Caviar Coast

This books tells us of the author's journey around the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, commencing in Azerbaijan, but primarily along the Iranian coast north of the Elburz mountains, above Tehran.

There were part of this book which were a great read - the chapter about the sturgeon and caviar; the Peace Corps chapter; and some of his more adventurous travel chapters in the mountains and the marshes; however for a lot of the book the chapters just became descriptive of what he did and who he met, with a very level pace. There were few variances in pace or tone, and no real build up, and few dramatic events to keep the reader engaged.

It is book of just under two hundred pages, so a reasonably quick read, but it was a bit of a struggle at times to pick it up again., once put down. I actually fell asleep reading it on the couch this afternoon, which is pretty rare.

However, it remains a snapshot of this part of Iran in the late 1960s. Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was still Shah, and his reforms for Iran were still being rolled out, causing opposition from religious bases. It was still an open time for tourists and international travellers, although most foreigners were considered ‘Americans' irrespective of their origins.

A steady 3 stars.