Book Review: Smile When You're Lying

Airport bookstores are usually riddled with bored tourists who forgot to put their laptops in their carry-on and need a book for the flight. Old men and women stand there, scanning each section, and leave disgruntled. "I'll sleep or watch the in-flight movies," their eyes say. It's no surprise that airport bookstores have the smallest range of books, and I would have more options from my own home library. However, in that small book hut was where I found Chuck Thompson's Smile When You're Lying. I rarely ever read non-fiction books, so I braced myself for the worst. But turns out, non-fiction books—when written by a very funny and entertaining author—are pretty awesome. 

Let's get to it:

I can't really summarize a book like this. You know when you book a trip somewhere, you'd go on Lonely Planet, or TripAdvisor, or some travel magazine that Photoshops dirty black ocean into turquoise paradise? Chuck Thompson, a travel writer, used to be one of those writers that would describe a country as 'amazing' or 'exotic' instead of what it really was. Honestly, anyone who has been to Bali would never use 'beautiful' as an adjective to describe the entire island. 'Extremely humid, disgusting beaches and swindling street vendors' would be a more apropos description. What travel writers don't write is what happens behind-the-scenes; the mugging, the whores, the near-death experiences, the impolite locals, all of which are swept beneath the rug by a whistling editor before publishing identical travel stories. This book, however, exposes every country for what is really is, both good and bad. It tells you what to really expect when visiting a country. Thompson, tired of leaving the best (and most unusual) stories on the cutting room floor, is now speaking out, and showing people what it's really like to travel.

Thompson's style of writing is a blend of wit and dry humor. Amidst anecdotes and personal stories about his failed travel magazine, he writes little tips for future travelers. This is extremely useful for those who spend more time on flying metal tubes than they do on the ground. He exposes tourist traps (sidenote: don't go to Chinatown) and tells you personal stories from dangerous places. Of course, we all know that a couple of silly anecdotes won't actually deter you from going somewhere. After all, traveling is about experiencing things you don't find at home. In his words, "The spread of Western ideology might be good for big business, but speaking strictly from the perspective of an individual traveler who values the exotic, capitalism sucks. Countries that function with outlandish economic or political systems may not be as comfortable or easy to get to, and may not have very good shopping, but being different and difficult is precisely what makes them rewarding for many visitors." 

I have had my fair share of travels. I have been around East and Southeast Asia, Western Europe, South Africa, the Middle East, Australia, and North America. My favorite country is be a tie between Switzerland and the UAE. Switzerland has amazing scenery, whilst UAE has interesting customs and people.

I give this book an 8.4/10. Very entertaining, funny, and shows you exactly what you'd want to know about a country. Fuck travel brochures and magazines, you have this book to hold on to. 

The biggest reason travel writing is dull, as Queenan correctly pointed out, is that most of it is devoid of anything approaching an authentic point of view. On those rare occasions when travel writers are allowed to express an actual opinion, it must be a completely harmless one that's also shared by the travel industry at large. These are usually offered as hard-hitting commentaries describing how "quaint" a hotel room is, how "mind-blowing" a nature park is, or how "mouthwatering" a chef's specialty is. Everything is superlative.