remarkable travelogue from an independent spirit

These diary entries make up a riveting account of a young woman's solo bike ride from Dunkirk to New Delhi in 1963. To put into context her resolve and durability, the 1000km slog through Northern Europe during the worst winter of the 20th century barely earns a sixth of this books length. This woman is not to be trifled with, she shoots a wolf in the face with her smuggled pistol, smashes her ribs up on an Afghan bus, solo treks through the Himalyas on a borrowed horse, lives off stewed clover for a week, and goes crazy at a found collection of classical music 78's. All the while, not only describing the unfolding beauty with clarity, but also pontificating on the shifting cultural landscape with great wisdom, curiosity and an open heart. A wonderful account of the world before it really really really went to shit.

2 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Amazing story

The description of Afghan culture in the early 1960s is fascinating and I think essential reading.

2 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Amazing story of insane journey

For a woman in her 20's to cycle across the world in 1964 was an incredible idea and at times a very dangerous adventure.
The story itself is almost exclusively taken directly from her journal entries.
This was written in the 1960s. The language and terminology used would no longer be considered appropriate or politically correct. However the author does not intend offence and I do not believe it is legitimate to judge by applying current standards of language usage on a book written almost 60 years ago.
What is clear is that the author had extreme fondness, respect and love for the people and places she visited. In addition she makes many astute observations and concerns on the forced westernisation of countries and the negative impact of same.
Apart from all that the struggles of a run woman dragging a bike alone across the world is in and of itself and very interesting.

2 persone l'hanno trovata utile

where's the ending?

I enjoyed this incredible story and the narration was spot on but the ending appears to be missing!

1 persona l'ha trovata utile

Grea...until the end

Felt immersed in the whole journey and very much enjoyed it. The last section in India seemed to be a bit of a sanctimonious dig at Britain which spoilt it for me a bit.

1 persona l'ha trovata utile

Narrator’s voice didn’t ring true

The narrator’s voice seemed too polished, too professional, not matching my interpretation of the adventurous character of the protagonist. I think to grasp locations and dates this might be better to read than to listen to. What a fearless lady she was

Does not stand the test of time.

This is one of my Dad's favourite books so I gave it a go. Starts ok and when she calmly shoots a dog off her shoulder that is attacking her I am thinking this is quite good.

Then we get to the 1960s hearthside philosophy, good ould oirland and how the natives are better off without western progress, telling us we should all be at more at one with nature and shooting a couple of snakes a few minutes later. Cream on the cake is how the wonderful catholics in a region were perfect and great at educating the poor locals while the protestants were an evil bunch of proselytising maniacs that should not be allowed in to the world.

On it goes, it is better to be poor than have progress, women brought up to know their place should, sure why would they want to disrupt things. She contrasted the eastern religions of Pakistan, Afghanistan etc as being suitable for their place, the implication that proper western religions in Oirland are better especially when they are from Israel/Palestine.

So times have changed, I think the book is dated as the attitudes, the couple of references to n**ger brown could have been modified but it was unbearable and I gave up with a couple of hours to go.

Mixture

This is a good travelogue but not great. The author does not write with emotion which makes it less than it should be. It left me wanting more depth. I was shocked by the ending, it just stopped, as if mid-sentence...strange.

A Compulsive Diarist

In the tradition of Robert Byron who also wrote well of his travels over some of the same ground, three decades earlier, Dervla brings the Reader into really sympathetic contact with so many ordinary folk in the lands she travelled through. And her bulletins, written each evening (despite some extreme rigours in the day) are evidence of the accurate descriptions of her courageous progress always attracting friendly encounters with humble locals, ready to share (and she to accept) their sparse provender.

Much ado about nothing

I have travelled many of the places she describes. Interesting and has some well-described scenes but in the end comes across too opinionated with sweeping dismissals of some nations while lauding uneducated tribes. The advantage of being a westerner with all it offers and has done for her & for developing countries seems dismissed as irrelevant. Not a balanced view.