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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
The philosophical musings got old, especially near the end of the book. And the fascination with Unibomber...what was that all about?
I expected more from this book. I thought it would be a 5-star read, but it was too theoretical and dense... It definitely gets you thinking though.
This book was such a pleasure to read. What makes it even more impressive to me is that this is not an autobiographical recollection as I had thought when I first started reading it. Maybe it’s because of where I am in my life as a twenty-something year old college student or because we are in lockdown with little chance to go explore the Alaskan wilderness on our own and meet fascinating people, but I was immediately taken with Erin and her journey to find something she wasn’t even sure of what it was. Witty and insightful, she reflects on femininity, environmentalism, the macho Wilderness man and the Unabomber, the indigenous people of North America, death, the space race and the women of Mercury 13, and what it means to be coming of age in a time of global warming and environmental destruction. It’s definitely not a book I could have read in a single sitting.
I also feel like I need to mention how Abi Andrews is not afraid to put little illustrations in the book, too few authors do it nowadays and it was very sweet. And how could I forget the chapter titles (some people say there were too many but I didn’t mind much). A selection include: Chivalry isn’t dead, guys just get sick of ungrateful bitches; England, just like America but different; and my personal favorite: the clitoris is a direct line to the matrix.
Overall, 4.5 out of 5, sometimes I was a little lost and I do wish we had seen more of her doing stuff in the wilderness but alas, very impressive debut novel.
I also feel like I need to mention how Abi Andrews is not afraid to put little illustrations in the book, too few authors do it nowadays and it was very sweet. And how could I forget the chapter titles (some people say there were too many but I didn’t mind much). A selection include: Chivalry isn’t dead, guys just get sick of ungrateful bitches; England, just like America but different; and my personal favorite: the clitoris is a direct line to the matrix.
Overall, 4.5 out of 5, sometimes I was a little lost and I do wish we had seen more of her doing stuff in the wilderness but alas, very impressive debut novel.
I wanted to love this book but just didn't. Erin doesn't read like a real 19 year old girl and her philosophical ramblings, which start out interesting, end up being really grating and distracting closer to the end of the novel. Really struggled to care enough to finish the book.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
2,5/5
C'est le sentiment de déception qui règne après avoir refermé ce livre.
J'étais tombée par hasard sur ce roman dans une librairie indépendante de Bath en février dernier. J'avais ensuite participé à une interview et séance de dédicace de l'auteure dans cette même librairie. Ce qu'elle disait de son roman me plaisait énormément : prenez Into the wild mais transposez le à un personnage féminin. Comment cette quête d'aventures se passerait-elle pour elle ? Entre nature writing et roman féministe qui se moque de Bear Grills, mon intérêt avait été éveillé.
Et puis voilà, mes attentes n'ont pas été remplies. Le roman oscille entre beaucoup trop de choses et cela m'a perdue par moment. L'auteure s'est dispersée en abordant l'astronomie, la philosophie, le féminisme, l'écologie et le nature writing. Par moment cela ressemble plus à une thèse qu'à un journal de voyage. N'étant pas passionnée par l'astronomie par exemple, j'ai eu énormément de mal à aller au bout de certains chapitres sur ce sujet... Cependant ce qu'elle évoque tout au long du roman est intéressant (notamment les réflexions sur l'écologie, le féminisme et les conditions de vie des indiens d'Amérique, des Inuits ou des Esquimaux) mais au final cela tient plus de l'essai que du roman. Ce n'est pas ce que j'attendais ici.
C'est le sentiment de déception qui règne après avoir refermé ce livre.
J'étais tombée par hasard sur ce roman dans une librairie indépendante de Bath en février dernier. J'avais ensuite participé à une interview et séance de dédicace de l'auteure dans cette même librairie. Ce qu'elle disait de son roman me plaisait énormément : prenez Into the wild mais transposez le à un personnage féminin. Comment cette quête d'aventures se passerait-elle pour elle ? Entre nature writing et roman féministe qui se moque de Bear Grills, mon intérêt avait été éveillé.
Et puis voilà, mes attentes n'ont pas été remplies. Le roman oscille entre beaucoup trop de choses et cela m'a perdue par moment. L'auteure s'est dispersée en abordant l'astronomie, la philosophie, le féminisme, l'écologie et le nature writing. Par moment cela ressemble plus à une thèse qu'à un journal de voyage. N'étant pas passionnée par l'astronomie par exemple, j'ai eu énormément de mal à aller au bout de certains chapitres sur ce sujet... Cependant ce qu'elle évoque tout au long du roman est intéressant (notamment les réflexions sur l'écologie, le féminisme et les conditions de vie des indiens d'Amérique, des Inuits ou des Esquimaux) mais au final cela tient plus de l'essai que du roman. Ce n'est pas ce que j'attendais ici.
I definitely thought it was interesting as a concept. I loved the references to other nature writers and how it’s written makes you think that Erin is a real person, someone who really went on this excursion. Reading about her adventures was exciting, watching her interact and reflect with those around her was interesting, however, my complaint is that it got redundant. By the latter half, she is going on tangents and philosophizing about every little thing. It certainly makes you think, and if that is what you are going for I would recommend, but personally I was starting to get impatient by the end.
Started off amazingly, I genuinely enjoyed the first half of the book! Then it seemed to drag on and get a bit too pretentious. I really wish it would have remained as good as the first half.
i really, really wanted to like this book. the premise was interesting but i was so let down...a mixture of travel memoir, science writing and essay styles, this book was just not for me. i felt that there was too much needless philosophising that detracted from the narrative, and the protagonist was so lacking in self-awareness and reflexivity about her privilege/positionality that i found it hard to relate to her. the author only finally acknowledges and attempts to unpack erin's internalised misogyny at the end, but it was unsatisfactory for me. the discussions on ecological politics and colonialism also felt messy and trite at times, with no particularly new insights. it was also unclear if erin's self-indulgent tendencies are intentionally ironic or not. overall, this was a disappointing read, although there were some paragraphs that were written quite beautifully.
Ah, I really expected to love this. I'm a feminist and a climber! But it just didn't quite work for me.
I liked the first half- I really enjoyed Erin's interactions with other people (particularly the ones that unsettled her because she couldn't compartmentalise them), and loved the scenes of her larking around in front of the camera pretending to be a Bear Grylls-style outdoors man.
But the second half felt really baggy and was definitely in need of a good edit. The ramblings about space, etc. just became repetitive- and not very engaging. By that point in the novel we already know that Erin is bright, well read, etc., and I think they started to lose their purpose. These musings also really get in the way of us learning about who Erin actually is, not just what she is interested in. She's weirdly elusive, despite the fact the majority of the novel is in the first person.
Also, some of the details felt kind of anachronistic. Erin's mum wanting her to get a local job and have kids, for example, seemed really odd to me - why would she not be encouraging her very bright daughter to go to uni? This was a general stumbling block for me- the lack of fleshing out of Erin's background- and the contradictions in it. I found it totally unbelievable, for example, that bookish, loner-ish state-school educated Erin would have had a boyfriend who was into shooting as a hobby. Far too convenient!
I felt frustrated too that Erin had hardly any references beyond Thoreau, Jack London, Chris McCandless- there are so many awesome adventurous women that it just felt like the whole 'Mountain Man' concept was a bit of a straw man to be honest...
I liked the first half- I really enjoyed Erin's interactions with other people (particularly the ones that unsettled her because she couldn't compartmentalise them), and loved the scenes of her larking around in front of the camera pretending to be a Bear Grylls-style outdoors man.
But the second half felt really baggy and was definitely in need of a good edit. The ramblings about space, etc. just became repetitive- and not very engaging. By that point in the novel we already know that Erin is bright, well read, etc., and I think they started to lose their purpose. These musings also really get in the way of us learning about who Erin actually is, not just what she is interested in. She's weirdly elusive, despite the fact the majority of the novel is in the first person.
Also, some of the details felt kind of anachronistic. Erin's mum wanting her to get a local job and have kids, for example, seemed really odd to me - why would she not be encouraging her very bright daughter to go to uni? This was a general stumbling block for me- the lack of fleshing out of Erin's background- and the contradictions in it. I found it totally unbelievable, for example, that bookish, loner-ish state-school educated Erin would have had a boyfriend who was into shooting as a hobby. Far too convenient!
I felt frustrated too that Erin had hardly any references beyond Thoreau, Jack London, Chris McCandless- there are so many awesome adventurous women that it just felt like the whole 'Mountain Man' concept was a bit of a straw man to be honest...