The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey

Fantastic Insight Into The Formation of the Great Revolutionary

This book is essential for anyone who really wants to understand the formative years of this great revolutionary. It should be read for its substance, not just as a casual read.

Che was an incredibly intelligent man with a great desire to help mankind, regardless of whether you agree with the path that this desire led him down or not. We could all argue that topic ad infinitum. Although I don't agree with his political leanings of his later life, I still consider him a great and caring man. At the time that he and his friend started this odyssey he was a very young man with a young man's shallow motivations. However, you can see him maturing very quickly as the book progresses.

This book should be read by people of like feelings. I'm not talking teens or twenty-somethings with a tee-shirt of his famous iconic photo; the same kids that are rebels without a clue; the ones who rebel against the system at the same time that they're going to a great college at someone else's expense, drive a good car, walk around with their North Face packs and iPods, and have never known hunger or brutal racism.

I guess that this book moved me because I've spent a huge amount of time over the last decade traveling all around Latin America. I've been in every country in South America many times and most of the countries in Central America at least a time or two each. I've seen the have and have-not cultures there, the abject racism, and the paralyzing poverty of the same peoples and cultures that Che addresses. I guess that's why I identified so closely with this book.

On some of these trips I'm accompanied by other U.S. citizens. Quite frankly I'm sickened by their arrogance and better-than-thou attitudes when they see the indigenous peoples begging on street corners in Quito or Lima or La Paz. They don't just limit this to the indigenous people; they also apply it to the more modern citizens of this great continent. Gringos love to bask in their perceived superiority. They see South America through the eyes of people who have no idea of the vast range of cultures that I've had the privilege of seeing in my travels.

As I get older I have no patience for the whining that I hear constantly from my fellow U.S. citizens. Examine our own history closely: the true history, not the mythological junk that they teach you in high school in order to train you keep your mouth shut and pay your taxes. Then read this book and think, "There but for the grace of God go I". Only a few lucky breaks in our history saved us from a very similar fate.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Beautiful!

It's an amazing journey, beautifully translated into words.

Review on The Motorcycle Diaries

The book "The Motorcycle Diaries" by Ernesto Guevara is a diary on his journey throughout Latin America. This was published by Ocean Press.
In this story a young man, Ernesto "Che" Guevara embarks on a journey across South America with his traveling companion, Alberto. Che Guevara was a young Argentine who felt empty at his home. This journey was exactly what he was searching for, a drastic change. The two begin their travels on a motorcycle, but the bike's life was abruptly ended by the harsh Latin American terrain. This proved to be a precursor to the road ahead. It was filled with short stops and sudden drops.
The majority of the book simply details the way Alberto and Che saunter throughout the South American countries cheating their way to a soft bed and hot food. "How much we eat depends on how we judge the candidate's face. All in all, this is a highly refined technique." (131) The two present themselves as nothing short of homeless. The landscape is described as breathtaking and the difference between the countries to be miraculous.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It revealed a great deal about the young revolutionary. It provides a lot of insight into the mind of Che Guevara, this journey drastically changed Che's opinions towards society and the world around it. His career path was a direct result from this journey.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is curious as to Che's history. To those who do not distinguish Che Guevara from a hole in the wall, I would not recommend this book.

An Inspiring Novel to Stand till the End of Time

The Motorcycle Diaries, a epic journal, written by Ernesto Che Guevara, is a diary of the author from his journey on an old Norton motorcycle through South America. The book starts in 1952 Buenos Aires, Argentina where Che leaves for his journey to explore more of his home continent. He meets a large spectrum of people on his travels. He sees copper miners, and Native Indians who have lived in the area for 1000¿s of years. He also meets some tourists of tell him of their troubles during their stay. The book is a spiritual and inspiring chapter in South American life that will uplift you and make you want to go out on your own journey.

A reviewer

This is the best movie I have ever seen. It changed my way to see life, its amazing.

inspirational....

this book does actually motivate me to travel across latin america like che did. i have already joined un missions for columbia and if i ever have money i sure will follow his lead.

A reviewer

I higggghly reccomend this book. It was funny and interesting and hard to put down. Che was actually funny! You don't need to know anything about him or his legacy to appreciate this book.

Don't listen to DRH comments

This book is quite a read!! Quite interestingto find out how Che formed his early beliefs while on a journey with his best friend. For anyone who disliked Che, this book will change your opinion of him. As for the reviewer DRH, He is a software engineer who would rather read something dull like Microsoft Windows 2006 a tutorial!! Ha ha!

Beautiful

I thought that the story was beautiful. It starts out with two people that leave their homeland to find adventures that they can come back and tell to awe people. It ends with two individuals who stumble upon adventures and people who they give pieces of themselves to, but gain even more from. In the end it leaves the reader asking what is really important in the world and our societies. All people that live, and our health. The book always the reader to explore how they might stand up for a cause, and change pieces of history for the better.

BORING

First off, the motorcycle doesn't last past about page twenty. Second, these guys are vandalous little thieves. Third, Che isn't much of a storyteller. I just can't bother to say more. Don't bother with this book.

Amazing!

This movie is a life-changing. The movie combines witty humor with poignant beauty. However, the best thing about this movie Che's love for the human spirit. The movie does a remarkable job of showing his compassion and his maturation process. The subtitles are easy to read, and the music is fantastic. I recommend it strongly.

good for seeing another point of view

you get to see the transformation between ernesto and che.

A great book that left me wanting the journey to never end.

I wanted to say something that would motivate readers who want to read great literary works to run out and buy this book. However, I cannot come up with a better motivation to read this book than what was written by Carlos Castanetas , another reader and online reviewer of the book. Simply put, if this book is so powerful that a reader was motivated to retrace Che Guevara's journey in person, it is definitely worth the money to buy the book as well as reading it cover to cover. My only disappointment is it had to end. I wanted more, more and more!

On The Road Diaries

*Che Guevara, there is much to say about this man and the way he changed people's lives. But what about before he was famous? This book, The Motorcycle Diaries, is an adventure that Ernesto Guevara took, along with his friend Alberto Granado, across South America. The means in which they start their journey is that of spontaneity. At that time, December of 1951, Guevara is at medical school learning to become a doctor. He and Alberto had just quit their jobs and decided to go to South America on Alberto¿s Norton 500 motorcycle called ¿La Poderosa II¿. In their travels they come across many diverse people living in conditions neither of them had ever seen before, as well as some that they have. Indians, lepers, so many people who show them a different world not seen by any, save the one¿s living there themselves. Argentina, Chile, Peru, through hot deserts, hitchhiking when they could, Columbia, Venezuela, fighting hunger as well as their desire to give up, but all the while never wanting to stop. This is the story of Ernesto Che Guevara, and his journey across America. *I read this book and can hardly comprehend the feelings Guevara has on the expedition through South America. I think that it is hard for anyone to leave the place they call ¿home¿ to go explore the worlds around them. He doesn¿t have the trip all planned out, doesn¿t know where he will sleep or if he will be able to find something to eat. I think because of that ¿improvisation¿, Guevara shows how strong his will is and how much worrying about something won¿t change anything unless you try yourself to change it. You may have realized it by now but I really like this book and recommend it to any and all who want to read a story about a journey, life altering to a man who tries to change what he believes must be changed.

Born to be wild, baby

Three years ago I tried retracing Guevera's journey, and wasn't strictly successful because of problems with bandits, washed out roads and so on. I also tried keeping a diary, but it doesn't have the poetry and humanity that makes Geuvera's diary such a moving document and a ``must read.'' We don't need more violent revolution in this world, but we clearly need to abandon fear and arrogance and look for new ideas about what society and civilisation can aspire to. Speaking of following in famous footsteps, another poetic and illuminating read is to be found in IN THE GHOST COUNTRY which chronicles Peter Hillary's haunted journey of madness in the footsteps of Captain Robert Scott to the bottom of the world. Theories abound that Scott and company went insane; Hillary proves it to be the case because that's what happens to him.

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