A review by beckyann1110
A Land of Two Halves by Joe Bennett

3.0

I struggled a bit with forming my opinion of this book, because while I was interested in the perspective of NZ from the hitchhiker's eyes, he had a tendency to write heavily about the negative, as if he thought that was the way to differentiate himself from a guidebook. (At the same time, he's got a point about a lot of the canned tourist "attractions" one inevitably finds when traveling, which are much mentioned throughout.) He does manage to delve deeeper than many travel writers do into fascinating, detailed anecdotes about the places he visits, and his writing goes beyond just documenting a trip, showing some of the introspection that hours [b:on the road|6288|The Road|Cormac McCarthy|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21E8H3D1JSL._SL75_.jpg|3355573] with an outstretched thumb must lead to. He finally feels positive around the last third -- but the change in focus to the pleasant rather than curmudgeonly almost feels like he's trying to remind the reader (and himself?) why he's focused his efforts on documenting a trip he only seemed to half-enjoy.