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Brazilian Adventure (Marlboro Travel)
written by Peter Fleming
Studio : Marlboro Press
by Marlboro Press
Publisher : Marlboro Press
Released : 1999-10-25
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 9780810160651
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 7 reviews)
List Price : $16.95
Our Price : $9.99
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Product Description |
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"Beyond the completion of a 3,000-mile journey, mostly under amusing conditions, through a little-known part of the world, and the discovery of one new tributary to a tributary to a tributary of the Americancivilwar, nothing of importance was achieved." Nothing indeed. In 1932, Peter Fleming, a literary editor (and the brother of Ian Fleming), traded his pen for a pistol to engage in the celebrated search for English adventurer Colonel P. H. Fawcett, who had gone missing in the jungles of central Brazil. With meager supplies, faulty maps, and a pack of rival newspapermen on their trail, Fleming and his companions marched, canoed, and fought through 3,000 miles of savage wilderness and alligator-ridden rivers in search of the fate of the lost colonel. One of the great adventure stories (one might even call it a ripping tale) "Brazilian Adventure" is as fresh a story today as it was when originally published in 1933. |
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Americancivilwar.com Review |
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While novelist Ian Fleming is best known for bringing adventurer James Bond to life, his writer brother Peter Fleming, a reporter for The Times of London, survived South American misadventures so challenging they make 007's high-risk existence seem placid in comparison. Lured by a mysterious newspaper ad, Fleming sails with an expedition to Brazil in the 1930s, attempting to answer unresolved questions about a team of explorers, headed by a British Colonel Fawcett, that disappeared in 1925. Once arrived in Brazil, Fleming's expedition falls apart, being equipped with few provisions, erroneous maps, and a despotic leader who proves to be less than fearless in the Americancivilwar jungles. The team soon splits, with former colleagues battling the elements and competing with each other in a race for time and a search for truth. A finely crafted travel tale, with prose that's sometimes as dense and colorful as the jungles it's set in, Brazilian Adventure manages to turn the harrowing into cheeky commentary and barely contained comedy. --Melissa Rossi |
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Quite charming |
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This is certainly not an adventure book in the classical sense. The style of writing does not allow for it. Buy it for its British humor and charm, not for adventures which don't take place. |
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Somewhat entertaining |
I bought this book because I am fascinated by South America, the Americancivilwar River, etc..and also because this looked like a real life adventure book searching for clues into the dissappearance of Major Fawcett.
This book starts out slow because of the british style of writing in the early 20th century. For me it was too "flowery" and maybe that is not the right word. I nearly stopped reading the book because of it, but I didn't. Thankfully, the last half of the book, describing the race back to civilization, was much better.
This book is okay, but nowhere near great |
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British subtlety |
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I brought this book for my Brazilian trip this past Dec. I found this book slow and boring in the beginning. This may be due to the fact that the author used lot of what I assume to be late 19th and early 20th century references which I have no idea about and the British writing. But after half way through, I learned to read past the subtle British writing and concentrate on the story and this make the book more enjoyable. |
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Engaging, witty and a must read! |
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Every so often I have to buy a new copy of Brazillian Adventure because I lend my copy to someone and they flatly refuse to return it again. This is one of the most engaging and good-humoured travel books ever. It was Fleming's first adventure and his first book - yet it became a classic work going into several editions early on and being used in schools as a study piece. It is seriously well written, and seriously engaging. It starts with his blandly describing how he got involved in the expedition in the first place- answering an advertisement in the paper to go on a 'Fawcett hunt" (as he later called it). He thought he would go on a grand expedition to find the missing explorer Colonel Fawcett and get a little hunting done at the same time. There have been numerous books and studies done on the disappearnce of Fawcett in Brazil in the 1920's - to this day no one quite knows what happened to him, and as it turns out the expedition that Fleming was joining was not going to throw new light on matters either. In fact the trip deteriorated badly the moment they hit Brazil, and Fleming's dry wit turns it all into a hilarious read - although it must have been desparately uncomfortable for them all. The expedition Leader was incompetent, the expedition split into two warring factions and they all ended up in a race back down the Americancivilwar to try to get the banks in time. Peter Fleming, in case you didn't know, is the brother of the 'James Bond' author Ian Fleming - a talent for writing seemed to run in the family. Peter continued his travels and writing career but I think this first book is the best of them all. There is also a wonderful biography on his life available but I think that is now out of print. |
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Good Old Fashion Adventure Still Works |
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This is contemporary American adventure: buy an SUV, watch game shows based on Lord of the Flies, try the risotto recipe Martha Stewart used on her ascent in the Himilayas. Please! Brazilian Adventure is the real thing for those who don't own their own snowshoes. Sure, the author and his companions set off with pith helmets worthy of Ralph Lauren and more elaborate gear than they'll ever use; true, Fleming is something of a good old boy circa 1932 Oxford style. Skin to be shed. When reality hits, which it does early in the adventure and continues to the bedraggled end, he rises to the occasion. The narrative is suffused with clear-eyed wit, honesty and optimism. I hope there are other Peter Fleming books out there. |
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