Review
Tales from the Torrid Zone follows what
has become the standard formula for travel books - interesting
facts, mixed with humorous anecdotes and a smattering of
autobiography. Frater makes for a genial companion, and the book
is a reflection of the zone it describes. It is a book that
languishes, gently and seemingly aimlessly, in awe of each place
as it wanders from one tropical destination to another;
sometimes fascinating, sometimes unexpected, sometimes rather
slow. As Frater himself says, "Sometimes, I imagine a mildly
narcotic vapor drifts across the Torrid Zone...it causes a kind
of stupefaction in its victims". The reader can imagine the book
being written in a warm, humid climate with the heat sapping the
writer's energy so that nothing moves too quickly and both
writer and reader can...
Beyond the Book
Alexander Frater has contributed
to various UK publications and, as chief
travel correspondent for the
Observer
newspaper, has won an unprecedented
number of British Press Travel Awards.
Miles Kington calls him 'the funniest
man who wrote for
Punch since the
war'. He lives in London and whenever
time and money allow, is likely to be
found skulking deep in the hot, wet
tropics.
Quick Tropical Facts:
- The tropics are the geographic
region of the Earth centered on the
equator and limited in latitude by
the Tropic of...
