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Overview
Since his first voyage, as a sailor earning his passage from his native Holland to South America, Cees Nooteboom has never stopped traveling.Now his best travel pieces are gathered in this collection of immense range and depth, informed throughout by the author’s humanity and gentle humor. From exotic places such as Isfahan,Gambia, and Mali to seemingly domesticated places such as Australia and Munich,Nooteboom shares his view of the world, showing us the strangeness in places we thought we knew and the familiarity of places most of us will probably never see.
His phenomenal gifts as an observer and the wealth of his reading and learning make him an authoritative and delightful companion.
Nomad’s Hotel is a record of a world-class traveler’s many discoveries and insights.
Synopsis
Since his first voyage, as a sailor earning his passage from his native Holland to South America, Cees Nooteboom has never stopped traveling.Now his best travel pieces are gathered in this collection of immense range and depth, informed throughout by the author’s humanity and gentle humor. From exotic places such as Isfahan,Gambia, and Mali to seemingly domesticated places such as Australia and Munich,Nooteboom shares his view of the world, showing us the strangeness in places we thought we knew and the familiarity of places most of us will probably never see.
His phenomenal gifts as an observer and the wealth of his reading and learning make him an authoritative and delightful companion.
Nomad’s Hotel is a record of a world-class traveler’s many discoveries and insights.
The New York Times - Joshua Hammer
Nooteboom's observant eye and ravenous appetite for third-world backwaters sometimes recall the work of his contemporary, the Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski.
Editorials
Joshua Hammer
Nooteboom's observant eye and ravenous appetite for third-world backwaters sometimes recall the work of his contemporary, the Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski.—The New York Times
Library Journal
Dutch writer Nooteboom, whose works include highly acclaimed novels (e.g., Lost Paradise), poetry, and plays, surrounds his reader with the sounds, sights, and smells of his wanderings in this lyrical collection written over three decades. From the bone-chilling dampness of winter in the Aran Islands and the insistent bells marking time in the labyrinth of Venice to the endless dry and empty lands of Gambia and Mali, whose people struggle to find their future, Nooteboom weaves a compelling, perceptive, and yet wondering view of the places he visits. He writes with unease about Iran's future near the end of the last shah's reign and with awe at the sight of a fresco by Andrea Mantegna in Mantua. The book includes a small number of handsome black-and-white photographs. Armchair traveling at its best but also of interest to anyone who enjoys outstanding writing.
—Linda M. Kaufmann