Fumbling : A Pilgrimage Tale of Love, Grief, and Spiritual Renewal on the Camino deSantiago

Rating:
Summary: Incredible Read!
Review: A funny, moving memoir that made me laugh but also made me think about my relationship with God. A must read.

Rating:
Summary: Good bookclub book
Review: An essential read for anyone who is struggling with grief or regrets, examining religion's place in his or her life, or merely fantasizing about running away to shake things up. With compelling historical and theological background to set the stage for her pilgrimage, the author is refreshingly honest about exposing her own flaws and struggles. Her boyfriend/traveling partner provides comic relief and keeps her from taking herself too seriously as he keeps her on track. I'm buying a few extra copies as gifts for friends so they can understand when I say, "That's exactly how I feel sometimes."

Rating:
Summary: Egan delivers a compelling read.
Review: At the start, Fumbling reminded me a bit of the travel adventures of Bill Bryson, complete with hilarious situations, interesting factual details, and commentary on the weird and wonderful discovered along the way as Egan travels the Camino trail through Spain. But the travelogue quickly yields to the startlingly honest commentary of a diary as Egan shares with us, bit by bit, the at times shocking events that brought her to her crisis of faith. Egan lightens up the more serious discussions of prayer and faith with humerous anecdotes and a Bridget Jones-esque sense of self-deprivation. This odd combination is tied together by Egan's wonderfully direct and accessible writing style. This soul-baring story will challenge the reader to self-examination while compelling you to keep turning the pages.

Rating:
Summary: A must read
Review: Egan writes of her struggles with faith in the face of her father's death with a refreshing honesty and insight. Anyone who has lost a loved one will identify with the spiritual questions she faces and find hope in the way she comes to terms with her grief. With a wit and candor reminiscent of Anne Lamott, Egan describes experiences and characters that linger with the reader long after the book is closed, and delivers an engaging book that is part travelogue, part spiritual journey and altogether inspiring. A must read!

Rating:
Summary: Writing at its best. Kerry Egan's Fumbling is a keeper.
Review: No table of contents, no index, I just had to dive in, but by the end of the first page the imagery of the words had captured me. An excerpt from the second paragraph:

"I knelt in the back of the church, my forehead on the top lip of the smooth, varnished pew in front of me. The wood was hard against my forehead, . . . .I'd been crying for a long time . . . ."

This is a story of pilgrimage, grieving and transformation, but not a daily journal. There are thirty one numbered episodes, sometimes causing a page break, sometimes just a break in the middle of the page. At a higher level the book is organized into parts, starting with Part 1 Fumbling, Part 2 Walking . . . and so on.

The episodes are a series of vignettes of the Camino experience. They are roughly sequential, but any one of them could stand alone as an essay, for example in a newspaper column. They all will bring back memories and tug the heart of anyone who has walked the Camino de Santiago.

This is a book you can read for pleasure, but certainly one you will want to read after making the journey.

Rating:
Summary: Don't go through life, or Spain, without reading this!
Review: Whether you're reading this on a train or on your back porch during a snow storm, be prepared for an extraodinary journey through northern Spain in the summer. For those of you planning to travel the Camino, Egan describes with vivid detail the scenary(especially the wheat), the people, and everything you'd want to know that they don't tell you in a guide book. It is of course much more than a physical journey, and as you travel with Egan it is as though you are taking a trip through yourself, only this time with a witty, insightful, and adventurous tour guide who doesn't stick to the path.