Author: Krista Schlyer
Length: 296 pages
Type: Non-fiction
Genre: Travel, Spiritual, Memoir
Almost Anywhere
Description
Road Trip Ruminations on Love, Nature, National Parks, and Nonsense
“At twenty-eight years old, Krista Schlyer sold almost everything she owned and packed the rest of it in a station wagon bound for the American wild. Her two best friends joined her—one a grumpy, grieving introvert, the other a feisty dog—and together they sought out every national park, historic site, forest, and wilderness they could get to before their money ran out or their minds gave in.
The journey began as a desperate escape from urban isolation, heartbreak, and despair, but became an adventure beyond imagining. Chronicling their colorful escapade, Almost Anywhere explores the courage, cowardice, and heroics that live in all of us, as well as the life of nature and the nature of life.
This eloquent and accessible memoir is at once an immersion in the pain of losing someone particularly close and especially young and a healing journey of a broken life given over to the whimsy and humor of living on the road.”
Janet Dore –
This book written by a woman about her one year transformational journey visiting national monuments and parks throughout the US after the death of her (young) husband had an extremely high chance of making my all-time favorite list. As I swiped the last page of this book, I felt tremendous respect for the author and her personal and professional journey, however, overall the book fell a bit short for me.
I haven’t lost anyone extremely close to me, but I really don’t think that was why. Part of it was the author’s “flowery” (overly descriptive) writing style, which would often become distracting and pull me out of the story. Also, with only a few exceptions, she wrote about her grief in a very esoteric way, which muffled the emotion and my connection to her husband. Thankfully, we share a goofy sense of humor, which helped make up for the shortcomings a bit for me.
I will still recommend this book to those who have lost a loved one as it does present an invaluable shift in perspective about death.