> Babelio : https://www.babelio.com/livres/Sutcliffe-Vacances-indiennes/7600

> VACANCES INDIENNES, de William Sutcliffe. — Si vous avez décidé de partir en Inde pour la première fois surtout ne lisez pas ce livre ! L'humour grinçant et décapant de William Sutcliffe suffirait à vous décourager. Cette vision sans concessions des jeunes routards qui "font" l'Inde, Guide de Routard ou Lonely Planet en poche, sans rien comprendre à ce pays paradoxal, renvoie au texte de Jacques Vigne, page 9, sur les "bad trip".
Extrait :
- Qu'est ce que tu lis ? a demandé Liz.
- La Gita. Il a brandi un exemplaire écorné de la Bhagavad Gita.
- Super ! a fait Liz.
- C'est bien ? j'ai demandé. (…)
- C'est le livre. Il y a là-dedans tout ce qu'on a besoin de savoir sur l'Inde. Tu peux pas venir et ignorer la Gita.
- J'croyais que c'était le Lonely Planet le livre ? Est-ce que la Bhagavad Gita est meilleur que le Lonely ? Les prix sont plus à jour ? " Editions 10/18 n° 3776, Traduit de l'anglais, 8,08 euros, 310 pages. (MATHIEU)
—Infos Yoga, (54), Octobre 2005, (p. 42)

Meh...I enjoy travel books, especially well written ones. I was reading another book where this one was referenced and decided to read it. The part that got my interest was the distinction between tourist and traveler that the author - Sutcliffe, supposedly makes. The premise is some young (19 y/o) mates (male/female - but not a couple) travel to India on a pre-uni trip. The reason I chose the book is that it allegedly poked as much fun at the "hippie-esque" 'travelers' who castigate tourists for their shallowness, while indeed being quite shallow themselves. The book did that, just not in a particularly insightful, or even amusing way. The cover and back of book blurbs tout the wit, humor, and risqué nature of the book...but it was none of that. I finished it, but am somewhat abashed at doing so. I seldom toss books after reading them, but this one's going straight to GoodWill, although I'm having second thoughts on even inflicting any other readers. Skip it, you'll respect yourself more in the morning. ( )

Light humour; a perfect quick holiday read. ( )

I was expecting something a bit more profound, given that it's a Penguin book. Clearly they're not all literary. This book started off with a rather naff bit of dialogue between the main character and his eventual travelling companion. There was some amusement to be had early on during their travels in India (the man whose job it was to put backpacks on top of the bus, for example), and the bit about the tantric centre was wryly amusing, but largely it felt like chick-lit. At best, Nick Hornby without the clever language ( )

Hilarious! ( )