An informative but emotionally remote journey through modern-day Nepal.
A writer recounts his spiritual trek through a remote region of the Himalayas.
In 2017, with his 40th birthday soon approaching, Italian writer Cognetti was inspired to embark on an expedition in the Dolpo in northwestern Nepal. Accompanying the author was a team of nine travelers, including a childhood friend from Italy, a painter he had recently met, and several local Sherpa guides along with their mules. Their plan was to trek hundreds of kilometers across often uninhabited mountains, ascending to heights over 5,500 meters. “There is a whole region,” he writes, “above four thousand meters untouched by the monsoons or paved roads—the most arid, remote, and least populated part of the country. Perhaps up there, I said to myself, I could see the Tibet that no longer exists, that none of us can see anymore. This was the journey I wanted for my fortieth birthday, a fitting way to celebrate my farewell to that other lost kingdom: youth.” Cognetti’s journey was also greatly inspired by the Peter Matthiessen classic The Snow Leopard. Throughout, he liberally references and quotes Matthiesen, and while following a similar path, he revisits memorable locations from that book. The emerging parallels in their stories unfortunately expose Cognetti’s weakness as a storyteller. The author is a fine travel writer, investing his narrative with vivid insights into the present-day Nepalese region and sharing the often grueling physical effects of traversing through these high altitudes. Yet his personal context for the undertaking is vague. Matthiessen’s physical and spiritual journey is deeply enhanced by the intimate and emotional experiences of his past; his spiritually enlightening memoir is often moving. Readers unfamiliar with Cognetti’s previous work may come away from this slender narrative feeling they know little about him.
An informative but emotionally remote journey through modern-day Nepal. (illustrations)Pub Date: June 23, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-297831-8
Page Count: 160
Publisher: HarperOne
Review Posted Online: March 21, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
A heartfelt, uplifting, hopeful memoir from a talented new voice in nature writing.
A teenage Northern Irish naturalist chronicles his struggles to protect the natural world around him.
In this impressive debut, McAnulty takes us through a year in his life (from age 13 to 14) as an environmentalist juggling the demands of being a teenager with autism. Three other members of his immediate family are also on the spectrum: his mother, brother Lorcan, and sister Bláthnaid. His father is not. “I have the heart of a naturalist, the head of a would-be scientist, and bones of someone who is already wearied by the apathy and destruction wielded against the natural world,” writes the author. “The outpourings on these pages express my connection to wildlife, try to explain the way I see the world, and describe how we weather the storms as a family.” Exploring the wild with his family provides the opportunity to recharge and escape the bombardment of noise, feelings of claustrophobia, and torment from others that he faces at school. From McAnulty’s diary entries, it is clear that he and his loving, affectionate family are always in search of adventure. During the year he recounts, the author also endured the emotional strain of his family’s move to a different town, which required him to switch schools. For such a young author, McAnulty displays an astounding ability to capture and articulate his feelings and the nuances of the natural world, and his sincere compassion and lyrical prose captivate: “Above the bulrushes, a cloud of hoverflies. The light is dappled and sepia. I’m dazzled by the delicacy of the moment. My insides explode, words ricochet outside-in. I hold them close, because capturing this on a page allows me to feel it all over again.” The author also implores others to do their part in protecting the environment, finding local action to be the most effective. “As nature is pushed to the fringes of our built-up world,” he writes, “it’s the small pockets of wild resistance that can help.”
A heartfelt, uplifting, hopeful memoir from a talented new voice in nature writing.Pub Date: June 8, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-57131-180-1
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Milkweed
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2021
A must for Etheridge fans, with plenty of lessons for striving musicians.
New Age–tinged memoir by lesbian rock icon Etheridge, recounting the highs and lows of a long career.
To paraphrase French philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, “I am a spiritual being having a human experience,” writes Etheridge. She’s also a survivor of many a rough patch, from seeking the approval of an emotionally distant mother who considered her queer identity a “psychological illness” to kicking cancer and enduring a couple of very ugly breakups—and, worst of all, the death of a son to a fentanyl overdose. Etheridge’s book of revelations begins on a heady note, her mind on a hard-earned vacation courtesy of a whole bunch of pot-laced cookies. She had an epiphany that “love is within us and all around us” and that maybe she didn’t have to try so hard. Still, for all the past-life-regressing and consultations of astrological charts, the author seems to be a get-it-done, practical-minded Midwesterner with no end to her work ethic. Would-be songwriters stand to learn quite a bit from studying her process as well as the pointers from those who taught her—e.g., a jazz guitarist who instructed, “Doesn’t matter what notes you play. Just never go out of time.” It took a while for Etheridge to hit the big time, but she amassed enough material over years of hard work that she could field an at-home pandemic concert series every night for a month without repeating herself. Another lesson she discusses is the importance of connecting with one’s spiritual being, “assisted, of course, by ingesting a lot of cannabis.” On that note, Etheridge serves up a meaningful, even helpful elaboration of Don Miguel Ruiz’s famed “four agreements,” the last of which should form the heart of anyone’s life practices: “Just do your best, always.”
A must for Etheridge fans, with plenty of lessons for striving musicians.Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9780063257450
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Harper Wave
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2023
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