A Land of Two Halves: An Accidental Tour of New Zealand

This is a great book. My kiwi wife has always told me going to Invercargill is no good idea. Now I understand why. Joe Bennet writes short sentences, underscoring the puns. That can be irritating, but I find it's great. Reading this book as a New Zealander may be hard going on your national pride, though. This book is more fun than Where Underpants Come from

A badly written let down that does a beautiful country no justice. (1/2 people found this helpful)

As I'm leaving for an extended working/travelling break in NZ I'm trying to poke my nose into as many books written about the country as possible.

This is one I wish I'd never picked up.

I'm not one to not finish a book I start so I literally had to slog, work and force my way through this awful effort from a man whos publisher must've had a hangover on the day he read the script and just waved it through without reading it himself.

The writing style of the book is somewhere between boring, depressing and downright hopeless. The grammar and structure are fine but nothing grabs you and in no way does the writer attempt to keep his audience.

New Zealand, from what I know of it, is one of the most beautiful places in the world... but Mr Bennett seems set on slating both the country and its people at every given turn, as well as 'bigging himself up' for doing his research and writing as a hitch hiker.

Why?

His method of travel and transport is absolutely pointless and takes over where description of land, sea and sights should be in abundance.

Overall, this is just an incredibly cringeworthy and hard to read book and Joe Bennett is a very poor Bill Bryson wannabee.

What a shame......... (2/7 people found this helpful)

Having visited NZ briefly and just about to take an extended trip, I dived into the book to pick up tips of 'off the beaten track delights'. Oh dear this book is dreadfull!! It gives you no 'must visit' tips just a long list of things wrong with NZ. Why of why did Joe move there in the first place? Far from being witty and funny as the reviews descibe, Joe does his best to persuade people not to visit the delights of NZ. Sorry Joe this doesn't work on me. In this conservation world this book is a waste of a tree.

A hilarious and enlightening trip around New Zealand (3/5 people found this helpful)

Joe did, at 46, what others of his age would think the impossible; to tour the inaccessible vastness of New Zealand in the old traditional way - by hitching. His ability to achieve this feat (considering his age and self-stated physical disadvantages, and the dearth of traffic on many of the roads) is only surpassed by his witty, Bryson-like observations of the people that he met along the way. It really makes me want to pull out the old ruck sack and cardboard placard and head for the road. Let's have another one, Joe!

Good vintage - light on the palate with a lingering and very pleasing aftertaste (21/22 people found this helpful)

I first read this book a year ago, almost by chance; we were planning a 6-month stay in New Zealand, and the community library didn't have much else. Remember being amused by it, enjoying it a lot. Yes it is patchy and inconsistent, as another reviewer comments; what that reviewer fails to mention is that the book was written as a series of newspaper columns. It wasn't intended to be coherent; it didn't annoy me.

This is one of those books that make a bigger impact after reading than during. Whilst in New Zealand, it lingered in my memory. I felt I had a greater affinity with the place because of it. I've now bought it and am rereading it, with more pleasure than the first time. Because of the recognition.

I suppose Bennett is a cynic; he is also perceptive, and funny. To me, this is the best kind of travel writing: he's got an unerring eye for the countryside, puts real characters on the page, and enlivens it with interesting trivia and anecdotes.

One other thing: the first time I read the book, I didn't really appreciate what a fine writer he is, too. The prose is consistenly a pleasure to read. Which compares most favourably with the substandard dross that goes into 80% of travel writing!

A Land of Two Halves: An Accidental Tour of New Zealand

Joe Bennett

Reader Reviews:

Great fun! Laughed my way through it. (0/0 people found this helpful)

A badly written let down that does a beautiful country no justice. (1/2 people found this helpful)

What a shame......... (2/7 people found this helpful)

A hilarious and enlightening trip around New Zealand (3/5 people found this helpful)

Good vintage - light on the palate with a lingering and very pleasing aftertaste (21/22 people found this helpful)

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