Locked Passion of a Free Spirit

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Summary: Fab Fabiola's First Book Praise
Review: Couldn't put it down, simple, clean, innocent, non-judgemental writing style, fast reading with plenty of memoirs to pass the time. When's the next one? Will I be in it? Good job.

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Summary: Trauma and healing on land and on the high seas
Review: I admire the way that Fabiola has managed to very openly and often painfully tell us the story of her early life, starting with her experiences growing up in South Africa to her coming-of-age exploits during her travels on the high seas and in Europe.

Her candor and sensitivity are captivating if not disarming. I can't help but wonder how the story ends.......she's drawn me in.

A very worthwhile read......

Rating:
Summary: An engrossing story.
Review: I was captivated by this diary-like story that at times was sad, funny and even frightening. I enjoyed reading it and found it to be honest, frank and courageously written.

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Summary: A real page-turner -- I couldn?t put it down!
Review: On its surface, Locked Passion of a Free Spirit is a very enjoyable account of a young woman's coming-of-age during 5 years of travel from South Africa to Europe and the Caribbean. On a deeper level, the story also provides insight into the effects of being an ethnic minority in a land of apartheid and how that affected one girl's self-esteem and subsequently guided her behavior. Within its diary genre, the book is thoroughly engrossing, combining travelogue with extraordinarily open and honest confessions of a girl's romantic interests and sexual escapades. I couldn't wait to see how each of her life's entanglements turned out and what adventures were yet to come. Some of the stories are simply entertaining; others are shocking. Upon turning the last page, I felt as if I had been a witness to Fabiola Pon's journey and was sadly saying goodbye to a close friend. Read this book.

Rating:
Summary: Come of Age, See the World, Tell All
Review: On its surface, Locked Passion of a Free Spirit is a very enjoyable account of a young woman's coming-of-age during 5 years of travel from South Africa to Europe and the Caribbean. On a deeper level, the story also provides insight into the effects of being an ethnic minority in a land of apartheid and how that affected one girl's self-esteem and subsequently guided her behavior. Within its diary genre, the book is thoroughly engrossing, combining travelogue with extraordinarily open and honest confessions of a girl's romantic interests and sexual escapades. I couldn't wait to see how each of her life's entanglements turned out and what adventures were yet to come. Some of the stories are simply entertaining; others are shocking. Upon turning the last page, I felt as if I had been a witness to Fabiola Pon's journey and was sadly saying goodbye to a close friend. Read this book.

Rating:
Summary: A real page-turner -- I couldn¿t put it down!
Review: Raw and honest, this book is a must read for anyone who likes travel and adventure or just wants an exciting escape from their own reality with a true story about the adventures of two free-spirited and very sexy young women. I felt like a fly on the wall tagging along on an exciting adventure across four continents and over a dozen countries. Written in a breezy style, it's a fast and easy read that's sometimes shocking and always entertaining. Although I couldn't wait to get to the end, when I was finished I missed having the next chapter to look forward to. Great summer reading or a traveling companion or if you just need an escape from the mundane.

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Summary: A Modern Odyssey
Review: Read this book. Once you start it, you won't stop. It is the story of a young woman who finds herself born and raised in a Kafkaesque, outlandish world of family chaos in a grotesque nation-state. The young heroine realizes that to save her soul she must escape. But how? To where? With equal parts courage and curiosity and desparation, she embarks on an odyssesy of travel adventures with another young South African girl. Like a female Odysseus, Fabiola's voyages begin when she leaves a ruined country and makes her way through Europe, the Greek Islands, and the Americas in the mid to late eighties, until she finally returns home to herself. On the way she is bewitched, tempted and finally metamorphosed by the pleasures and torments of flesh and spirit until she begins to recognize her strong and healthy soul and how to care for it.

Through the stormy friendship with her companion Gillian, she begins to define herself for the first time. Through her relationships with men she learns of her deep, passionate, longing for love by its absence, and the inability of men to comprehend or value it.

Read this book. It will help you come to terms with your own past, your own demons, and it will add to your imagination the character of plucky, little Fabiola, and you will be a better, richer person for her companionship.