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Are You Experienced?
Liz travels to India because she wants to find herself. Dave travels to India because he wants to get Liz into bed. Liz loves India, hugs the beggars, and is well on her way to finding her tantric center. Dave, however, realizes he hates Liz, and has bad karma toward his fellow travelers: Jeremy, whose spiritual journey is aided by checks from Dad; Jonah, who hasn't worn shoes for a decade; and Fee and Caz, fresh from leper-washing in Udaipur.
235 pages, Paperback
First published August 28, 1997
55 people are currently reading
2268 people want to read
About the author
William Sutcliffe
48 books108 followersWilliam Sutcliffe was born in 1971 in London. He is the author of eight novels, New Boy, Are You Experienced?, The Love Hexagon, Bad Influence, Whatever Makes You Happy, The Wall, Concentr8 and We See Everything, which have been translated into twenty-six languages.
The Wall was shortlisted for the 2014 CILIP Carnegie Medal. Are You Experienced? has been reissued on the prestigious Penguin Essentials list.
He has also written a series of books for children: Circus of Thieves and the Raffle of Doom, Circus of Thieves on the Rampage and Circus of Thieves and the Comeback Caper.
He lives in Edinburgh with his wife, three children, two cats and a tortoise.
The Wall was shortlisted for the 2014 CILIP Carnegie Medal. Are You Experienced? has been reissued on the prestigious Penguin Essentials list.
He has also written a series of books for children: Circus of Thieves and the Raffle of Doom, Circus of Thieves on the Rampage and Circus of Thieves and the Comeback Caper.
He lives in Edinburgh with his wife, three children, two cats and a tortoise.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 357 reviews
June 15, 2012
Fucking Hilarious.
As a british private school educated prick myself I felt compelled to read this book from the moment I read the blurb. And I wasn't dissappointed one bit.
The book is centered around a cynical, horny and sometimes downright hilarious teenage boy on his gap year called Dave. Dave and his best friend's girlfriend are left in London whilst Dave goes off travelling. Dave ends up infatuated with her and so when she starts talkign about plans of the two of them travelling to India together, Dave follows along with these plans intent on bedding her, as expected of a guy his age.
As he gets to India he slowly but surely begins to realise that it was quite a grave error as he is travelling with a girl that may as well be the oil to his water.
The tale that then ensues is one of utmost hilarity, admist serious questions of teenage soulsearching and depressive lonelyness.
One has to really commend Sutcliffe's impressive sucess at really capturing the real essense behind the whole gap year travelling 'fad' that has cropped up. And he did so whilst keeping me laughing the whole way through.
Really a must read for anyone who's about to head to university, in university or even just out.
As a british private school educated prick myself I felt compelled to read this book from the moment I read the blurb. And I wasn't dissappointed one bit.
The book is centered around a cynical, horny and sometimes downright hilarious teenage boy on his gap year called Dave. Dave and his best friend's girlfriend are left in London whilst Dave goes off travelling. Dave ends up infatuated with her and so when she starts talkign about plans of the two of them travelling to India together, Dave follows along with these plans intent on bedding her, as expected of a guy his age.
As he gets to India he slowly but surely begins to realise that it was quite a grave error as he is travelling with a girl that may as well be the oil to his water.
The tale that then ensues is one of utmost hilarity, admist serious questions of teenage soulsearching and depressive lonelyness.
One has to really commend Sutcliffe's impressive sucess at really capturing the real essense behind the whole gap year travelling 'fad' that has cropped up. And he did so whilst keeping me laughing the whole way through.
Really a must read for anyone who's about to head to university, in university or even just out.
March 21, 2012
Nothing special, but nothing awful, either. Just...average.
God, I wish I hadn't bought this. I could have done a lot with those pounds.Yes, I am a self-confessed stingy bitch when it comes to cash.
But hey-it got a few laughs out of me, so that's definitely a plus. But anything else? I'm afraid not. I didn't care about ANY of the characters (except maybe Ranj). Liz was a bitch. Dave was a self-obsessed twit. And the description of India was pretty basic, too. I could have produced the same book (or even a better one) through simply using the internet for a country search. None of the little details made me think that the author had experienced India himself. It all felt like regurgitated stuff he'd read somewhere else, or heard from a secondary source.
Basically: don't buy it. Reading it doesn't take too long, and isn't that much of an ordeal (a la Fallen). But buying it? DON'T. I wish *I* hadn't.
God, I wish I hadn't bought this. I could have done a lot with those pounds.
But hey-it got a few laughs out of me, so that's definitely a plus. But anything else? I'm afraid not. I didn't care about ANY of the characters (except maybe Ranj). Liz was a bitch. Dave was a self-obsessed twit. And the description of India was pretty basic, too. I could have produced the same book (or even a better one) through simply using the internet for a country search. None of the little details made me think that the author had experienced India himself. It all felt like regurgitated stuff he'd read somewhere else, or heard from a secondary source.
Basically: don't buy it. Reading it doesn't take too long, and isn't that much of an ordeal (a la Fallen). But buying it? DON'T. I wish *I* hadn't.
June 19, 2017
I read this years ago in Udaipur and kept it with me as a souvenir of "travelling and travellers". Yesterday I saw it on the shelf, took it down and read it more or less in one go, finishing late last night. Although it´s rickety in places, this is a funny, entertaining, TRUE book about that whole backpacking, gap-year scene, which will tickle anyone who has travelled through India, or indeed, Asia or Africa. It hits most of the targets it aims at and makes some telling points in amongst the pisstaking and giggles. Its a shame there´s not more on India itself as Sutcliffe is a good writer and when descriptions come, they´re true and telling. He goes for bright and breezy and, later on, some contrived plotting, which is a shame. On the whole, though, this is good, chucklesome fun.
June 21, 2008
Travel is a journey of self-discovery. Dave travels to India to be with Liz. He discovers that he hates Liz only a bit more than he hates India.
Actually, Dave doesn't hate everything about India; the dope is cheap and plentiful. Still, he has to put up with his fellow travellers, who overuse the word amazing and go on about "Mother India" but tend to hate actual Indians.
William Sutcliffe's book sends up all of those well-off Westerners who go to India (or any other part of the non-Western world), copies of Lonely Planet in hand, and act condescendingly toward the locals and natter on about the spiritual superiority of poverty. (I was reminded of the lyrics from Holidays in Cambodia by Dead Kennedys.) Sutcliffe characterizes this as a "poverty-tourism adventure holiday", a new form of colonialism. It's well-off people, who can afford to desise affluence and take their standard of living for granted, telling the rest of the world how lucky they are to be poor.
This book was great. It was cynical and deliciously vicious and very funny.
Actually, Dave doesn't hate everything about India; the dope is cheap and plentiful. Still, he has to put up with his fellow travellers, who overuse the word amazing and go on about "Mother India" but tend to hate actual Indians.
William Sutcliffe's book sends up all of those well-off Westerners who go to India (or any other part of the non-Western world), copies of Lonely Planet in hand, and act condescendingly toward the locals and natter on about the spiritual superiority of poverty. (I was reminded of the lyrics from Holidays in Cambodia by Dead Kennedys.) Sutcliffe characterizes this as a "poverty-tourism adventure holiday", a new form of colonialism. It's well-off people, who can afford to desise affluence and take their standard of living for granted, telling the rest of the world how lucky they are to be poor.
This book was great. It was cynical and deliciously vicious and very funny.
July 7, 2022
Ik denk niet dat de auteur van dit boek ooit met een vrouw heeft gepraat
September 17, 2019
Started out hilarious, but the end was kind of lame. It felt like the charachter hadn't undergone any development, but maybe that was the point of the book or something? Eh.
May 13, 2022
heerlijk zo'n boek waar iedereen kut is en niemand het zelf door heeft
August 23, 2022
This was an absolute f*cking experience. I have not had this much fun reading a book in ages. Honestly now, this was a delight. Shoutout to my boy Igor. If you know, you know.
March 2, 2014
'Are you experienced' is the ultimate backpacker's novel. Set in India, it deals with all the cliches, bull crap and annoyances of backpacking.
The story is told by Dave, a nineteen year old, who is as cynical as he is socially unsure and sexually insecure. He teams with his only friend's girlfriend to go on a three month trip to India, which they both experience very differently. Everyone who has traveled himself outside the Western world will recognize Dave's experiences and frustrations.
Sutcliffe's novel is very humorous, but meanwhile even the unwilling Dave changes through his trip, and the novel comes out less one-dimensional as it seems to start.
Recommended to all backpackers, and to all people who hate them.
The story is told by Dave, a nineteen year old, who is as cynical as he is socially unsure and sexually insecure. He teams with his only friend's girlfriend to go on a three month trip to India, which they both experience very differently. Everyone who has traveled himself outside the Western world will recognize Dave's experiences and frustrations.
Sutcliffe's novel is very humorous, but meanwhile even the unwilling Dave changes through his trip, and the novel comes out less one-dimensional as it seems to start.
Recommended to all backpackers, and to all people who hate them.
August 27, 2022
What an amazing book?!
I "absorbed" it in less than two days and I wish there was more of it.
I have to warn you that it has a hard, dark humor and it's not for everyone but If you stay open then you can enjoy it.
Even though I haven't been to India (yet) I felt like traveling all around her with Dave as my companion.
I "absorbed" it in less than two days and I wish there was more of it.
I have to warn you that it has a hard, dark humor and it's not for everyone but If you stay open then you can enjoy it.
Even though I haven't been to India (yet) I felt like traveling all around her with Dave as my companion.
October 14, 2011
Supposedly a "satire" of backpacking, this extremely short book instead reads like a whiny, self-absorbed travelogue where the main character learns nothing and changes not at all while trying to navigate the subcontinent. There are occasional dead-on points, especially when skewering young backpackers' tendency to travel the world just to get stoned with other young backpackers:
There. That's the best sequence in the book.* I just saved you the cost of buying it, although if you have 4 hours to kill, this book wasn't painful... just mostly pointless. Mostly.
* For those who don't know, Manali is a stoner/backpacker's paradise, and is pretty far removed from anything 'real' in India.
'It's funny,' I said.
'What?'
'You know how Manali just feels right.'
'Yeah.'
'How you can travel through all the stress and the money-grubbing, then you arrive here and, like, instantly know that you've found the real India and everything.'
'Yeah.'
'I mean, it's odd, because in all the time I've been up here, you're the first Indian I've had a conversation with.'
'So?'
'I dunno - it's as if the best bits - the bits that feel most like India - are the places where you don't have to talk to any Indians.'
There. That's the best sequence in the book.* I just saved you the cost of buying it, although if you have 4 hours to kill, this book wasn't painful... just mostly pointless. Mostly.
* For those who don't know, Manali is a stoner/backpacker's paradise, and is pretty far removed from anything 'real' in India.
July 25, 2017
Plenty of privileged middle class kids travel in their gap year before university. This novel rather marvellously parodies the worst of those - the ones who travel east to see the 'real India' (or wherever), which apparently entails following the same traveller trail as everyone other privileged middle class kid, hanging out in hostels with them getting stoned and talking nonsense dressed up as philosophy - and rarely (if ever) interacting with anyone local.
I had a lot of sympathy for Dave, he never really wanted to travel at all and is goaded into it by his mate's girlfriend Liz. Liz wants a travelling companion as her boyfriend James has already departed on his own gap year adventure. Dave is desperate to sleep with Liz (despite not really liking her) so is easily persuaded. Predictably he loathes India from the every first moment - and things go downhill from there.
There are plenty of sniggers to be had - especially if you recognise the type of self-satisfied traveller being sent up (although if you are one, you might not find it so funny). An easy, entertaining, fun read.
I had a lot of sympathy for Dave, he never really wanted to travel at all and is goaded into it by his mate's girlfriend Liz. Liz wants a travelling companion as her boyfriend James has already departed on his own gap year adventure. Dave is desperate to sleep with Liz (despite not really liking her) so is easily persuaded. Predictably he loathes India from the every first moment - and things go downhill from there.
There are plenty of sniggers to be had - especially if you recognise the type of self-satisfied traveller being sent up (although if you are one, you might not find it so funny). An easy, entertaining, fun read.
May 30, 2016
It was completely dull. It had some funny moments, yeah, but they were few. And there was no character development at all. Stupid required reading -.-
August 22, 2021
A hilarious feel good read, finished it one afternoon.
December 26, 2021
Such a satirical read! A great book to read if you're looking for a light-hearted, funny and easy read. You'll be able to finish it in it one afternoon.
September 1, 2023
Funny! And relatable and real. I can imagine the travelers in India behave exactly like this.
September 6, 2024
3,5*
Wel meermaals luidop gelachen. Maar te veel clichés.
Wel meermaals luidop gelachen. Maar te veel clichés.
July 17, 2025
I think I expected too much out of this book. Perhaps if I too was a well-off British lad I might have seen myself more in the protagonist.
I suppose I kept reading, hopeful that Dave would have actually grown or changed in any meaningful way. But he doesn’t.
If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like inside a young, insecure, sexist, shallow lad’s mind then look no further.
This one has you covered.
It’ll leave you feeling disappointed, slightly angry and thinking this is exactly the kind of shit that perpetuates the “boys will be boys” narrative.
I was promised laughs and all I got was disgust. Maybe my perspective is all wrong. I’m aware it was meant to be satirical, however, it just reads like plenty of boys and men I’ve met in my life. Doesn’t seem like a joke when it’s that spot on.
I suppose I kept reading, hopeful that Dave would have actually grown or changed in any meaningful way. But he doesn’t.
If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like inside a young, insecure, sexist, shallow lad’s mind then look no further.
This one has you covered.
It’ll leave you feeling disappointed, slightly angry and thinking this is exactly the kind of shit that perpetuates the “boys will be boys” narrative.
I was promised laughs and all I got was disgust. Maybe my perspective is all wrong. I’m aware it was meant to be satirical, however, it just reads like plenty of boys and men I’ve met in my life. Doesn’t seem like a joke when it’s that spot on.
June 16, 2022
2022 prijs voor ongemakkelijkste seksscène
December 23, 2024
Heb mezelf weer een reis naar India bespaard!!!
November 30, 2020
I was browsing good reads and suddenly remembered this book I got free with Mizz magazine in the 90s (Mizz sounds like it could be a cheap uk porno mag but it was a women's mag 😀) . I googled up "book from 90s about travel India ) never expecting to find it , and I did find it! The wonders of Google.
Glad I found it as I would love to re-read this, I remember it being very funny . A bunch of students go and do the obligitary 3 month India trip. Our main lad Dave initially hates the place , ends up with dysentery and his love interest Liz has buggered off and left him . He ends up in the mountains with a cool Indian lad who's ran off from his family , lots of pot smoking and raves on the beach in Goa. Happy hols in the end.
Lots of witty social observations about these middle class student types who want to go and see the "real" third world and staying in the worst a moms so they can say they have done the "real" India , not like those asshole tourists in the nice hotels. ... Find yourself n all that lark......It's a very funny book. Fun read.
I will read it again and relive my "good old days" of being young in the 90s.
Best decade ever .
Glad I found it as I would love to re-read this, I remember it being very funny . A bunch of students go and do the obligitary 3 month India trip. Our main lad Dave initially hates the place , ends up with dysentery and his love interest Liz has buggered off and left him . He ends up in the mountains with a cool Indian lad who's ran off from his family , lots of pot smoking and raves on the beach in Goa. Happy hols in the end.
Lots of witty social observations about these middle class student types who want to go and see the "real" third world and staying in the worst a moms so they can say they have done the "real" India , not like those asshole tourists in the nice hotels. ... Find yourself n all that lark......It's a very funny book. Fun read.
I will read it again and relive my "good old days" of being young in the 90s.
Best decade ever .
February 15, 2008
Another smart, funny critique of backpacking culture, this time written by a Brit. Unfortunately, I believe it's out of print, as I had difficulty ordering it from amazon for my cousin, but I found my copy at the good, old-fashioned library. This is a good book to read alongside "The Beach" by Alex Garland. But this one is a little more positive; it takes a more humorous route, whereas "The Beach" takes a more dystopic route.
February 28, 2016
A witty take on the 'gap year' phenomenon as seen through the eyes of a sceptical 19 year old lad.
This book didn't set my world on fire but it was a light, entertaining read. My only real criticism is that the protagonist was portrayed as being pretty socially inept, which is not unbelievable for a 19 year old boy lacking in life experience, but it seemed to jar a bit with his well-developed sense of cynicism.
This book didn't set my world on fire but it was a light, entertaining read. My only real criticism is that the protagonist was portrayed as being pretty socially inept, which is not unbelievable for a 19 year old boy lacking in life experience, but it seemed to jar a bit with his well-developed sense of cynicism.
September 27, 2020
What I don't understand, is that this book hasn't got a higher rating.
But then again, humour is subjective and I can imagine that some people have objections to certain scenes.
Anyway, if you have the same sense of humour as me, I have only one advice: read this book!
And prepare yourself for a hilarious ride 😄
RTC
But then again, humour is subjective and I can imagine that some people have objections to certain scenes.
Anyway, if you have the same sense of humour as me, I have only one advice: read this book!
And prepare yourself for a hilarious ride 😄
RTC
March 29, 2024
Tepid like all Sutcliffe's books. It’s like an anaemic Waugh loosed on the same turf as Alex Garland. Gap year backpackers are an irritating breed; no satire about them should lack for material or laughs. This somehow lacks for both.
April 11, 2020
Very funny. You dislike basically every character that appears in the book, but I guess that's what the author wants. The ending was a bit out of context in my opinion, but the overall story and message is good:)
November 23, 2018
One of the funniest books I have ever read - a must-read if you are traveling any part of the hipster backpacker trail (India, Southeast Asia, parts of Latin America and West Africa).
March 7, 2025
2,5:
wel ok, beetje grappig soms
wel ok, beetje grappig soms
August 10, 2017
*Disclaimer: I received this for free in exchange for an honest review from Penguin*
Going into this I thought I wouldn't like it because of the sexual content, particularly from a male perspective but I actually really enjoyed this reading experience.
This is effectively a satire about the theme of travelling on a gap year, and it is a coming of age story of the male protagonist. Though reading from the male perspective was a little strange at times, I found the characters to be realistic, having known some people similar to these in my own life!
The writing style was quick and funny throughout and though I had a few problems with it, I really enjoyed this novel. The India setting was interesting to read about but I would have liked a bit more of the descriptions of the different locations. However, I understand why the author didn't include that and I think it added to the personality of the protagonist that this wasn't included.
Overall, I would recommend this book if you are looking for a male coming of age story or something that deals with travel.
Going into this I thought I wouldn't like it because of the sexual content, particularly from a male perspective but I actually really enjoyed this reading experience.
This is effectively a satire about the theme of travelling on a gap year, and it is a coming of age story of the male protagonist. Though reading from the male perspective was a little strange at times, I found the characters to be realistic, having known some people similar to these in my own life!
The writing style was quick and funny throughout and though I had a few problems with it, I really enjoyed this novel. The India setting was interesting to read about but I would have liked a bit more of the descriptions of the different locations. However, I understand why the author didn't include that and I think it added to the personality of the protagonist that this wasn't included.
Overall, I would recommend this book if you are looking for a male coming of age story or something that deals with travel.
December 24, 2017
The book is quite a funny book, especially if you have backpacked before in Asia. You can see how many of the characters are real common characters in real life and start thinking that you did meet someone like Jeremy, or Fee.
I think the book is overemphasizing a bit the effect of traveling. After all Dave moved from a whining lousy person, to a pretentious lousy person in my opinion. "Dave the traveller" is not better or worse than "Dave".
I thought the book is a light funny read. Happy that I picked it up before a boring flight.
I think the book is overemphasizing a bit the effect of traveling. After all Dave moved from a whining lousy person, to a pretentious lousy person in my opinion. "Dave the traveller" is not better or worse than "Dave".
I thought the book is a light funny read. Happy that I picked it up before a boring flight.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 357 reviews