Around the World in Eight Days

by Ron Kovic

Hitching west around the world from his home town of Massapequa, Long Island, a young man meets up with an Ohio tracker, police from Cicero, Illinois, a beautiful Brazilian exchange student, a fast driving Tucsonian, an irreverent Native American on a bike, and an array of crazy San Francisco characters, including a mad DJ--Doctor Twist.

90 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Ron Kovic served two tours of duty during the Vietnam War and wrote Born on the Fourth of July based on his experiences as a Marine and his subsequent activism.

Reviews

[John Spencer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moving, mad and wonderfully poetic prelude and coda to Born on the Fourth of July. But MORE! Its Kerouac, Kesey, Steinbeck. It's a dream, an epic poem. Should be on required reading list for all Baby Boomers.

[Debbie Turner · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was lost. I think it was supposed to be the thoughts of this Vietnam Veteran. Very strange for me. The ending wrapped everything up and somewhat brought it together. I have already read "Born on the Fourth of July" by Ron Kovic. I loved that book. Very well-written. For me, this one didn't hold up to the writing in that book. The "Born..." book is a must read but this one.....I don't know.

[Aileen M · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit strange. But the ending wrapped up the book nicely, and gave some meaning to all the rambling that came before it.

[Eddie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was in desperate need of a proper Editor. Like a movie, the studio insists the editor is not the Director (all but a few select established Directors). If Kovic was a bigger name author and this was published by a major NY publisher (Penguin, Random House etc) the assigned book Editor would have edited this book extensively. This should have been a short story - NOT a novella. It was too long as a novella. Writers do this bc they don't want to self-edit their baby. Kovic isn't a great writer and he doesn't have to be. What Kovic brings to the table is his raw emotion from profoundly intense experiences that can overshadow weak writing skills.

The book begins well enough then gets lost in too long and too wild streams of consciousness of fantasy. The book starts to lose sense but comes together at the end solidifying what took place for over 80 pages. However it was pretty much too late bc the reader gets lost and frustrated for the overly long nonsensical action. If this was a short story and there was significantly more of the end vs the middle part of the story this could have worked extremely well. I give it 2 Stars "It was ok" bc the potential is here especially how it came together in the end making the metaphor of small town USA getting attacked during normal life as USA did to Vietnamese. This should have been a bigger part of the story. The publisher is an Independent publisher that didn't likely have the resources or desire to have this properly edited.

[Chelsea Tirado · Rating 1 out of 5]

90 pages of incoherent ramblings