BookBrowse Reviews A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke

BookBrowse:

A woman is compelled by a curse to travel the world in Douglas Westerbeke's imaginative, bittersweet debut.

From the very first page of A Short Walk Through a Wide World, debut novelist (and librarian!) Douglas Westerbeke draws readers into the story of Aubry Tourvel, a nine-year-old girl who is not an altogether sympathetic character. She's insolent, argumentative and seems to ride a fine line between being principled and being entitled. On the way home from school one day, she stumbles upon a mysterious wooden puzzle ball:

"She'd discovered it … lying on a dead man's front walk. … It sat silently on the front walk at the foot of the steps, as if it had rolled out the door all on its own. … [I]t rolled toward her just an inch or two. Aubry stood there and watched, a little amazed."

She nonchalantly kicks the puzzle ball aside, but it seems to find its way back to her, giving the object an irresistibly eerie, uneasy quality reminiscent of the ring in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. After succumbing to the puzzle ball's allure, Aubry decides to keep it for herself instead of tossing it into the wishing well, as she promised her sisters she would… and soon after, things go very wrong. At dinner she pushes her plate aside, telling her parents she can't eat the food in front of her. But instead of chastising her for being too picky or spoiled, her father realizes something isn't right.

"…[O]ne look at her face and his anger died. She'd gone pale. Her hands were shivering and she couldn't stop them.
'What is it?' he asked her.
'I don't feel right' was all she could say … It was all so fast, so unexpected. All anyone could do was watch it happen."

She is rushed by carriage to the doctor's office but miraculously, by the time she arrives, she appears to be fine. After returning home, the illness comes back with a vengeance:

"'Oh my God!' cried her father … Aubry gasped for air … Her body spasmed so hard it could have broken bones … [She] was on her hands and knees, quivering over a black puddle, strands of red saliva swinging from her chin."

Along with her symptoms, Aubry develops a deep intuition that tells her to leave her surroundings. As she obeys this inner voice, she realizes that the only antidote for her sickness is travel. Exploring and staying in motion might save her life, but she is forevermore at the mercy of this illness. She cannot go back to the same place twice, not even to say goodbye to people she loves, and she cannot stay in any one location for more than a few days. And so, she sets off on a life-long adventure.

Thanks to Westerbeke's vivid and beautifully descriptive writing, readers will feel like they're actually traveling alongside Aubry: crossing the Himalayas with frozen feet, cowering through baking desert sandstorms, and pantomiming to communicate with strangers in Tibet. As he explores what it means to be alone, what brings us comfort, why we travel and how we grow as individuals, Westerbeke crafts layered narratives, stories within stories, which emphasize the richness of a long life. I found it especially interesting that, despite his lush and visceral writing, I did not feel emotionally close to Aubry. He keeps her at arm's length, which is particularly clever because given the nature of her illness, she doesn't have the opportunity to develop lasting relationships—not even with the reader.

Perhaps most enjoyably, A Short Walk Through a Wide World is an homage to libraries and the information they contain. Scattered across the earth, and sometimes hidden behind secret doors, libraries have the ability to sustain us throughout our loneliest times and prepare us for what lies ahead. They provide respite, help guide us and shape who we become.

I highly recommend this book that is one part adventure, one part philosophical exploration and one part love letter to libraries. It's especially enjoyable as a summer read; the short chapters help make this a real page-turner, and you'll absolutely enjoy the ride.

This review first ran in the May 15, 2024 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.