Molvania: A Land Untouched By Modern Dentistry (Jetlag Travel Guide)

Rating:
Summary: A Clever Parody
Review: Take any aeroplane from North America to Europe and you will see at least one or two people reading them: small, paperback books with titles like The Lonely Planet Guide to Italy, or the Berlitz Danish Phrasebook. Writing these travel guides has become quite an industry over the past few decades. When they are well-researched and carefully edited they can be very helpful in finding places to eat and figuring out why that cup of coffee cost almost as much as your hotel room.

The Jetlag Travel Guide to Moldovia is a brilliant parody on the ubiquitous travel guide. It takes a small, fictional nation that has very little to offer any tourist, and uses it to skewer the cliché-laden writing and perky commentary that is found in most do-it-yourself travel books. When I read this book I often found myself thinking of how closely the descriptions of some aspect of Moldovia matched something that I had read in a real travel guide, and how unhelpful it had actually been. The authors have clearly done some traveling using Lonely Planet, or an equivalent, to guide them, and wanted to share some of the absurdities that can be
found in these books.

I enjoyed Molvania: A Land Untouched by Modern Dentistry very much, but the joke does start to wear thin after a while. It is best to pack this book for your next trip abroad and pull it out and read it a bit of a time while waiting for a train, or standing in a queue to exchange money.

Rating:
Summary: Good idea wears out its welcome
Review: Definitley a great idea waiting to happen but a joke that wears a bit thin after a while. A killer concept not written to be read in one sitting and best viewed as a trial run for Phaic Tan, its far superior and much funnier sequel.

Rating:
Summary: Sometimes one joke is enough
Review: I agree with many of the reviewers who say that this book has one joke, and stretches it out over many, many pages. But remember that this is a parody of a travel guide. And how many people sit down and read a Fodor's or Lonely Planet guide systematically, cover to cover? Very few, in my experience. Instead, you pick it up, open to an intriguing section at random, or check the index for the specific region or topic you're interested in, and read for a few pages.

If you approach "Molvania" the same way, I think you'll find it pretty entertaining. Even if it has only one idea, that idea is a good one, and the authors execute it well. Again, in large doses it can get a little heavy-handed. But leave it someplace where you can browse it a little at a time -- or where an unsuspecting guest could find it on a bookshelf -- and the touch is just about right.

Rating:
Summary: Molvania is not a place that I would like to visit
Review: I can't believe that a country like this can exist in modern society. The citizens are rude criminals with extremely bad hygene. All of the other eastern block countries should really pitch in and help these poor people out. The least we could do is send over little travel toothbrush/ tooth paste combo-packs!! I would rather vacation in Gary, Indiana than Lutenblag, Molvania any day!! ;-)

Rating:
Summary: Funny because it's true
Review: I lived in Romania for two years and travelled to Moldova and Bulgaria several times, and boy could I relate to this book! It's the book I should've written; it's like they went through my journals and letters home. I also appreciated their parody of other travel guides, like the Lonely Planet series. Like other reviewers have said, it's not a book to read all in one sitting - it's more of a coffee table (or bathroom) humor book.

Rating:
Summary: Laugh Out Loud Funny Guide
Review: I picked this book up while I was browsing in the bookstore last week and ended up making a fool of myself, laughing out loud -- and loudly -- so that I had to take it home so I could guffaw in the privacy of my own home. I buy a travel guide before every trip and some are, of course, more helpful than others, but all are pretty banal. Not this one! All you have to do is open any page and start reading and I promise that unless you are are lacking a keen sense of the ridiculous, you won't get past 1 or 2 sentences before the silliness will hit you and you will be highly amused. A very clever idea, done very well, this book is not for people who take themselves -- or their travel guides -- seriously. It's just for fun. The photos are priceless and everything from the maps to the index are all in on the joke. "Molvania: A Land Untouched by Modern Dentistry" is a gem. Much fun. Good for when you need to feel better. No need to go there. Reading about it is ALL the fun -- an you won't have to get your shots!

Rating:
Summary: I was fooled - thought my geography was lacking
Review: Like another reviewer I found this in a bookstore while browsing the travel section looking for a book on Mexico. When I picked it up, I just assumed there was another gap in my knowledge of world geography and that was why I'd never heard of Molvania.

The format is so clever that it completely looks and feels like a Lonely Planet-esque guide, and being a big fan of LP, I was fooled. Until I read a few pages. And then, just like one of the other reviewers, I was snorting and guffawing in the store and had to put it down.

But I bought it for my Dad for Christmas. He said on the phone it had him crying with laughter (no mean feat, my Dad is not easily amused) and later in e-mail he said "seldom have I laughed somuch as at the Molvania guide-book; it's a very original concept, brilliantly carried through, and very funny. How can you possibly top that next Christmas?" Good question! It looked like there might be more books in the series, but I guess perhaps that's all part of the joke too.

Anyway, we loved it.

Rating:
Summary: Vivid, fascinating, nauseating
Review: Possibly the most complete overview of this little known country ever compiled. The text is so vivid in its descriptions that the reader senses the sights, sounds and (unfortunately) the smells of Molvania. In fact, the book is so well written that it saves the reader the necessity of actually ever having to go there.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty damn fun...
Review: So I was given this book for Christmas and as I sat flicking through it wondering why my sister had thought i needed to visit europe (i hadn't read the cover too closely) I must admit it had me fooled for a minute. Then, as I read closer and closer i couldn't stop myself from cracking up. Yup, it's a mixed bag, but like any travel book you're not meant to read it all in one sitting. Give it a go if you want to be pleasantly amused...



Rating:
Summary: A brilliant parody
Review: Terribly witty in the overview and the details. An incredible parody of the travel guide genre. I found it difficult to read aloud to others, since I'd break into laughter halfway through each sentence. Anyone who has slogged through repetitive guidebooks over the years and who has traveled extensively will appreciate the finely honed humorous insights. Is it politically correct? Not absolutely so, but substitute California or Italy for Molvania and I'll bet you could carry off a similar parody. PC? Parody-correct? Yes.