Kingdom by the Sea

A Journey Around the Coast of Britian

By: Paul Theroux

Narrated by: Ron Keith

American-born Paul Theroux had lived in England for 11 years when he realized he'd explored dozens of exotic locations without discovering anything about his adopted home. So, with a knapsack on his back, he set out to explore by walking and by short train trips. The result is a witty, observant and often acerbic look at an ever eccentric assortments of Brits in all shapes and sizes.©1983 The Cape Cod Scriveners Company (P)1990 Recorded Books, LLC

how the author saw almost every impression as grey and depressing.

when it was over, I felt immediately better. why the author stayed in Britain given his impression of it and it's people is an act of self flagulation.

A Gem, of Travel Writing

This book is one, of my favorite, nonfiction tales, in a long time. Superb!

Portrait of an Island and a People

This is an intricate portrait of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, revealing much about the country and its people. The only drawback is that it's dated - set very much in the time he took the journey. I'd love to encourage him to retrace his steps to see what's changed and what hasn't - just as he did in "Ghost Train to the Eastern Star" (retracing, as far as possible, his route in "The Great Railway Bazaar"). Both of those books, as well as his other maginifcent travelogues, are highly recommended.

Not Theroux at his Best, but still a Worthy Listen

I'm a fan of Theroux's travel writing, and almost didn't pick this one up after listening to the sample and reading the complaints from the other reviewers about how the British narrator created confusion since Theroux is American.

However, something you may not know about Theroux (I did not) was that he had lived in England for 11 years prior to writing this piece, and the introduction states he had even picked up an English accent. While I'm sure it was not as pure as the narrator's, simply knowing this bit of information helped put me at ease. In addition, Ron Keith is a fine narrator who performs a wide range of regional and class-based accents during the reading, and these accents helped give a sense of where Theroux was, and who he was speaking with, at any given time. This would not have been possible with an American narrator.

As for the content, it is important to remember that this book was written in 1983, when many of the coastal communities in the United Kingdom were in steep decline. Theroux purposefully avoids the touristy spots, not entering even a single castle. Most of his encounters are with the working classes, so this travelogue has a gritty feel to it that one would not get from, for example, Bill Bryson's book (which I found a bit saccharine, as much as I enjoy Bryson).

That said, something about this book left me wanting. I'm not quite sure what is missing here that is present in Theroux's other books; he visits another writer (Jan Morris), and comments on others (some information on Orwell I found particularly interesting). He doesn't comment much on what he is reading, if anything on his journey, and as I write this I've realized that he doesn't describe much "down time" in general, when he's huddled in his room or in a pub at the end of the day -- this travelogue is almost all movement, and thus has a somewhat exhausting feel to it. Theroux feels like he's in a hurry, and you, as reader (or listener), get dragged along with him.

EXELLENT

An other excellent book by Paul Theroux.
It is well worth reading/ listening, you are right there with him on his adventures and descriptions.
I am always sad when I come to the end of his books.
The narrator Ron Keith is a pleasure to listen to.
My thanks to all involved, JK.

Casting creates utter confusion

Mind you, Ron Keith is a fine narrator - but he's so miscast as the American protagonist that Kingdom by the Sea is irretrievably sunk. Theroux's book is no mere travelogue; it's an outsider's wryly affectionate study of a foreign culture. The producers of the audio book completely miss the point: Imagine an American's observations on Brits and Britishness - voiced in the first person, but in a British accent. The result is ruinous confusion: an Englishman seems to be studying Englishmen and their oddly foreign ways. What's next for this producer? Casting Kate Hudson to narrate an autiobiography of Winston Churchill?

HUGE FAN

I AM ONE OF PAUL THEROUX SUPER FANS. FIRST LISTENED TO RIDING THE IRON ROOSTER IN ABOUT 1996 AND HAVE
TRIED TO LISTEN TO EVERY TRAVEL BOOK AT LEAST TWO TIMES SINCE. I LOVE PAUL'S REALISTIC VIEWPOINT, HIS WAY
OF LOOKING AT THE WORLD HE TRAVELS THROUGH, (THE FLOORS OF THE TRAINS IN CHINA COVERED IN ORANGE PEELS
AND SPIT WITHIN MINUTES OF LEAVING THE STATIONS IN CHINA, ETC. ) MADE QUITE AN IMPRESSION ON ME.

I LISTEN TO THE BOOKS AND SPEND A GREAT DEAL OF TIME ON GOOGLE MAPS TRYING TO GET A SATELITE VIEW OF
WHAT HE IS EXPERIENCING.

THANK YOU, I DON'T HAVE TO PACK, FIGHT THE CROWDS, GET PUSHED AROUND OR SMELL THE SMELLS, YET I FEEL LIKE I'M TRAVELING WITH A SALTY COMPANION WHO SEES THE WORLD LIKE I DO.

This book is ruined by the narrator

Is there anything you would change about this book?

One has only to compare this book with Bill Bryson- who also writes travel books as an America Ex-pat. He has picked up a bit of a British accent, loves Britain, but sees the absurdities.
This narrator instead of fond irony sounds smug and deprecating.
I think I may get the book and try again-in general I have loved Paul Theroux,

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Just plain grating, and it was really hard to synthesis the British voice with the american point of view,.

Was Kingdom by the Sea worth the listening time?

Still struggling to finish

Any additional comments?

Why ruin a good book ?

a dull country full of dullards

I really tried to get into this, but the country itself just isn't interesting. I got a refund. This is perhaps Paul's least interesting work. Somehow the country that got us all speaking this language must have something redeeming to write about, but it wasn't in this book.

Basically depressing!

In this book’s description it said something about its being humorous and acerbic, at turns. Well, I’d say, mostly acerbic, perhaps justifiably so, since the routes he selected in his idea to circumnavigate Great Britain and Northern Ireland’s coastlines mostly on foot, featured pathways taking him into many depressed, down-on-luck, economically floundering, seedy little burgs. We “get to” meet people barely making it from day-to-day, perhaps steeped in drugs, porn, sadness & hopelessness, ill health, poverty…Yikes! By about two-thirds, I jumped ship; I’d had enough. I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone!
I read/listen to be: entertained, enlightened, introduced to unusual ideas & places, delighted… Never, ever do I feel compelled — no matter the writer’s style, acumen, many recommendations nor popular acclaim — to read or listen to focuses on the hopeless or depressing. Just not what I want. Life can throw enough challenges in our direction. This book reminded me of deciding to listen to daily news blurbs featuring the down-&-out, the marginal, the desperate and finally, the dead, all of which we “get to” focus on in The Kingdom By the Sea. I was surprised — certainly NOT delighted!