Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • The Great Railway Bazaar

  • By: Paul Theroux
  • Narrated by: Frank Muller
  • Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (241 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
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.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
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.
The Great Railway Bazaar cover art

The Great Railway Bazaar

By: Paul Theroux
Narrated by: Frank Muller
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £16.00

Buy Now for £16.00

Pay using card ending in
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.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Ghost Train to the Eastern Star cover art
Mr. Vertigo cover art
Michael Palin: Around the World in 80 Days cover art
On the Plain of Snakes cover art
Light in August cover art
To the Moon and Timbuktu cover art
Unreasonable Behaviour cover art
Neither Here nor There cover art
The Gardener of Baghdad cover art
Virgins cover art
Jupiter's Travels cover art
For Whom the Bell Tolls cover art
Night Soldiers cover art
In Xanadu cover art
A Brief History of Life in the Middle Ages cover art
The Masked Rider cover art

Summary

The Great Railway Bazaar is Paul Theroux's account of his epic journey by rail through Asia. Filled with evocative names of legendary train routes - the Direct-Orient Express, the Khyber Pass Local, the Delhi Mail from Jaipur, the Golden Arrow to Kuala Lumpur, the Hikari Super Express to Kyoto, and the Trans-Siberian Express - it describes the many places, cultures, sights, and sounds he experienced and the fascinating people he met.

Here he overhears snippets of chat and occasional monologues, and is drawn into conversation with fellow passengers, from Molesworth, a British theatrical agent, and Sadik, a shabby Turkish tycoon, while avoiding the forceful approaches of pimps and drug dealers. This wonderfully entertaining travelogue pays loving tribute to the romantic joys of railways and train travel.

©1975 Paul Theroux (P)1983 Recorded Books LLC

What listeners say about The Great Railway Bazaar

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    128
  • 4 Stars
    73
  • 3 Stars
    23
  • 2 Stars
    11
  • 1 Stars
    6
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    115
  • 4 Stars
    52
  • 3 Stars
    11
  • 2 Stars
    9
  • 1 Stars
    4
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    106
  • 4 Stars
    50
  • 3 Stars
    24
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    5

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

I was on the train

The narrator of this story made it all come to life and it felt as though I was on the train travelling alongside and could smell and feel all the pleasures and discomforts afforded to the traveller. I have purchased the second part his return and already it has highlighted how the passing of time along with age makes you value and appreciate different things even after compensating and making allowances for memories being a ghost train and bringing about a sense of melancholy sense of loss.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

foreign names still a problem in travel books!

I love this book. I've read it at least twice and expect I may do so again in a few years. It's brilliant! If you've ever travelled huge distances by train you'll recognise so much and appreciate the author's unique tone. If you haven't, but you wonder what it might be like, then get this book! It is a few decades old but if you go far enough you'll find yourself in those same types of carriages and cities and obscure wayside places.
The narration is OK but it has the usual vice of American narrators. He can only properly pronounce well known English language names. You'd think in a continental nation built on immigration that the audio book industry could find a few people who can make a decent attempt at those funny foreign words, especially if they are required to narrate a travel book. But no, not possible. Otherwise he is OK, good pace, intonation, appropriately expressive and so on.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Intensely irritating narration

Sadly the narration of this book ruined it for me , we where introduced to more and more characters as the story progressed their accents never sounded natural.and became intensely irritating

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Uninspiring Story, Terrible Narration

This book has not aged well, and although it may show how pompous American travellers could be in the 70s, it is an altogether uninspiring, dreary tale where the reader is left as drained as the author by its finish.
This in itself is personal taste, however the poor review is fully deserved when the narration is taken into account. Almost every place name is pronounced incorrectly, and the accents he attempts to portray are so poor it's offensive.
This was simply not for me. A disappointing listen.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

get on board

superb book, brilliantly read, I laughed out loud and followed the journeys on google earth

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Needs a redoing

This has to be one of the most annoying and racist audiobooks I have ever listened to. Being from South Asia, one thing I can say is no one sounds like Peter Sellers from The Party and to make of mockery of us trying to speak to someone who can’t understand any other language is inexcusable. I can’t believe that this type of performance still exists and we are made to listen to this.
The story is haphazard and broken. Some sections getting more airtime than others. It does give a peak into the lives in Asia in 70s but definitely not a book I would recommend.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great to listen to while on a train

Enjoyed this book. Don't think long distance trains have changed much. Knowing in my lifetime I won't be able to take the trans Siberian is sad, but Paul's description doesn't leaving me wanting!

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Classic travel book

Read this years ago in the heyday of my own travelling days.
I was not a massive fan back then, but re-reading/listening I enjoyed it much more this time.

The narrator did a decent job, though made most of the Westerners sound more than a bit grumpy.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Not the best audible book

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

The story itself didn't grab me as his other books have. Paul appears to be bored himself during this journey which comes across, with a sense of apathy.

What will your next listen be?

not sure at this point

Would you be willing to try another one of Frank Muller’s performances?

Maybe

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Boredom

Any additional comments?

n/a

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A dream of dreams.

One of Theroux’s best. This time without moaning and just bearing the discomforts as they come. It is lovely to relive the places and tracks in lazy listening.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!