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Review by Bruce Tierney
I want Michael Palin's job. Now, don't get me wrong, writing book reviews has its perks: the glamour, the high pay, the groupies . . . but I still want Michael Palin's job. Not only does he have a career as a member of Monty Python and as a movie actor ("A Fish Called Wanda"), he also gets paid to travel to exotic locales and to provide humorous commentary about his journeys, both in book form and on video. His first series took him around the world in 80 days, an homage to fictional explorer Phileas Fogg. The second trip, entitled "Pole to Pole," took Palin on a lengthy and unusual longitudinal voyage.
His most recent, and most ambitious venture thus far finds Palin circumnavigating the Pacific Rim. In "Full Circle," Palin begins and ends (almost, more on that later) on Little Diomede Island, a tiny rock in Alaska's Bering Strait, the most northwesterly point in the United States. Mainland Russia is a scant 30 miles away; the coast of Alaska is somewhat closer.
Through a combination of perseverance, "fixers" (local helpers who grease the wheels of bureaucracy), and, often, dumb good luck, Palin and his crew make their way counterclockwise around the Pacific Rim, the area being touted as the up-and-coming hub of commerce for the new millennium.
As you might imagine from a world-famous comedian, Palin has an eye for the absurd detail, and "Full Circle" is punctuated with innumerable examples: in Alaska, a quote from a local newspaper editor, "Our drunks are the friendliest in the world." In Qingdao, China, "Then the toasts began and all differences are set aside in a brain-softening combination of maotai -- a 55-proof spirit made from sorghum and wheat -- Chinese Chardonnay and Tsing Tao beer. So copious and fraternal are the toasts that I scarcely notice the sea slugs and crispy fried silkworm grubs that I pop into my mouth between them."
It is rare to find a travel book written by someone with the degree of wit and good humor (humour, actually) displayed by Michael Palin. "Full Circle" is amply illustrated, with many of the photographs bearing Palin's slightly befuddled visage, a charming stranger in strange lands. In the end, due to inclement weather, Palin and his intrepid troupe were unable to land on Little Diomede Island, thus barely missing closure of the "full circle." Palin is pragmatic, yet gentle, in his acceptance: "I feel sad, but not at all tearful. What the hell, after 50,000 miles of travel we are one mile out. As the Buddhists would say, only God is perfect."
Bruce Tierney has traveled many miles in exotic lands.
©1997, ProMotion, inc.
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