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Summary: I beg to differ....
Review: Having travelled to many of the places Gough visited I was very keen to read this book. What a disappointment it was. Gough came across as a selfish spoiled user who had no respect for other cultures and people, and a lot of her "adventures" were self-aggrandisement, for example the Fijian experience. OK, they were cannibals, but that was about a hundred years ago - she would be in zero danger of being eaten nowadays, so why go on about it? The "hallucinogenic" drug kava, is actually just a muddy tasting drink that makes your tongue numb and after quite a lot, sends you to sleep. It is available in tablet/capsule form as a sedative/nerve tonic. Braving the taste is probably the most intrepid part of taking this. Oh yes,unless you want your teeth rearranged, don't call anyone (including the males raised as females) "poofta", as this is an offensive term for a homosexual.Everyone I know who has read this book also laughed over the New Zealand section - 25 years ago it may have been accurate, but to see her view of it nowadays requires a certain amount of tunnel-blindness. For a far superior view of solo female travel,where the author respects the cultures she vists and looks to understand the people she lives with, try Rita Golden-Gelman's book, Tales of a Female Nomad.
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Summary: An inner and outer journey of discovery
Review: I loved Kite Strings of the Southern Cross because in the author's search for paradise, she discovers some very unexpected things on the way, like the road inward, and the very oldest truth, that life is not what it seems on the surface. She digs deeply into the culture of Fiji to try to learn what's behind their shiny white smiles. After years of living in Asia and teaching in Japan, I can relate to this author's experiences in finding out that all is not always as it seems at first. sometimes you have to take a closer look to see what lies underneath. I was carried away by the author's use of language and found myself rereading certain parts over and over. This book is a keeper.
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Summary: Disappointing...
Review: I loved this book so much it has made me plan a trip to the South Pacific. I've been wanting to go there for years and now that I've read Gough's warm and brilliant account of her life in Fiji, I'm hooked on the idea of her sort of adventure travel where one gets to explore a culture from the inside out. Her inner and outer journey into a strange land is astonishing; her writing is poetic, thoughtful and full of memorable hilarious moments. The reader not only learns about Fiji and its people, but also about the life of a twenty-something nomad exploring the world alone. Whether on the back of a motorcycle roaring across Canada with a Maritime lunatic, or on an unforgetable bus ride through the Sahara, or hiking in the rainforests of New Zealand, we get to discover the world through through the fresh and insightful eyes of an exceptional new writer.
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Summary: An Amazing Find!!
Review: I read all the good travel books I can find and was given this one for Christmas. I'm happy to report that not only is it beautifully written, it is superb in other ways as well. For one, the author has the gift of being able to effortlessly transport her readers to the far corners of the globe while maintaining a compelling narrative throughout. At the beginning, Gough writes that she can never return to her island in Fiji, "not while he's alive," and we never stop wondering, who this "he" may be and what happens between them. We find out in the end of course and "he" is not who we think it is. I stayed awake four nights in a row to finish this book and am now telling all my friends about it. There is no better gift than the gift of inspiring your friends to travel and see the world. That is what this book has done for me. I also laughed out loud several times at some of the scrapes she got herself into. She's an incredible story teller.
Rating:
Summary: An Amazing Find!!
Review: I read all the good travel books I can find and was given this one for Christmas. I'm happy to report that not only is it beautifully written, it is superb in other ways as well. For one, the author has the gift of being able to effortlessly transport her readers to the far corners of the globe while maintaining a compelling narrative throughout. At the beginning, Gough writes that she can never return to her island in Fiji, "not while he's alive," and we never stop wondering, who this "he" may be and what happens between them. We find out in the end of course and "he" is not who we think it is. I stayed awake four nights in a row to finish this book and am now telling all my friends about it. There is no better gift than the gift of inspiring your friends to travel and see the world. That is what this book has done for me. I also laughed out loud several times at some of the scrapes she got herself into. She's an incredible story teller.
Rating:
Summary: The best travel book I've read in years
Review: I read all the travel books I can get my hands on, and over the last decade have reviewed many of them for the San Francisco Chronicle. Five days ago I finished Laurie Gough's "Kite Strings of the Southern Cross" and have been mulling it over (it rarely leaves my mind, actually), looking for a weakness. I have concluded that it doesn't have one -- it's pretty darned perfect. In Fiji, on nights when her Fijian lover is not serenading her under the stars, on the beach, Ms. Gough swaps tales around the local backpackers' campfire -- and most of the best ones are her own. A superb storyteller with an easy writing style, Ms. Gough comes across as an intelligent and intrepid traveler and an endearing personality. She weighs in thoughtfully on all the philosophical and metaphysical questions the road raises, and blends cultural insight, travel lore, and personal introspection seamlessly, veering in mood from serious to lighthearted at exactly the right times. Hers is simply the best travel book I've read since Jeff Greenwald's "The Size of The World" a few years back, the kind of book you want every traveler you know to read.
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Summary: Sensual , lyrical writing...beautifully mastered
Review: I received this book as a gift since a friend knows I've always had a secret desire to travel, especially to the South Pacific, where much of this book takes place. I was excited when I read the reviews on the back cover, but was even more so when I started reading the book. I found that Laurie Gough not only has written an absorbing, often very funny account of her journeys, but is a wonderful, engaging writer as well, drawing us in almost from the beginning with her poetic descriptions and lyrical use of words. I can't recommend it highly enough. Bravo!!
Rating:
Summary: Sensual , lyrical writing...beautifully mastered
Review: I received this book as a gift since a friend knows I've always had a secret desire to travel, especially to the South Pacific, where much of this book takes place. I was excited when I read the reviews on the back cover, but was even more so when I started reading the book. I found that Laurie Gough not only has written an absorbing, often very funny account of her journeys, but is a wonderful, engaging writer as well, drawing us in almost from the beginning with her poetic descriptions and lyrical use of words. I can't recommend it highly enough. Bravo!!
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Summary: If you loved Kite Strings, read her latest story in salon
Review: Kite Strings of the Southern Cross is the best book I've read in years! It picks up where traditional travel books (i.e. male) leave off, with potent vignettes about life on the road that capture the sensual side of travel. You'll be transported from sinister Malaysian nightclubs, to the back of a motorcycle with a mad maritimer, to a lush Fijian island you'll never want to leave--all seen through the eyes of a world-class adventuress. I missed the book so much when it finished that I started reading it all over again. I just found a fabulous new travel story by Laurie Gough on salon magzine: http://salon.com/travel/feature/2000/03/11/naxos/index.html
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Summary: Breath-taking and lyrical travel odyssey
Review: Kite Strings of the Southern Cross is the big-hearted, sensual, vibrant and extraordinarily compelling true travel diary of a Canadian woman in Fiji. The writing is breathtaking and skilled. The places she takes the reader are places the reader wants to remain long after the book is put down. Gough's book is set mainly on a remote south pacific island where Gough lived and taught school. Within the Fiji journal itself are ten short stories based on her travels around the world. The early stories are light-hearted and extremely funny, as are the first few journal chapters of Fiji, but as her stay in Fiji intensifies, the short stories begin to take on weight and reveal the darker sides of the human spirit. Some are set in Morocco, Malaysia, Bali, Hawaii, New Zealand, Italy and North America. The story of the author's hilarious motorcycle escapade from California to eastern Canada with Chester McQuiggle is alone worth the price of the book. This exceptional new talent should be read, and read widely, for within her writing we find secrets loaded with stars. When this book came out in Canada last year, under the title of "Island of the Human Heart", it was an immediate sensation. Soon to be published in the US with a new title and a bigger publisher, Americans will now have the chance to be taken on the travel odyssey of their lives.
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