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John W. (Saint Louis, MO)
Story of A Journey: People, Places & Self-Discovery
To the Moon and Timbuktu is the story of a journey -- three in reality: people, places and self-discovery. I have traveled to various parts of eastern and western Africa and her descriptions of people and places made me feel as though I was back. She brought her characters to life and you feel as though you know them personally – the trademark of a great story-teller!
As I indicate it's also a book about self-discovery. Throughout the book, you learn more about two other famous women that traveled Africa, Mary Kingsley – an explorer in the 1800's and Isak Dineson – the author of "Out of Africa". The author feels
…more connected to both women as well as the women she meets in African villages. Despite time and cultural differences she discovers women everywhere share common bonds. (less)Loved the author's writing style, which made the book flow easily. There aren't too many authors that can make you actually "see" the places they are describing, but she was able to do that. I am not usually one to enjoy memoirs, but this was a good read and one I would definitely recommend for book clubs.
John P. (Timonium, MD)
A trek through time
The author takes us on a journey through some very undeveloped areas and reminds us to look carefully at our surroundings and in that to appreciate what we yearn for and realize what we have. An entertaining and interesting trip through West Africa that will make you want to visit the country.
Elizabeth W. (Newton, MA)
Lyricism and candor on a journey to Timbuktu
In To The Moon and Timbuktu, Nina Sovich writes of two type of journeys: her physical journeys to Africa and her psychological journey through the first years of her marriage as she came to terms with living an "ordinary" life in Paris with her husband.
Ms. Sovich writes movingly and well. She creates wonderful pictures of her struggles to get through the countryside, the people she meets, and her feelings as she comes to know them. She also provides enough background and history for her readers to understand the import of what she experiences.
As the author describes her relationship with her mother in her
…more childhood, it seems somewhat distant (although she does pattern herself as a traveler after her mother). On the other hand, her relationships with the African women she comes to know are wonderfully close and warm. They clearly are the high points of her visits to Africa, and, thus, her descriptions of them become the best parts of her book. In her descriptions of the writing of Mary Kingsley and Karen Blixen, she seems to feel a similar closeness to them. Her discussion of their writing led me to decide to go back to re-read Out of Africa and to discover Travels in West Africa for the first time. (The bibliography that the author includes at the end of the book is most helpful for further reading.)
Ms. Sovich's candor about her feelings is both refreshing and startling at times. More than once, I thought her brave to be analyzing her deepest feelings during some of her most vulnerable states while knowing that her husband and other family members would be reading about them.
The book is a combination of travelogue, memoir, and psychological analysis. As Ms. Sovich looks back on her African adventure and sums up how it has prepared her for her life with a child in Paris, she writes about the toughness it created in her, the ability to withstand boredom while dealing with a fussy child, and the ability to live with less, it seems strange to remember that the writer still is in her thirties. I found myself thinking of all the years that lie ahead of her and some of the experiences that she may encounter and wondering whether it it's not too early for some of her philosophizing and whether some of her analysis might not be a little too pat. Nonetheless, I would not give back any of the journey with Ms. Sovich, and I would recommend that others travel in Africa with her, too. (less)
Diane S. (Batavia, IL)
To the Moon and Timbuktu
I really enjoyed reading about her travels, all the different cultures and her journey both internal and outward. I do think her writing strength is when she is describes the people she meets of the dialogue between herself and others. I did find the journey itself a bit self indulgent, not to the extent of Eat, Pray, Love which I am sure this book is being compared to. I like that she went to places one generally does not get to learn about and I have to give her credit because I do not believe anyone could get me to eat a sheep's eye sandwich.
Becky M. (Crumpler, NC)
A Trek Through the Heart
The subtitle of To the Moon and Timbuktu is "a trek through the heart of Africa", but it seems to me that it could just as easily read "a trek through the heart." In this memoir, Nina Sovich carries us with her to the deserts of Africa as she seeks to find what is missing in her life. Not content to be a wife and professional journalist in Paris, she journeys to the regions of Africa least visited by whites, and certainly by white women traveling alone. The reader experiences not one, but three separate trips with her as she seeks to define her life as someone other than an American living in Paris. We taste the
…more dust, feel the heat, long for water, swat the insects ... all as we sojourn in the Sahara with her. As Sovich makes peace with herself, so then do we make peace with her restless heart. A good read when all is said and done. (less)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.
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
…more 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. (less)
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