details get lost in the non-stop discussions of their bikes, which is unfortunate. Their interactions with locals were usually the best parts of this and what ultimately kept me going. Also, I'm glad there are pictures because they are both really bad at setting the setting. Describe the scenery people! Quit wailing about the state of the road!
Red Flag: There is a lot about motorcycles. Like really really a lot.

This book is about two guys that ride motorcycles. I didn't care for it but respected the people who helped these two guys make it. The sacrifices that many made for two difficult to like men was interesting. Strangers as well as people paid to help them.
The target audience for this book is the two actors who went on the trip. Motorcycle enthusiasts. Maybe their families would enjoy it as well. I am not the target audience. I would not likely read another book by them.

I know jack about motorbikes, but the gear talk takes up very little space here.

This was a journey first, a tv show second and a book third and I feel like that comes through in the writing. They leave the show to provide you with the visual impact of the trip while the book acts as a supplement where they discuss their feelings about what they see and experience... suppose I won't know until I watch the series (looking forward to it).

Ewan comes across as a decent guy but prone to deep moods (both light and dark). Charlie occasionally seemed like a bit of a tool, this is even backed by the fact that he says that the support crew accused him of being a bully (though he disagrees with their assessment). In the end the extreme elements of the two men's personalities make for some interesting reading; ditto their remarkably stoic cameraman Claudio.

great book, love the imagry

The two head from London to NY on bikes across eastern Europe, Russia, Canada & America. They have lots of highs and lows, personality issues, homesickness and difficulties, definitely not easy. Made me more aware of my own travel anxieties. Good fun & easy to read, plus made me want to go to these countries too, particularly Mongolia.