Natural Opium: Some Travelers' Tales

I recommend these tales to fans of Diane Johnson's novels. One gets a glimpse of the novelist who wrote "The Shadow Knows", "Le Divorce", and "Persian Nights" while at the same time traveling to new places. My favorite piece is the trip to see the Great Barrier Reef. I had absolutely no idea what it looked like, but I felt that I was walking beside Johnson as she described the sensations. I also loved the hilarious tale of sliding down a Swiss alpine mountain at night. This book is aptly titled. "Natural Opium" is a rejuvenating experience.

I wonder if Diane Johnson read Martha Gellhorn's Travels With Myself and Another before she wrote Natural Opium. The similarities are remarkable, but the differences are also significant.Like Gellhorn, Johnson refers to her traveling companion as "J." or "Dr. M.". This can't be to hide his identity, since she also refers to herself as "D.". Perhaps these are her pet names for him.Also like Gellhorn, Johnson emphasizes the unplanned, accidental, and often unpleasant aspects of travel, since that is what people really want to hear about back home. There is a fine line between complaining and telling a great story about a dreadful trip. If you don't finish reading the first episode Johnson tells, you may end up thinking she is just feeling sorry for herself. Ever the professional storyteller, even in non-fiction, Johnson is actually setting you up for the twist at the end.The big difference between Gellhorn's book and Johnson's is that Johnson is always a tourist, along for the ride. She often travels with the same group of people, doctors and their spouses, to international medical conferences with her husband. They stay for a few days, a week, sometimes a month. Gellhorn traveled as a journalist following stories, and often stayed longer, getting to know the people. Natural Opium is an entertaining collection of essays, and Johnson knows how to make a good story out of chance encounters and bad hotels.