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A review by foggy_rosamund
Stranger on a Train by Jenny Diski
3.0
Aside from the obvious health downsides, I've always thought it would be pleasant to smoke. You always have an excuse to leave a gathering and get outside; and it gives you something to do with your hands. But, though Diski's memoir is, in part, a paean to smoking, it makes smoking seem very inconvenient. Diski is traveling by train in the US in the early 00s and constantly struggles to find a place she can smoke: the one thought in her mind is where she will be legally allowed to smoke and how long until her next cigarette. Though smoking laws in the UK are as stringent now as in the US, at the time of writing it was still legal for Diski to smoke in pubs and she desperately misses that freedom. But being one of a band of outlaws, of people brought together regardless of class, race or interests, by the single desire to find a legal place to smoke, Diski meets many people she would not have otherwise, and hears many different stories.
As a travel book, this is terrible: Diski has a very limited interest in the world outside of her head, and even though she spends every day on the American trains, she only sketchily describes the experience of train travel or the landscape she sees. Her interest is all internal: in her own past experiences, and how being alone on a train makes her feel. Fortunately, the inside of Diski's head is mostly a fascinating place to be, and her prose is direct, witty, and compelling. Though very little happens, this book flows along, and is only let down by feeling rather shapeless, and, at times, overlong.
As a travel book, this is terrible: Diski has a very limited interest in the world outside of her head, and even though she spends every day on the American trains, she only sketchily describes the experience of train travel or the landscape she sees. Her interest is all internal: in her own past experiences, and how being alone on a train makes her feel. Fortunately, the inside of Diski's head is mostly a fascinating place to be, and her prose is direct, witty, and compelling. Though very little happens, this book flows along, and is only let down by feeling rather shapeless, and, at times, overlong.