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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
If you’re looking for a memoir about some big life realization or some profound new understanding of the world, this is not your book. This book is a fun, entertaining read about a woman traveling the world and having a good time. It’s funny, honest, and more importantly it advocates for women to do more solo traveling and not feel like they need to wait to find someone in order to explore the world.
I loved reading about the different places she went and the people she met and even wrote down a few of the spots she mentioned to visit myself! I also love her travel tips. Like the list of requirements for a good travel buddy or where to stay to get the most out of your solo trip to meet people.
Overall, this is a lighthearted, funny, easy read. I loved it!
I loved reading about the different places she went and the people she met and even wrote down a few of the spots she mentioned to visit myself! I also love her travel tips. Like the list of requirements for a good travel buddy or where to stay to get the most out of your solo trip to meet people.
Overall, this is a lighthearted, funny, easy read. I loved it!
Fun, kinda inspirational memoir for the perennial single LA girls who just wanna travel the world (so me). Now I have like 5 more countries to add to my travel list.
This book was hard for me to read because it made me so nostalgic for my own travels and adventures. It’s hilarious, relatable, and well-written. I would recommend to any young woman to read this book before settling down.
Light, easy to read, hilarious, and inspiring as I embark on my own solo travels across the world. Not life changing, not a "must-read" but very enjoyable and quick memoir about travel lust with a nice, tidy ending.
Eh. I'm fond of travel writing and women's travel writing in particular, so I tossed Newman's book in my bag as I headed off on vacation. It was very funny in parts, and entertaining, but I couldn't love it. Maybe because I'm a mother of young women instead of a young woman myself, the grittier details of some of Newman's escapades seemed icky and desperate rather than romantic or even just fun.
Really great book about single girl life, traveling, and everything in between. It's witty and an all-around perfect read. Loved it!!
I wanted more about her travels and less about the relationships she had while traveling.
After initially reading this book three years ago, I was really underwhelmed and rated it poorly. Interestingly enough, I got a second chance to read this book when recently, I was chatting up a friend and before departing she and her adult daughter gave me three books to help tide me over the COVID winter. On of her daughters favorite books, What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding was one that was given to me. At the time, I didn't have the heart to tell her I had already read it and did not really like it, so I took it gracefully and decided to give it another go. I'm so happy that I did.
I'm not entirely sure what was different this time around reading it (it's only been three years - has my world view changed so drastically?), but once I got going, I found a depth and insight about relationships (running away from them as well as towards them) that I hadn't detected before. Yeah sure, some of it comes off glib, initially, but once I tuned into Kristin's history and how it shaped her world view, I connected with her journey(s) and felt like her struggles mirrored many of mine.
There's some real insight into what makes relationships work. The chapter when she's interacting with the Mixed-Israeli couple who's marriage was arranged has some very deep insight as to the qualities that are important in a long-standing relationship. It gave me pause to the things I'm currently focused on in my own relationship.
But the thing that solidified this book in my eyes this time around was from one of her earlier trips to South America where there was no romance, but only a rag-tag group of travelers that met up and had the time of their lives together. It's here that Kristin starts to realize that friendship is the most important thing in any relationship. Passion, Sex, and Romance ebbs and flows, but good, authentic friendships are the thing that endures. I was also deeply moved by her short essay in the end about how all things end, so you better enjoy the moment for what it is. Nothing lasts.
This book is definitely worth a couple reads. In addition to all the wisdom found in this book, it's a hell of a lot of fun to read.
Initial Review (for posterity):
As hard as I tried, I couldn't get into this book. I had high hopes that it would be a good travel memoir with stories of adventure and experiences that transformed the readers perspective on life. Instead, it read like a blog that details all the partying and sexual escapades of said author. Nothing against those experiences, but it quickly got old when each subsequent chapter read the same. Privileged Hollywood writer travels to exotic locales and starts a romantic relationship with one of the locales. Sure - she picks up some Spanish along the way, but it just got too repetitive for me.
Afterwards she travels home and laments her failed relationships and grows more cynical about love.
On a more positive note, Kristen Newman is a good writer, and her writing definitely made my laugh on occasion. I enjoyed reading about her experience in Israel and how the people there approach relationships. But beyond that, for me, it didn't read much better than Eat, Pray, Love.
I'm not entirely sure what was different this time around reading it (it's only been three years - has my world view changed so drastically?), but once I got going, I found a depth and insight about relationships (running away from them as well as towards them) that I hadn't detected before. Yeah sure, some of it comes off glib, initially, but once I tuned into Kristin's history and how it shaped her world view, I connected with her journey(s) and felt like her struggles mirrored many of mine.
There's some real insight into what makes relationships work. The chapter when she's interacting with the Mixed-Israeli couple who's marriage was arranged has some very deep insight as to the qualities that are important in a long-standing relationship. It gave me pause to the things I'm currently focused on in my own relationship.
But the thing that solidified this book in my eyes this time around was from one of her earlier trips to South America where there was no romance, but only a rag-tag group of travelers that met up and had the time of their lives together. It's here that Kristin starts to realize that friendship is the most important thing in any relationship. Passion, Sex, and Romance ebbs and flows, but good, authentic friendships are the thing that endures. I was also deeply moved by her short essay in the end about how all things end, so you better enjoy the moment for what it is. Nothing lasts.
This book is definitely worth a couple reads. In addition to all the wisdom found in this book, it's a hell of a lot of fun to read.
Initial Review (for posterity):
As hard as I tried, I couldn't get into this book. I had high hopes that it would be a good travel memoir with stories of adventure and experiences that transformed the readers perspective on life. Instead, it read like a blog that details all the partying and sexual escapades of said author. Nothing against those experiences, but it quickly got old when each subsequent chapter read the same. Privileged Hollywood writer travels to exotic locales and starts a romantic relationship with one of the locales. Sure - she picks up some Spanish along the way, but it just got too repetitive for me.
Afterwards she travels home and laments her failed relationships and grows more cynical about love.
On a more positive note, Kristen Newman is a good writer, and her writing definitely made my laugh on occasion. I enjoyed reading about her experience in Israel and how the people there approach relationships. But beyond that, for me, it didn't read much better than Eat, Pray, Love.
