Fictional (!) account of an American (sorta) photographer who spends time in CUba on assignment, and falls in love. His guard against being used as a ticket out spoils everything, and the lady's concern about being a Cuban souvenir doesn't help. This all allows Iyer to paint a fairly vivid picture of life in Havana these days, but the entire effort is just that - a bit of an effort. While interesting, the tale is not arresting.

Well, Iyer is still good, but this time, it isn't a labor of love. Maybe he signed a deal, went on his trip(s) and set out to write the book, and turned the crank. Yeah, OK. With Video Night (above), it's as if he had to write it in order to get it out of himself, and thank God someone was smart enough to publish it. This time it's good, but not as scintillating as before.

Pico spends a year in Kyoto, pursuing Zen and something Japanese. But he hangs with a lot of expats, plenty of odd cases (not much surprise there), and wonders what exactly he's up to. (Meanwhile we're left curious about exactly what kind of deal he has with his empoyers.) Anyway he meets and befriends a Japanese lady - both gain considerably from the differences in the other. Nice, but (sadly) forgettable.

An extremely well done and well integrated collection of snapshots of southeast Asia. The writing, the insights, and the choice of focus all excel. I like to travel in ways similar to the kind Iyer uses as a medium and I've never read any sort of travel essay to touch this.

How good is it? Go to the store or library, grab a copy, open anywhere, and read a paragraph or two. That should be more than enough - Iyer's talent is obvious on every page.