Reviewed by: BigAl
Genre: Travel Memoir/Parenting
Approximate word count: 70-75,000 words
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Author:
Reading the
short bio on Kirk Millson’s website, I started comparing it to my own. He moved
nine times (that he can remember) before he was 13. (Only 6 for me.) He
graduated from the University of Utah. (I “moved on” well before graduation. If
I’d stuck it out a few more quarters, we’d have been classmates.) And my
longest road trip falls well shy of Millson’s 9,000 miles. I hope to beat that
some day. But this isn’t supposed to be about me.
After 23
years as a newspaperman, Millson took a sales job and started writing what he
wanted rather than the stories he was assigned. This book is the initial
result. He has a novel nearing completion and is making plans for what comes
next.
For more,
visit Millson’s website.
Description:
“Forced out
of his high-ranking editorial position at the local newspaper, Kirk Millson
couldn’t bear the thought of starting all over and crawling back to the copy
desk. So when his new boss offers him a leave of absence, Kirk jumps at the
chance to realize his dream of driving the more than 4,000 miles from Salt Lake
City to Panama’s Darien Gap. His wife readily consents, with one minor catch:
He has to take his son Peter along for the ride.
Follow Kirk
and his emotionally estranged 13-year-old son on a four-month long journey in
this true, no-frills travelogue. In spite of robbers, corrupt law enforcement,
and their sub-par Spanish, Kirk and his son Peter undergo astonishing
transformations. 9,000 Miles of Fatherhood is the hilarious yet hair-raising
memoir that follows a timid boy’s rise from D-student to straight-A academic
juggernaut and his father’s rediscovery of a purpose far greater than the job
he left behind.”
Appraisal:
Only a
geography or travel geek knows about the Darien Gap, a relatively small,
roadless section of Panama that makes it impossible to drive a normal vehicle
farther south. It is the definitive “end of the road.” 9,000 Miles of Fatherhood chronicles the author’s story of taking
his ultimate road trip, from his home in Salt Lake City to the end of the road.
(I confess, I’m a geek who had learned about this from Tim Cahill’s Road Fever, another travel memoir where
the Darien Gap figured prominently.)
A good
travel memoir isn’t about the places visited and the things that were done
(that’s what guidebooks or, in today’s world, their webpage replacements are
for). It’s about the experience, that we get vicariously, and the lessons
learned, about people, life, the world, ourselves, or maybe even parenting,
families and work life balance. Those last three were among the biggies for
Kirk Millson with plenty of the others as well. 9,000 Miles of Fatherhood is a grand adventure and a feel-good
story, too.
Format/Typo Issues:
A small
number of typos and other proofreading and copy editing misses.
Rating: **** Four Stars
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