January 9, 2017
First-time author Arlan, a self-described “intensely lazy person,” decides at age 30 to leave “a boring career behind to travel alone” on a walk that starts on the southern tip of Lake Geneva and continues to through the French Alps and finally to the Mediterranean Sea—an idea that he stumbles across while Googling “various permutations of the search terms ‘long,’ ‘mountain,’ ‘hard,’ and ‘walk.’” What he finds—and what he admirably and amiably describes in this memoir—is a journey of self-discovery that encompasses“the breathtaking pain that blasted upward from the soles of my feet” after his first walks; the beauty that he sees almost every day on the road (“the light on the mountains turned every direction I looked into gorgeously rendered landscape paintings”); and the surprising similarity to parts of his journey to his native Kansas (“The scenery moves so slow that you never feel like you are making any progress”). In the end, one of the pleasures of the book is that Arlan strives for no grand pronouncements as he reaches the end of his trail, just stating the satisfaction of accomplishing a goal and a reminding himself “to take it slow, to not rush.”
December 15, 2016
A writer, editor, and "inveterate walker" chronicles his monthlong hike in the Alps. In his first book, Arlan follows the literary path that others have blazed, to great popular success, though he has taken a different route, both geographically and thematically. "Everyone back home knows the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail, the John Muir Trail," he writes. "But so few seem to have heard of the Grand Traverse of the Alps....There was something untouched about it that I liked, so I treated it preciously, like a secret." This alone must have seemed like a good enough reason to undertake the trek and to write a book about it. However, there is little sense of true purpose in this account: no spiritual illumination, no sudden epiphanies, no meditative insight, no transformation--at least none that occurred during the hike or the writing about it. Toward the end, Arlan told a traveler, "I've been walking for over three weeks. Not every day, but almost. From Geneva." When asked why, he responds, "The longer I walk the harder it is to answer the question." Readers who have encountered such literary journeys will likely knows what happens: the author sacrifices some financial security; he encounters strangers, some of whom are kind; he gets lost; he is more tired than he has ever been; it rains a lot; he survives a dangerous fall. By the time he finished both his journey and his book, he changed a bit, discovering some stamina and inner resources he never knew he possessed. "I am a quitter by nature," he insists, though the evidence suggests the contrary. "I don't like pain the way some people do. I have no interest in 'pushing myself, ' in 'broadening my horizons'....The path of least resistance has always been my favorite path. So, again, I wonder: what was I doing here?" Perhaps the best reader for this book is someone who wants to hike that same trail and is willing to risk being talked out of it.
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February 1, 2017
Writer and editor Arlan embarked on a monthlong, 400-mile trek through the Alps in southeastern France. Alone and physically unprepared for the challenges of these majestic mountains, Arlan persevered through lightning-filled tempests, falls, and self-doubt. Fellow hikers, as well as Arlan's friend Colin, who joins him for a week of terrible weather, make brief appearances and add interest to this day-by-day account. Physical comforts (food, hotel beds) and discomforts (extreme temperatures and sickness), take up a large part of the narrative. Never clear about why he is attempting the trail, the author refers to hiking as long, boring, and hard, and he finds little joy or satisfaction in finishing the daunting journey. Background information about the trail, part of what made Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods so interesting, is sporadic. VERDICT Readers who enjoy their walking memoirs full of humor or with a more personal or spiritual outcome, such as Cheryl Strayed's Wild, will find this easy-to-read story only mildly satisfying. Best as a cautionary guide for neophytes thinking of taking on their first big hike.--Linda M. Kaufmann, Massachusetts Coll. of Liberal Arts Lib., North Adams
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