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There are currently 22 member reviews
for To the Moon and Timbuktu
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Shara P. (Burlington, NC)
A different point of view
In general I think this a good read. Nina Sovich certainly has a different take on the world than most young women from middle class Conn. families. I found her perspective unusual: from life in Paris with a man who loves her being dreary and deadening to the spiritual benefits of poverty deprivation and filth. A sand up view of a part of Africa not often found in recent works. Change the cover, it's too generically "African" and the biographical sketch gives the plot away.
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Judy G. (Carmel, IN)
Wanderlust in all of us
I really enjoyed this book and recommend it. The description of Nina's personal journey was well crafted and described. While I had hoped for a story of the people and animals of Africa, instead I learned more about what it's like for people who continually yearn for excitement and adventure. The author described an often torturous journey, both physical and psychological.
We all have some degree of wanderlust but some of us experience the need to travel as a driving force in our lives that never goes away. I don't share that drive and feel the author did a great job of describing what that's like for others and how it can temper even the strongest romantic relationships. This book is a great example of how we can experience the lives of others through reading. I recommend it for book clubs as members could each speak to their own degree of wanderlust and how that need gets met.
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Judith G. (Ewa Beach, HI)
Naive woman or careless?
I did enjoy this book because I like to read about travel and women traveling. I found her reasons for traveling valid but, perhaps, selfish. Timbuktu has been a talisman for many and continues to intrigue those who are curious and avid travelers. Good book. Not great because I found the author (non-fiction) ingenuous in many instances.
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Liz C. (Kalamazoo, MI)
To the Moon and Timbuktu
Although there were many intriguing scenarios in To the Moon and Timbuktu, and the author's descriptions of West Africa were often captivating, my overall impression of Sovich's memoir is unremarkable. Had I been able to make a more emotional connection with the author I may have enjoyed it more. I was much less interested in her personal and emotional journey than her travels in Africa, and for me, too much of her focus was on her inner journey.
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Carolyn V. (Douglass, KS)
From the Moon to Timbuktu
I'm not sure what I think of To the Moon and Timbuktu by Nina Sovich. The writing was pleasant and readable in this memoir of the author's travel through western Africa. The insight into the countries where Nina traveled was revealing because those are areas that do not have a lot of 'personal 'written about them. I share Nina's interest in Mary Kinsley and other early explorers and appreciated her research. The part of the memoir that bothers me is the risks Nina took in her travels. I laud her adventurous spirit in traveling alone, but am unsettled by the risks she took.
An example of the writing in To the Moon and Timbuktu.
"I remember thinking in Paris that I would pour African into me like some kind of magic elixir. Then I would be seen. Then I would exist."
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Katherine Y. (Albuquerque, NM)
More personal memoir than travel memoir
While this book was well-written, I found it was too much of an internal journey and not as much of a travel memoir as I would have liked. Fans of more introspective memoirs will enjoy this one the most.
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Valerie C. (Chico, CA)
Not very engrossing
I read three quarters of this book before i gave up. I love travel, I love travel non-fiction, but this book is missing something others in this genre have - perhaps it is humor, perhaps it is deeper insight into the cultures. For me at least this book was a disappointment.
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