Lost in Transmission

by Alice Munro

'If Khurram is right and the soul can only travel at a camel's speed, then mine has a lot of catching up to do...'

Jonathan Harley knew that becoming the ABC's man in South Asia at the age of only twenty-eight was a dream job. But he'd just fallen in love and wasn't so sure he really wanted it. It took a weekend of soul searching to realise that this would be the experience of a lifetime.

From covering India's endearingly over-the-top response to the death of cricketing legend Don Bradman to being the only Australian journalist in Afghanistan on September 11 2001, Lost in Transmission is Harley's exciting, often moving, funny and disarmingly honest account of the three years he spent, lurching from one hair-raising misadventure to the next, reporting from one of the most exotic and, as events unfurled, alarming corners of the planet.

Shifting effortlessly between the serious, the sublime and the ridiculous, this is the story of a stranger at something of a loss in an even stranger land - a young man struggling to comprehend and comment on life in a part of the world that never quite makes sense...

Genres: Travel, India, Nonfiction

332 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 4, 2005

About the author

Collections of short stories of noted Canadian writer Alice Munro of life in rural Ontario include Dance of the Happy Shades (1968) and Moons of Jupiter (1982); for these and vivid novels, she won the Nobel Prize of 2013 for literature.

People widely consider her premier fiction of the world. Munro thrice received governor general's award. She focuses on human relationships through the lens of daily life. People thus refer to this "the Canadian Chekhov."

(Arabic: أليس مونرو)
(Persian: آلیس مانرو)
(Russian Cyrillic: Элис Манро)
(Ukrainian Cyrillic: Еліс Манро)
(Bulgarian Cyrillic: Алис Мънро)
(Slovak: Alice Munroová)
(Serbian: Alis Manro)

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jonathan Harley's account of his posting to South East Asia in the tumultous years of 1998-2001 as a foreign correspondent for Australia's ABC is as honest, insightful and heart-warming as it is heart-wrenching. He was caught up in the India-Pakistan conflict, Kashmir, Nepal (the murders of the royal family) and Afghanistan, during and after the September 11 tragedy. He evaluates himself with great honesty and good deal of humour.
I'm looking forward now to reading "Holy Cow" by his wife Sarah.

[Nuzhat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked his insight into his life while he's 'preying' on others' vulnerability and exploiting it to sell air time. He tries to remain human and realizes before it's too late when he's at risk of loosing sight of his humanity. His telling of the background story of the stories while telling the stories was refreshing my memory of the events covered in the book. Maybe I would think Islamabad is boring and colorless without atmosphere if I could compare it to India, but then again, I don't spend all my time in the bar at the Marriott Hotel which was targeted a few years later than this book. That bomb surely killed some journalists. I did also enjoy his writing style. Easy to read descriptions and logical story telling.

[Sherry · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read about the adventures of Australian ABC news correspondent. Having just finished Holy Cow - I felt that 'Lost in Transmission' gave the missing parts of the story of two young Australians travelling through Asia.

[Velvetink · Rating 4 out of 5]

The auto blurb that comes up with this book is incorrect. This is about Jonathan Harley of the ABC news, on location in Indian, Pakistan and Afganistan from around 1999 up till September 11 and the following war on Terror.

[Kiwiflora · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this, outstanding story of a young Australian journalist, bright eyed and bushy tailed, scores the best job of his life in becoming the ABC's South East Asian correspondent in 1998 based in Delhi. Amazing opportunity. Off he goes, saying goodbye to his new girlfriend, into the great Asian unknown. And what an unknown it is... Having lived in India for a bit, I can truly relate to his attempts to settle and find his feet in this compelling, frustrating, bureaucratic, confusing and drive-me-crazy place. His work life is no less confronting, alarming and at times down right frightening as he is exposed to a world totally different from metropolitan Sydney. Talk about culture shock. The war in Kashmir, political unrest in Pakistan, the ongoing disaster that is Afghanistan with the earthquake of 1998, the crushing of the Taliban, the fallout of 9/11 and Al Queda/Bin Laden - it just goes on and on. There is a brilliant chapter on the Indian hysteria for cricket, and how he finds himself sitting in the stadium - the only white face - during the Australia-India test series. Wonderful chapter, and captures the insane madness India has for cricket. Meanwhile the author is trying to keep his love affair with Sarah going. The tragic thing about this memoir though, now written 20 years ago, is that absolutely nothing in this region of Asia has changed. Afghanistan is still a mess with the Taliban back in charge, Pakistan still has political crises, who controls Kashmir is still unresolved, and India is beyond nuts about its cricket. This could be my fave read of 2024.

[Kelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic read. Jonathan writes with passion and honesty of his time as Asian corresponant for the ABC based in New Delhi. His time spent covered the 9/11 attacks and he spent much of his time in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Highly recommend this book.

[Ben Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book a long time ago and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great re-read for me. It is very honest, sometimes funny, sometimes harrowing.
Front line journalism really sounds tough.

[Chris Nash · Rating 5 out of 5]

Based out of Delhi, Jonathan was the only western journalist in Kabul when 9/11 happened!

Written with sensitivity and humour, he mixes his travel tales with life as an expat to great effect.

His partner, former Triple J radio announcer Sarah MacDonald also wrote of the time from her own perspective in the novel "Holy Cow", and together they make an interesting read indeed.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ignore the description of the book in GoodReads; Someone is obviously describing the wrong book.

From Amazon's author description:

"Jonathan Harley is a reporter and journalist with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. From 1998 to 2002, he was their New Delhi-based South Asia Correspondent during which time he covered military coups, cricket corruption scandals, earthquakes and a royal family massacre. He also reported from Taliban-ruled Afghanistan (he was in Kabul on 11 Sept 2001) and covered the subsequent war there and in Iraq. He lives in Sydney with his wife, the writer and broadcaster Sarah MacDonald, and daughter."

This book is about his life from 1998 to 2002. It changed my view of the world, and of journalism.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this one a couple of years ago but I'd read nit again. It gives an insight into the life of an ABC Asian foreign correspondent during some pretty major world events - it's written around 2000-2002. This guy this the husband of Sarah McDonald who wrote Holy Cow (another good book)

[Ty Kendall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Been a while since I read this but I do remember loving it.
It's still on my shelf so I might give it a re-read at some point.
Basically it's about the cultural and linguistic encounters of a journalist in India.
I will update this once I have re-read it and it's fresher in my mind.

[Jane]

My husband tracked down a copy for mother's day. Enjoyed it.

[Lohita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great anecdotes, interesting all the way.

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting memoir about a guy who travels all over India, etc. Surprising that he was even there during 9/11.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

state of denial was getting stale, so I decided to give a boost of steroids to my bookstand.

[Lefluf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it.

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recommend as a great Indian travel adventure.

Read the full review at OurBookClub

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

You should also read Holy Cow by Sarah McDonald, Harley's now wife. Makes for an interesting contrast of two sides of lived experience.

[Irfan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very funny and honest.

[RS · Rating 4 out of 5]

i am a big history fan. unfortunately the middle eastern history is not so interesting to me. partly because as a muslim, i always view them from an islamic p.o.v. but never really from the individual country itself. also partly because it's a region i hold close to heart - not that I've travelled nor lived there but if i may say this, apart of my own country's history, the islamic history is the second area of knowledge we studied since small. so i was less curious about it. less enthusiasted to read about it. what else is there to know?

dont get me wrong though, i am very much aware of the current turmoils the middle east are facing- perhaps not all of them, but like i say it's a region i hold close to my heart. i guess in some way i don't want to know THAT much because i am afraid it'll just fuel my "islamic patriotism" in me against the west. or more like the "asian patriotism" in me.

and that's why i struggle to read this book. the content is dry and the writer's p.o.v. which was (sorry) typically western is not basically engaging. however, at the same time, i somehow appreciate the honesty of his p.o.v. and i absolutely love the writing style! if anything, this what kept me going. i wish i had read this book when it was first published in 2004. reading it in 2011 seems like "old news". yes it took me around 6 years to finished this book ha ha :-)

towards end of the book i gradually falling in love with it. and to my surprise... i think i might re read this in the future!