Sparring with Charlie

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Neither a lark nor a pilgrimage, Hunt's Vietnamese travelogue was first conceived as deep background for a novel set in Southeast Asia. The subtitle refers to a web of tracks and paths, known collectively as the Ho Chi Minh Trail, that served as a north-south supply route for the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War. With an investment of $400, Hunt, a journalist for the Economist, purchased a Russian-made Minsk motorbike and rode it across some 5000 kilometers of Vietnam. At the outset, Hunt is acutely aware that his American passport won't permit him to travel incognito, because his "compatriots had dumped bombs equal to several Hiroshimas and a couple of Nagasakis on North Vietnam." He is all the more astonished that, this fact notwithstanding, a former South Vietnamese admits to him that "Americans sacrificed their lives to protect my freedom." More often than not, Hunt must search for the Ho Chi Minh Trail before he can explore it. While trying to reach Saigon, he encounters obstacles manifest as terrain, history, culture and, not least, an uncooperative automobile. This work captures a sense of sadness fused with a rush of adrenaline as Vietnam is once again reborn. (May)

Library Journal

In this whimsical first book, the 31-year-old author, now a journalist with the Economist, makes clear from the start that he is not old enough to have memories of the war in Vietnam or beliefs colored by it. Hunt begins his journey in Hanoi by buying a junker Russian motorcycle, acquiring an extra jerrycan of petrol and a Vietnamese phrase book, and heading southwest to try to retrace the 1700-kilometer-long supply routes used by the Vietcong during the war. His trip takes him both to cities like Hue and to poor, backwater villages throughout Vietnam and Laos. The absurdity of an American touring the rural areas of Vietnam without searching for memories of the war makes this a fascinating and fun book to read. Recommended for general collections.-Mary Ann Parker, California Dept. of Water Resources Law Lib., Sacramento

Kirkus Reviews

Thirtysomething Economist correspondent Hunt ventures to Vietnam to get his fair share of abuse, finding plenty of it when he wanders off the typical tourist path.

Hunt, fresh from a break-up with his girlfriend and three career changes (from journalism to law school to stand-up comedy), went to Vietnam to do research for a novel set along the old North Vietnamese infiltration route known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail. "I had to know what happened, both during and after the war," he says. "Was America really in the wrong?" And Hunt had a third goal: to see how he "would have fared under the miserable conditions that Americans and their enemies shared in Vietnam." The intrepid author embarked on an admittedly "half-baked plan" to experience the trail on a rickety motorbike. Our man gave up the novel research soon after he arrived in Vietnam. He ditched the idea of seeing most of the trail after several weeks of physical discomfort (rain, mud, impassable dead ends, potholes the size of Rhode Island, inedible food, unsanitary accommodations) and harassment from police and unfriendly natives. He decided to turn the trip into a less adventurous round of sightseeing. As for the big questions he poses about the war, Hunt does not come close to answering them. Nor does his research on contemporary Vietnam uncover anything that hasn't been documented in a half dozen recent books. The bulk of this fast-reading volume, then, is made up of a blow-by-blow description of Hunt's journey from Hanoi to Saigon, with stops in small towns, mountain villages, cities such as Hue, and a side trip into Laos. Along the way Hunt meets many Vietnamese. He peppers the descriptions of his hosts with language that is, at best, patronizing, for example, calling a large family "a litter of seven."

Hunt's most excellent adventure story reveals more about the adventurer than his exploits.