Take a photo of a barcode or cover
181 reviews for:
Bicycling with Butterflies: My 10,201-Mile Journey Following the Monarch Migration
Sara Dykman
3.73 AVERAGE
181 reviews for:
Bicycling with Butterflies: My 10,201-Mile Journey Following the Monarch Migration
Sara Dykman
3.73 AVERAGE
adventurous
hopeful
informative
slow-paced
This had a very cool and important concept and I did learn a lot about the monarch migration while reading it. But the book was very slow and a bit boring at times and overall not much happened. Really cool that this was a real thing that happened, it just wasn’t a very riveting read.
adventurous
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal death, Sexual assault
adventurous
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
adventurous
funny
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Thank you to NetGalley and Sara Dykman for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for and honest review.
This was a very interesting and appealing story about the author's journey. I loved her determination and sense of adventure. Saving the monarchs is indeed very important and I hope more people read this and take action.
This was a very interesting and appealing story about the author's journey. I loved her determination and sense of adventure. Saving the monarchs is indeed very important and I hope more people read this and take action.
adventurous
informative
slow-paced
A big thank-you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for giving me a copy of this book for an unbiased review.
1/5 - Not for me.
I really wanted to like this book more, but throughout my reading journey there were several elements that distracted me from the story and put me off.
- The book reads less like a memoir of a cycling journey and more like a list of the places and the people Dykman stayed with. Some of these were interesting, as she highlighted what different people could do to make their homes more hospitable for butterflies. But overall it was repetitive and unnecessary - I really felt like most of the book was just a summary of where she camped or crashed for the night, which did nothing to move the plot forward for me.
- Aside from Dykman following butterflies, nothing really happens. That might be an unkind thing to say, because following butterflies should be enough by itself. But I really usually enjoy traveling memoirs, because they often have some sort of revelation that the author makes about themselves or about the world around them. Dykman starts her journey with a set of convictions and those convictions stay the same, even as the miles progress. Consequently, there isn't much of a story to justify a full-length book.
- This brings me to my next point - this book would have been much better as an expose or an article, preferably accompanied by photos. There is a lot of good information in this book about butterflies and what we can do as a global community to protect them. But the information is sliced up by information that, to me, was neither interesting nor relevant.
- Finally, I agree with several reviewers that the tone of the book is quite preachy. It's one thing to share an ideology with readers or to try to convince them of a message. It's another to say that you just don't respect private property rights and feel entitled to trespass on land because of your own ideology. The tone comes across as quite indignant at times, which I personally did not enjoy.
Dykman's mission is an important one and I do think that her story should be shared. However, I do not think that a full-length book is the best format for this story, because there is no larger narrative that pushes it along. I would not recommend this book, although I do hope that Dykman publishes more in the way of articles - for example, I think this would have been fantastic as a National Geographic story written about Dykman's journey by a journalist. I do wish I had resonated with this book; unfortunately the way in which it was written was not for me.
1/5 - Not for me.
I really wanted to like this book more, but throughout my reading journey there were several elements that distracted me from the story and put me off.
- The book reads less like a memoir of a cycling journey and more like a list of the places and the people Dykman stayed with. Some of these were interesting, as she highlighted what different people could do to make their homes more hospitable for butterflies. But overall it was repetitive and unnecessary - I really felt like most of the book was just a summary of where she camped or crashed for the night, which did nothing to move the plot forward for me.
- Aside from Dykman following butterflies, nothing really happens. That might be an unkind thing to say, because following butterflies should be enough by itself. But I really usually enjoy traveling memoirs, because they often have some sort of revelation that the author makes about themselves or about the world around them. Dykman starts her journey with a set of convictions and those convictions stay the same, even as the miles progress. Consequently, there isn't much of a story to justify a full-length book.
- This brings me to my next point - this book would have been much better as an expose or an article, preferably accompanied by photos. There is a lot of good information in this book about butterflies and what we can do as a global community to protect them. But the information is sliced up by information that, to me, was neither interesting nor relevant.
- Finally, I agree with several reviewers that the tone of the book is quite preachy. It's one thing to share an ideology with readers or to try to convince them of a message. It's another to say that you just don't respect private property rights and feel entitled to trespass on land because of your own ideology. The tone comes across as quite indignant at times, which I personally did not enjoy.
Dykman's mission is an important one and I do think that her story should be shared. However, I do not think that a full-length book is the best format for this story, because there is no larger narrative that pushes it along. I would not recommend this book, although I do hope that Dykman publishes more in the way of articles - for example, I think this would have been fantastic as a National Geographic story written about Dykman's journey by a journalist. I do wish I had resonated with this book; unfortunately the way in which it was written was not for me.
~2.75
I enjoyed the first half, but the second half or so bored me, because it was essentially the same thing over and over again.
I enjoyed the first half, but the second half or so bored me, because it was essentially the same thing over and over again.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced