The Old Patagonian Express cover art

The Old Patagonian Express

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Old Patagonian Express

By: Paul Theroux
Narrated by: Norman Dietz
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £20.99

Buy Now for £20.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

The Old Patagonian Express tells of Paul Theroux's train journey down the length of North and South America. Beginning on Boston's subway, he depicts a voyage from ice-bound Massachusetts to the arid plateau of Argentina's most southerly tip.

Shivering and sweating by turns as the temperature and altitude rise and plummet, he describes the people he encountered - the tedious Mr Thornberry in Limón and reading to the legendary blind writer, Jorge Luis Borges, in Buenos Aires.

©1979 Cape Cod Scriveners Company (P)1986 Recorded Books Inc Adventure Travel Travel Writing & Commentary Adventure Latin American

Listeners also enjoyed...

 On the Plain of Snakes cover art
Ghost Train to the Eastern Star cover art
The Picture of Dorian Gray cover art
Great and Horrible News cover art
The Great Railway Bazaar cover art
Legacy cover art
Blood River cover art
Perilous Question cover art
To the Moon and Timbuktu cover art
The Writer on the Hill cover art
How an Average Man Lived an Adventurous Life cover art
Light in August cover art
The Alan Clark Diaries cover art
Himalaya cover art
The Lost Continent cover art
I Wonder as I Wander cover art

Critic reviews

"One of the most entrancing travel books written in our time." ( Financial Times)
"Travel writing at its most accomplished." ( Sunday Telegraph)
All stars
Most relevant  
I wish I had made this journey through North and South America before privatisation when the trains were still running as a joined up system but having come late to the party the next best thing is this book. You accompany the author on a beautifully recounted tale of the ups and downs of an adventure that - although it has a clear destination - has many uncertainties along the way. The narrator does justice to the book but there are some occasional issues with the recording. However these seem to belong to the time the book was written and for me they simply bring the tale to life. I particularly enjoyed his intelligent account of Buenos Aires’ culture and his literary conversations with Jorge Luis Borges.

Wonderful romantic tale of a great train journey

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A unique travel experience that is so vibrant and vivid its as if your there.

Unique travel experience

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Would have liked a bit more attempt at variety from the narrator in his Spanish accents which often sounded more like Chinese. But he did a good job of picking up Paul Theroux's humour and at times snide tone. The book is refreshingly honest in its depiction of the troubles and strife involved in travelling.

Great concept for travel book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Paints a vivid picture of the ever changing landscape and gives a real insight into a towns and cities and everyday lives of a continent I’ll probably never get to see for myself. But now I feel like I’ve been

Splendid

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Maybe I am a bit too young for the style that this books is written in.

I was hoping for something Michael Palinesque and this book is not.

I made it to chapter 5 before I gave it up.

I found each chapter to be repetitive, with similar descriptions of people and places. At times the descriptions of the girls he came across could be at best lecherous and at worst salacious and bawdy. I'm not a prude but in this day and age, to read about a man 'noticing' every working girl or attractive woman he comes across is boring.

Wasn't the kind of travel writing I was hoping for.

I gave up!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
No complaint about the book, its a good read but every sentence you can hear the reader clicking his lips together and it is relentlessly annoying.

Awful reader

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Shame the narrator can't read English must be because he's American. You'll end up grinding your teeth and baffled to the meanings of some simple sentences.

mispronounciation

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.