“The premise of this is a winner. Two comedy writers, off work for the time between seasons, decide to have a race around the world. The catch: no airplanes. The story is told by both narrators, semi-alternating between chapters.
The strength of the book is in the humor. Both writers are pretty funny, though at parts it seemed like they wanted to make sure and remind everyone about the other guy with little jabs, stuff like “I generally like to wash my hands after using the restroom, unlike Vali whose main hand-washing technique is to rub his hands up and down a stranger’s footlong Subway sub while slapping her baby.” Stuff like that. It was fine, but you really didn’t feel a strong rivalry, so it felt a little forced.
If you’re looking for a fun read, this is a good choice. If you’re looking for some tome of worldly wisdom, technical travelogue, or something like that, look somewhere else. This is more like reading a version of a buddy’s out-of-country trip after college, except the buddy is hilarious and stuck on a Chinese freighter for what seems like 40,000 years.”