Sean Condon (1) (1965–)

All the narrator does is complain. At first is seemed likably cranky, and there were spots that made me laugh. But by page 40 the narrator's complaints that the trip was boring had become, well, boring. By page 50 I realized that they were stuck having to complete the trip but that I did not have to complete the book.

Positive note: made me realize that driving through the Outback is kind of like driving through the Great Plains - monotonously beautiful and filled with tiny crappy towns. We are now flying into the Outback...… (mehr)

Sean Condon is not an optimist by nature. His humour is wry. He has met his match with the Dutch, among whom he spent three years. They are way wryer.

For me, it was the perfect storm to unleash Sean's characteristic blend of subtle, self-deprecating humour and pain in the subtle humiliations of everyday life. Taut, witty, and in its own way, hopeful. I find it the most rewarding of Sean's books, and I give it five stars.

In fact, the author has moved happily back to Amsterdam with his family. Maybe it's time for a second edition, with a bold, joyous, unequivocally happy ending?… (mehr)

Oh dear. Three times now I have read a Sean Condon book and three times I have been disappointed. This time I promise not to read another of his books. Although in my defence it seems that earlier reviewers on this site shared the frustrating experience I did.

So, Condon, who had previously written about his trip around Australia, and a later trip to North America, now reveals that he lives in the Netherlands with a long suffering wife and his attempts to remain gainfully employed. To stretch the book out, Condon starts shamefully name dropping and so we find that at Roger Moore and Francis Ford Coppola had to put up with him too.… (mehr)

I wasn't a great fan of Condon's first book, "Sean and David's Long Drive" but I gave the man a second chance to impress as he is Australian. Sadly, "Drive thru America" follows its predecessor as underwhelming.

We meet Condon, now working in an advertising agency who has been promised a work trip to the US, which was then reneged on at the last moment, so Condon decides to head to the US anyway and embark on another long drive. He gets sick and has to go to a doctor, pretends to be a blind man and apparently exacts a vicious revenge on his old manager from the agency.

There's nothing overly memorable about "Drive thru America", although for whatever reason I decided to give Condon yet another chance and read his follow-up, which is actually better than this.… (mehr)