Avoiding Prison and Other Noble Vacation Goals : Adventures in Love and Danger

Rating:
Summary: Avoiding Prison..." was a wonderful reading adventure!
Review: I was just riveted by this account of Wendy Dale's physical and emotional travels through some of the most dangerous countries in the world! Wendy's wonderful humor in the book takes the reader effortlessly through the difficult challenges she faced during her travels. Wendy's writings illustrated not just the risks involved with travels but the emotional danger we all experience when we fall in love.

I found the book accessible, funny and tremendously well written. This book is a very well-crafted adventure with enough comedy to keep the reader smiling through to the end. I had to just keep reading until the end in just two sittings and still wanting more.
I cannot wait for Wendy Dale's next book!

Rating:
Summary: A good laugh
Review: I was standing in a local store looking for a good, funny book and with a title like this, I couldn't help but pick it up. Two pages in, I knew that I had to buy it then and there. I laughed my way through the book in a day, and can't wait for her next one.

Rating:
Summary: WAY FUN STUFF!!
Review: I would love to be the kind of adventurer Wendy Dale is. She gets into some amazing pickles in this book. I laughed out loud, I shook my head in amazement. As I was reading I found myself longing for the kind of life that would fit into a couple of boxes and a backpack. Unfortunataley, I have too many books...

Rating:
Summary: Wacky, witty, and wonderful!
Review: I'm always very suspicious of authors I've never heard of. I have a distinct problem with plunking down $20 bucks or so for a book that I can't trust to be good. Still, intrigued by the title, I purchased this book from the fabulous Wendy Dale.

I definitely wasn't sorry. This book was highly amusing, and brutally honest, as we follow her to "some of the most dangerous places in the world". At moments, it caused me to spew orange juice through my nose.

The thing I most enjoyed was how easily I could relate to her. Self-indulgent or not, who hasn't spent time blaming their parents for the state of their lives and their neurotic behaviors?

I eagerly await her next book!

Rating:
Summary: At last, someone who travels properly
Review: It is revealing that the only bad reviews so far to appear on this site are from people who have taken advantage of the writer's honesty to assassinate her character. The one that reckons she needs therapy clearly knows nothing about California where 'she is in need of therapy' is a compliment, particularly if she is a renowned writer, as Dale will surely become if there is any justice in the world. I judge how funny a book is by how many belly-laughs it produces. The most any other travel-book has given me is 8 and a half (Bill Bryson's Down Under) while Wendy's produced 14 - AND I stopped counting at page 244. But it is much, much more than funny. It is the voice of someone who has gone off the beaten track and dared to be different, and this is the crucial bit, without trying to. These are tales of things that simply happen and are told both with endearing whimsy and heartbreaking honesty. Please buy this book and then count (on your fingers if necessary) how many lives you have.

Rating:
Summary: She's the best travel writer today!
Review: Move over, Paul Theroux. Wendy Dale has now taken the stage with a travel book that redefines travel writing in a way no one else can! Witty, charming, funny, comic, insightful, biting, ironic,sarcastic, philosophical ... this is a travel writer worth waiting for. If you read one good book this summer, read this one. And for expats around the world, dig in!

Rating:
Summary: Average Travelogue, Above-average Self-Indulgency
Review: Over the last few months I've become addicted to travel writing, as my weekly bookstore bill will attest. I've read some very good books, some very bad books, and some that never quite make it past mediocrity. Unfortunately, Wendy Dale's book is one of the latter.

I wanted to like this book. It has the unique voice of a young, single, female traveler, supposedly-funny writing, exciting adventures full of romance -- what's not to like? Unfortunately, the sum of the parts never quite makes for a satisfying whole, and I think can sum up my two reasons for this.

The first is that her travel story is very self-indulgent. In my opinion, a good travelogue details not just what the process of travel does to the writer as she goes through various countries, but also how the writer relates to the native inhabitants therein. Ms. Dale's travelogue is about her; the fact that she is in another country seems only tangentially related at times.

Secondly, I don't feel the humor is as well-developed as it could be. I was reminded of the attempts at humor writing I read in the local university newspaper. Douglas Adams, she ain't.

On the plus side, I think Ms. Dale shows great promise for a first-time writer. I'll give her time to hone her comedy skills and grow a little more as a writer and I'll buy her next book. But in the meanwhile I can think of a dozen other travel books I would recommend over this one.

Rating:
Summary: hmm....
Review: overall i would have to say that this book has A FEW parts worth reading, but a more appropriate title would be "making stupid decisions in foreign countries". and the stories she told are too much to be true... i find it highly unlikely that francisco was just completely innocent... and she always manages to get taken advantage of by various people in her life. i do pity her for being born in such a crazy family, and the only reason i would encourage you to buy this book is to help wendy to A) somewhat pay off her maxed credit cards and B) have enough money for plenty of therapy.

Rating:
Summary: So there I was standing in B&N laughing like an Idiot!
Review: Product Placement and a catchy title really are important. I, who have zero interest in Travel, happened by this section in my quest to find the "Horror" section, which by the way, does not exist at my local B&N. And this book, nicely displayed on the aisle, caught my eye. I picked it up, and as I usually will do, read the first page of a book to see if I would want to read further. After about 15 pages, and getting weird looks from other customers for standing there like an idiot failing to stifle my laughing out loud like an idiot, I decided it would be easier reading it at home so I HAD to buy this book. Even a person who has no interest in travelling will find this book hysterical.

Rating:
Summary: A must read romp
Review: Searching for a new author with a clever, fresh voice, I picked up Wendy Dale's _Avoiding Prison..._. This book is absolutely HILLARIOUS, as well as witty and thought-provoking. The book kept me engrossed throughout, and I found myself turning every page to see where this crazy young woman would end up next...