Reviewed by: BigAl
Genre: Travel Memoir
Approximate word count: 105-110,000 words
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Author:
“Jamie
Alexander is a writer and photographer based in Oxfordshire, England, with a
keen interest in current affairs and travel. He's seen his fair share of
adventures, from being mobbed by villagers in the high Himalaya and hunting
wild boar in the world's most remote rain forests, to meeting Papuan rebels in
the highlands of New Guinea. When he isn't off doing ridiculous things in
faraway places, he likes bouldering, eating cheese, and reading about people doing
ridiculous things in faraway places.”
Description:
“What kind
of student would go halfway around the world to stir up an independence
movement on his summer break?
At
nineteen, Jamie was nicely on track to becoming one of the most boring people
in England, but an impulse trip to the jungles of Kalimantan changed all that.
Spurred on by what he encountered among the tribespeople of the Krayan, he made
a decision to discover the truth of the world around him, however uncomfortable
that truth would turn out to be.”
Appraisal:
Travel
narratives or travel memoirs are an interesting breed. Done well, the “where”
isn’t all that important. Sure, you’ll get unique insights into the destination
or destinations covered, but for details on that there are better sources.
Instead, the genre unfailingly has a (hopefully) unique twist on one or both of
two standard lessons. Either the author through their experience learns to
understand himself or herself better in some way or they’re shown the truth of
the cliché “people everywhere are the same.”
Nowhere Like Home has the normal lessons. However, it
has another that is clearly the biggest lesson. While “people everywhere are
the same” is a lesson that no matter how different we may be, people everywhere
have the same basic hopes and dreams,
the other lesson here is about the differences. How people in dissimilar
areas and other cultures can have values and outlooks on the world and life
that are also valid. That by understanding them better we can break down our
own prejudices and often incorrect preconceptions, leading to a better
understanding of the world and our place in it which, when I stop to think
about it, takes us back to standard lesson #1.
Format/Typo Issues:
A small
number of typos and other proofing and copyediting misses.
Rating: ***** Five stars
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