Waters, a (single, childless) Australian woman from Melbourne in her 40s, was fresh out of a bad long-term relationship and dealing with crippling anxiety when she read about the opening of the Te Araroa trail in New Zealand, which stretches 3,000 kilometres (about 1,800 miles) from the top of the North Island to the tip of the South Island. She was immediately intrigued, and wound up taking a six-month leave of absence from her job to make the trek, along with her friend Belle.
Except -- Belle was forced to drop out on the very first day of their long walk, leaving Waters with a choice: abandon the trip too, or continue the trek solo. She decided to carry on, alone -- and, in the process, she was transformed.
There were some obvious similarities here to "Wild" by Cheryl Strayed, which I read and reviewed about 10 years ago, here. As I alluded then, I'm generally not much for camping, hiking and roughing it... (although I did do a little camping when I was a teenager). I'm not at all athletic -- and I like my creature comforts too much, lol. ;) But I admire people who do these things. (I've long been fascinated by stories of Everest climbers, even though I would never even attempt a visit to base camp in a million years, let alone try for the summit!) I enjoyed Waters' story very much, and more so as the book went on. We could all benefit from some of the hard-earned wisdom she gains on the trail and shares here.
4 stars on Goodreads.
Our November selection will be "Remarkable Creatures" by Tracy Chevalier, and in December, we'll be reading "Etta Lemon: The Woman Who Saved the Birds" (alternate title: "Mrs Pankhurst's Purple Feather: A Scandalous History of Birds, Hats and Votes") by Tessa Boase.
This was Book #39 read to date in 2022 (and Book #1 finished in October), bringing me to 87% of my 2022 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 4 books ahead of schedule. :) You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2022 tagged as "2022 books."
I didn't know about that book, but must look it out. I liked "Wild" but like you I am not into hiking - I hate heights - you wouldn't get me up that mountain for all the tea in China (as my mother used to say)! My husband's cousin has just walked the Te Araroa trail - but she did it in more manageable sections, which would definitely be more my style. The closest I've come to doing something like that was considering a walking holiday in Italy, through vines, and with comfortable accommodation at night! lol
ReplyDeleteI keep forgetting to follow the NOMO Book club!