Naked in Eden: My Adventure and Awakening in the Australian Rainforest
By Robin Easton
Health Communications, Inc.
September 2010
384pp
The Short of It:
Naked in Eden is a personal journey of self-discovery that reminds us of the beauty that can be found in an unplugged world.
The Rest of It:
Robin Easton, mildly autistic and overwhelmed with the demands of society, heads into the Australian rainforest with her husband Ian, pitches a tent and becomes one with nature.
I have to be honest here, this book was a bit hard to get through. Just a couple of pages in, Easton talks of her encounter with a snake.
Okay Red-belly, I hear you. One of us has gotta be vulnerable. I’ll take the risk. I need to test my courage. And you’re right; I’m heaps larger than you. I must appear huge. Since I’ve intruded in your space, I’ll retreat first. You can trust me. Please let me trust you. I don’t want to become paralyzed from your bite.
Really?
Although I understand the need for these interactions, and that Easton was truly trying to blend into the scenery, these sections of text were excruciating to read. They were flat and abbreviated in a halting way and they are peppered throughout the book.
I had to take stock of the situation. I literally put the book down and tried to see it from the author’s point of view. I realized after thinking about it for a bit, that this is really a personal journey for the author and that perhaps it wasn’t written with other readers in mind. That perhaps the whole goal was to document her journey of self-discovery and that anyone in a similar place in life, would be able to identify with it. I decided to respect the author’s interpretation.
With this mindset, I picked the book up again and was able to appreciate the “unplugged” aspect. It’s so stressful to exist in today’s world. The overwhelming demands of work, family and the expectation to juggle it all with ease. There is beauty in simplicity and this does come through in the book.
So, in the end, I could appreciate the importance of the author’s discovery. However, I think it would have been a much richer experience for me as a reader if the author had included a bit more of her “before” life so that I could see the transformation myself. I wanted to feel as if I was right there with her, and unfortunately, I didn’t feel that way.
To visit Robin Easton’s blog, click here.
To view Easton’s other TLC tour stops, click here.
Source: A big ‘thank you’ to TLC Book Tours for asking me to be a part of this tour and to the publisher for providing me with a review copy of the book and also a copy to giveaway to one of my readers.
GIVEAWAY INFORMATION:
However, there are people out there that will enjoy this book. Anyone that has ever overcome a personal obstacle will be able to appreciate Easton’s journey. If you’d like to win a hardback copy of this book, leave a comment below telling me what you find most stressful about today’s society.
1. Open to the U.S. and Canada.
2. Make sure I have a way to contact you.
3. Giveaway is open until Sunday, 10/3/2010.
4. A winner will be announced on Wednesday, 10/6/2010.
Good luck!
Book Chatter 
I do talk to my dog, so I can kind of get the talking to the snake thing, but I still don’t think this is the book for me. No need to enter me.
I’ve been reading reviews of this and don’t really think it’s the book for me, so no need to enter me.
Hi Ti, you can enter me in the contest as I really want to see for myself what the fuss is all about. I’m glad you were able to think about and really consider where the author was coming from. Thanks so much for the thoughtful review and for being on the tour!
I know there have been a few mixed reviews about this book, but I am a fan of memoirs and would like to give it a try. Please enter me. Hope it has cooled down out there!!!
the most stressful thing about today’s society is that you can never get away…..there are cell phones, facebook, pagers, blue tooth phones, email etc etc…you can’t even drive in your car without people bothering you!
I agree. It’s great to have access to information but it sure does come with a price. I feel as if I am bombarded by data all the time. Most of the time I deal with it okay but catch me on an off day, and boy.. watch out! LOL.
Contest Entry – The stress is evident everywhere. The most stressful is waiting for the next terrorist attack, the news, the knowing Nuclear Secrets are out of the Bag!
You’re not kidding. The news is very stressful to me. Even reading it online is an “event” of sorts. For me it’s the “want it now” mentality that stresses me out.
I so appreciate your honesty with the trouble you had reading this. I liked how you re-evaluated how to approach this book. I’m afraid I would’ve been hard pressed to finish it.
Every memoir is so personal (by nature) that you really do have to find a common ground with the author if it is to speak to you. I could see how this kind of approach might not always work.
No need to enter me.
I would love to win a copy of this book!
I think the world can be a very stressful place for people when they aren’t doing what they truely love to do. It is easy for us to make excuses for doing things that bring great stress, but once people start to truely follow their dreams, often there are less and less things that stress them out.
enchanted_wart(at)yahoo(dot)com