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plaidpladd's review
3.0
Like any collection of essays or short stories, I found some of these were amazing and some were just okay. But overall I thought it was a really interesting collection, especially since 2020/2021 was a weird time for travel.
areader09's review
4.0
3.5 stars rounded up to 4. As I say with every volume of "Best American" that I review, the edition lives and dies by the guest editor. In my opinion, the best volumes are ones that are the most representative, in terms of gender, race, publication, etc. A good volume is also one that thinks broadly about the subject at hand, in this case, travel writing. Fortunately, Padma Lakshmi thought liberally about what constitutes travel writing and selected pieces that contributed to a well-represented volume. I also appreciate that, while this edition explored the pandemic, it was not overly fixated on it.
Some of my favorite pieces in this edition were: "To the Swimmer in the Borneo Rainforest" by Meghan Daum; "The People of Las Vegas" by Amanda Fortini, "Mississippi: A Poem in Days" by Kiese Makeba Laymon, and "Good Bread" by Bill Buford (also in this year's edition of Best Food Writing).
Some of my favorite pieces in this edition were: "To the Swimmer in the Borneo Rainforest" by Meghan Daum; "The People of Las Vegas" by Amanda Fortini, "Mississippi: A Poem in Days" by Kiese Makeba Laymon, and "Good Bread" by Bill Buford (also in this year's edition of Best Food Writing).
firerosearien's review
4.0
How do you write about travel when everyone's locked down and there is no travel?
There are some very creative ways of addressing that here, but the saga of the Diamond Princess was probably my favorite in the collection, though I also enjoyed many of the others.
There are some very creative ways of addressing that here, but the saga of the Diamond Princess was probably my favorite in the collection, though I also enjoyed many of the others.
m_peacock's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
2.0
Yes, travel during the pandemic waves of 2020 and 2021 was difficult. But if you're going to publish a book titled The Best American Travel Writing 2021, then figure out how to get it done. The start of this book was way too New York-centric -- the story of celebrity lock-down life in the introduction by Padma Lakshmi, the inane stories about the guilt of ditching Manhattan or the inner strength required to stay. About 25% of the stories were good reads; too few for a book that claims to contain the best American travel writing of last year.