The Burial Brothers: From New York to Rio - Travels in a Hearse - Hardcover

Mayle, Simon

3.35

54 ratings by Goodreads

9780241002230: The Burial Brothers: From New York to Rio - Travels in a Hearse

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0241002230 ISBN 13: 9780241002230

Publisher: Hamish Hamilton, 1996

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

. dw, 1996, 200pp

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:

A tale of death--in the whimsical sense--and debauchery, chronicling the adventures of three friends en route to Carnival in Rio de Janeiro from New York City in 1973. Author Simon Mayle recalls how he dressed as a Victorian-era undertaker and piled into a souped-up Cadillac hearse with two cohorts for the 15,000-mile drive to Brazil. Admittedly the travelers were indulging a passion for theater and rebellion, but they also hoped to ensure a certain amount of safety for themselves by playing upon the Latin reverence for death.

From Kirkus Reviews:

A darkly entertaining, raunchy road trip--New York City to Brazil--by hearse, from newcomer Mayle. Mayle figured the most sensible vehicle to pilot for the 15,000 miles to Carnival was a hearse, a raven-black, 21-foot behemoth, complete with heavy chroming, fins, and wheelskirts, a vintage '73 dreamboat, sure to ``sing like a bird, pull like a train.'' Narco-gangsters, banditos, the Shining Path, kidnappers: All would give wide berth to the slab of mobile bad karma. He drafted two weird characters--Lenny, the Artist, and Tarris, outlander and road warrior--to share the journey. Stereo pumping, in the guise of traveling morticians, they made their way south. And what might be expected to befall them does: The transmission blows a gasket, they run out of gas, again and again. They argue among themselves, they drink an ungodly amount, there is a minor confusion with a clutch of male prostitutes. Each border crossing is an exercise in bribery, each town sports a sour, stale bar. The boys hit every one of them, alert to the possibilities, fornication on their minds. They even fashion a few rules: Drunk driving is banned, as is drunk dancing on the roof of the hearse. But these fellows enjoy tiptoeing to the edge--fencing some artwork in Bogot , falling into a police trap trying to score coke in Cali, sinking their testicles into bowls of ice to counteract the tropical heat (an old Sri Lankan trick known to Tarris). When Mayle loses his traveling companions in Colombia, he continues to play it light, the writing remains jazzy and impetuous, but by now there is a decided note of menace in the air, gritty and scary. A grade B movie on wheels, indelicate and noir. (Author tour- -with hearse) -- Copyright �1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.