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I have a burning need to know stuff and I love asking awkward questions.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Just Finished Reading: The Motorcycle Diaries – Notes on a Latin American Journey by Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara

This has been in my pile-of-books since I saw the movie of the same name (although I understand that the movie concentrated on the diaries of Che’s friend and companion Alberto Granado). Taken as a straight travelogue this is interesting enough. Two young men in their 20’s set out on a journey across South America with far too little planning and far too high expectations of ultimate success. Both of them write diaries of their adventures which are eventually published. The defining thing about both books – though I have yet to read the Granado account – is that one of the young men later becomes a defining icon of the 1960’s. For one of the adventurous young men is the 23 year old Ernest Guevara – later known throughout the world simply as ‘Che’ (which is apparently the widely used slang name in Latin America for anyone from Argentina).

Whilst very readable and often funny I did find this slim volume a little disappointing. The film certainly made great play of the events during the epic journey that shaped Che’s later revolutionary radicalism. There were several instances mentioned in this book where the treatment both of the poor and the native population caused Che to examine closely some of the oppressive regimes they motored through but there was nothing like the flash of realisation I was expecting. This is not the story of how Ernesto became Che but the story of how two friends managed to stop from killing themselves on a badly thought out and poorly planed adventure. Despite the fact that this book will not really help you understand how a young doctor to be became a revolutionary, this is still an interesting read. It represents a snap-shot of South American life in 1952 and can stand on that alone. It also puts some context into the pre-Che personality of a future revolutionary which, again, is interesting in itself. Just don’t, as I did, expect it to tell you much about why he was so central to the Cuban revolution and why he died in Bolivia fighting for what he believed in.

8 comments:

Thomas Fummo said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Thomas Fummo said...

Ooh, I'll definitely look out for this one.

I also recommend you have a listen to the fifth song I posted on my blog yesterday. Definitely a lot more revolutionary spirit in there :-)

venceremos, adelanteee
o victoriaa
o muerte!

:-D

dbackdad said...

You ever get the feeling that people stop by your blog just because they were searching for some term (in this case Che) and really don't read your post or your blog? :-)

Anyway, I really liked the movie of the same name, so I might have to check this book out. I already have a few Che books: a bio of some kind and a book written by a wife of his.

Stephen said...

I picked up this book because it came highly recommended in the context of leftist political history. After reading, I wasn't sure why: he comments on the way people are treated and makes his attitude toward the US clear, but as you said it's more of a travel story than a political tale.

wstachour said...

I saw the movie, but didn't find myself moved to explore further.

Love the Yoda picture!

Thomas Fummo said...

For the record I regularly read your blog, and I find that it was a mere happy coincidence that I recently posted a song on che guevara on my blog.
I only visit and follow this blog for the articles!

Yes, I just made your blog sound like playboy magazine.

I'm sorry.

CyberKitten said...

dbackdad said: You ever get the feeling that people stop by your blog just because they were searching for some term (in this case Che) and really don't read your post or your blog? :-)

TF? Oh, he's a regular.....

SC said: as you said it's more of a travel story than a political tale.

Most definitely - which is why I was disapointed. Maybe the other diary is slanted more that way?

wunelle said: I saw the movie, but didn't find myself moved to explore further.

I really liked it. It was also one of the few films in recent years I saw on my own because no one else would go with me [grin].

TF said: Yes, I just made your blog sound like playboy magazine.

[grin] Oh, I've read many interesting articles in Playboy......

dbackdad said...

Trenino -- My apologies. I did not mean to disparage you. CK seems to get more blog tourists and SPAM than most. Obviously, you are neither. I checked out your blog and like it quite a bit. Anybody that mentions both Che and Nietzsche in their blog is OK by me.