'In A Strange Room' - Damon Galgut

This is a trio of travelling tales that reflects on the nature of travel, but also human relationships themselves.

The book presents itself as autobiographical, but with an inconsistent person - the narrator switches between referring to himself as 'he' and 'I'. Throughout the book there are references to the stories being told from memory, allowing occasional hazy details or gaps in information. Each of the stories recounts an experience from long before, all on the road less travelled - Africa, rural Greece and India. The people that the narrator meets shape his experiences, suggesting somewhat that it's not where one is, it is who one is with that really matters.

What I found interesting was the way Galgut described the relationships that travellers build with their peers - people who are often from very different backgrounds and with contrasting personalities unite for a few days or much longer, sharing only an interest in the alien surroundings. These relationships become incredibly deep in a short space of time, but are based on shared experience rather than common values or attitudes. Initially there is always the comfort of strangers, a respite from loneliness, but over time the differences emerge. When circumstance or itinerary leads to a separation, the farewells are heartfelt, but immediately the traveller moves on (literally and emotionally).

What's more, travel is presented as a kind of dream, or an escape from reality that necessitates a change of attitude. In this world relationships are transitory, 'home' is an idea and the plans made deal only with the next few days. Only the locations are permanent. As Galgut writes, 'The roads you went down yesterday are full of different people now, none of them knows who you are...soon your presence, which felt so weighty and permanent, has completely gone.'

Throughout the book the narrator is also looking for a soulmate, someone with which to appreciate travel and to see the sights through the same eyes. Perhaps inevitably, no such person exists (at least not in this book). Frequently the traveller is able to meet those with whom he can communicate wordlessly, through only a look or a twitch, but initial hope of permanent happiness is each time extinguished by reality. What is present, time and time again, is the generosity of strangers and the general goodness of people.

I enjoyed 'In a Strange Room', it's a compact and pleasantly written book that conveys its message over time, in no rush - perhaps like the travel that is being undertaken. It's like an extended chapter from Alain De Botton's 'The Art of Travel', and has a light, dreamy quality that makes it easy to read.