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A review by kemb22
No Baggage: A Minimalist Tale of Love and Wandering by Clara Bensen
3.0
View the original review on my blog, A Slice of Ky!
This little book is Clara’s retelling of her real-life experience of traveling across the world with a man, Jeff, that she had only known for a few months with nothing but the clothes on her back and her purse with just a few small belongings (and some sandals that are terrible for walking). As she recounts her experience, us readers are also introduced to anxiety stricken, existential-nervous-breakdown Clara that existed only a few months before meeting Jeff, the girl she had been for the previous two yearsof her life. Of course, as it always goes when traveling with a person one is in a newly founded, incredibly undefined relationship with, there are also the many ups and downs that these two faced as they came to meet the most intimate, and possibly undesirable, aspects of one another.
Overall, the writing was really great, easy to follow, and drew you into the story well. However, and this is completely subjective opinion on content, not quality, I was hoping for more of a travel account of the countries Clara and Jeff visited. Instead, the book seems to focus more on the emotional state of Clara as she struggles with culture shock, relationship issues, and existential questions on the purpose of life and how to best lead one’s life. Not that those aren’t equally exciting themes to think about, because they are and I enjoy them very much, it just wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for when I picked this book up.
To sum it up, I did enjoy this read and give Clara Bensen’s debut book 3/5 stars. It was a great spring break read: light, inconsequential, not requiring my brain to think too hard about what I was reading. Also, it made me realize that I really do need to read more travel writing, but it will most likely cause me to be dirt poor because all I wanted to do after reading No Baggage was take off on some great European adventure!
This little book is Clara’s retelling of her real-life experience of traveling across the world with a man, Jeff, that she had only known for a few months with nothing but the clothes on her back and her purse with just a few small belongings (and some sandals that are terrible for walking). As she recounts her experience, us readers are also introduced to anxiety stricken, existential-nervous-breakdown Clara that existed only a few months before meeting Jeff, the girl she had been for the previous two yearsof her life. Of course, as it always goes when traveling with a person one is in a newly founded, incredibly undefined relationship with, there are also the many ups and downs that these two faced as they came to meet the most intimate, and possibly undesirable, aspects of one another.
Overall, the writing was really great, easy to follow, and drew you into the story well. However, and this is completely subjective opinion on content, not quality, I was hoping for more of a travel account of the countries Clara and Jeff visited. Instead, the book seems to focus more on the emotional state of Clara as she struggles with culture shock, relationship issues, and existential questions on the purpose of life and how to best lead one’s life. Not that those aren’t equally exciting themes to think about, because they are and I enjoy them very much, it just wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for when I picked this book up.
To sum it up, I did enjoy this read and give Clara Bensen’s debut book 3/5 stars. It was a great spring break read: light, inconsequential, not requiring my brain to think too hard about what I was reading. Also, it made me realize that I really do need to read more travel writing, but it will most likely cause me to be dirt poor because all I wanted to do after reading No Baggage was take off on some great European adventure!