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socraticgadfly's review
2.0
Tough book to rate, for a mix of issues related to the book and to the genre.
First, the genre.
I think travelogue books in general, and through-hike subtype books in particular, have a pretty high ceiling to get a fifth star and I'm not grading on the curve. They ultimately, unless they're great descriptors, are in part personal psychology/discovery tomes, and in cases such as Cheryl Strayed, usually don't grab me there.
On the actual through-hiking? Neely himself says that, eventually, one range of hills becomes another.
Now, to this book in particular.
Like some others, I found Neely's writing breathless, flowery, even over the top at the times. Contra Publisher's Weekly, this ain't CLOSE to Desert Solitaire.
Then, there's Neely's lack of preparedness in some ways. Hitting Camp Pendleton, Hunter Liggett, Vandenberg AFB, a nuke power plant site and elsewhere and not being prepared in advance for detours, or having called in advance to see if there were ANY possibility he could hike through? Inexcusable. It's kind of funny that he actually gets ticketed and fined for trespassing in a protected area of a state beach. This is even more true, the preparedness issue, when he's not only past 35, but is married and hoping to have a kid soon, as of the time of writing.
Third, the birding and other stuff? Nice, or more "nice," especially without pix. I don't know if the hardback version was any better, but that was a major failing. (I read the paperback, bought at the bookstore in Borrego Springs.) Whether it was pix of the birds, or remains of one of the missions at the ostensible heart of this story or whatever, travel books or nature books that are stingy on pix will likely loose a star right there.
Related? The maps were also more "nice" than nice. For a book this size and heft, at least a few more professionally cartographic ones actually would have been nice.
OK, to the better.
I did learn a fair amount of things about the Portolá journey I hadn't known before. Stuff about mission-Indian interactions? Other than vignette details, not new to me.
The best part, overall, was actually (and sadly) the observations on homelessness in California, such as collections of 30-year-old RVs at state parks, or a guy only (he said) getting $1K a month Social Security because of working under the table too much. (Would have to have been a LOT of working under the table, I think.)
So, in that sense of rediscovering the Golden State, and the amount of semi-retiree semi-homelessness (why the under-the-table guy wasn't renting a small apt I don't know), this was thoughtful.
And, so, Neely wrote the wrong book, if that's its best part. He still has a chance to redeem himself, as the Golden State has looked even more like dross through COVID. And, there's the issue of why the non-rich semi-retirees aren't decamping for Texas, or New Mexico, or Nevada, or whatever, where their money will go enough further they don't have to live in a 30-year-old RV on the beach.
First, the genre.
I think travelogue books in general, and through-hike subtype books in particular, have a pretty high ceiling to get a fifth star and I'm not grading on the curve. They ultimately, unless they're great descriptors, are in part personal psychology/discovery tomes, and in cases such as Cheryl Strayed, usually don't grab me there.
On the actual through-hiking? Neely himself says that, eventually, one range of hills becomes another.
Now, to this book in particular.
Like some others, I found Neely's writing breathless, flowery, even over the top at the times. Contra Publisher's Weekly, this ain't CLOSE to Desert Solitaire.
Then, there's Neely's lack of preparedness in some ways. Hitting Camp Pendleton, Hunter Liggett, Vandenberg AFB, a nuke power plant site and elsewhere and not being prepared in advance for detours, or having called in advance to see if there were ANY possibility he could hike through? Inexcusable. It's kind of funny that he actually gets ticketed and fined for trespassing in a protected area of a state beach. This is even more true, the preparedness issue, when he's not only past 35, but is married and hoping to have a kid soon, as of the time of writing.
Third, the birding and other stuff? Nice, or more "nice," especially without pix. I don't know if the hardback version was any better, but that was a major failing. (I read the paperback, bought at the bookstore in Borrego Springs.) Whether it was pix of the birds, or remains of one of the missions at the ostensible heart of this story or whatever, travel books or nature books that are stingy on pix will likely loose a star right there.
Related? The maps were also more "nice" than nice. For a book this size and heft, at least a few more professionally cartographic ones actually would have been nice.
OK, to the better.
I did learn a fair amount of things about the Portolá journey I hadn't known before. Stuff about mission-Indian interactions? Other than vignette details, not new to me.
The best part, overall, was actually (and sadly) the observations on homelessness in California, such as collections of 30-year-old RVs at state parks, or a guy only (he said) getting $1K a month Social Security because of working under the table too much. (Would have to have been a LOT of working under the table, I think.)
So, in that sense of rediscovering the Golden State, and the amount of semi-retiree semi-homelessness (why the under-the-table guy wasn't renting a small apt I don't know), this was thoughtful.
And, so, Neely wrote the wrong book, if that's its best part. He still has a chance to redeem himself, as the Golden State has looked even more like dross through COVID. And, there's the issue of why the non-rich semi-retirees aren't decamping for Texas, or New Mexico, or Nevada, or whatever, where their money will go enough further they don't have to live in a 30-year-old RV on the beach.