Book Review | Book Chatter

Naked in Eden Book Cover

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.

Photo of Robin Easton

To visit Robin Easton’s blog, click here.

TLC Book Tours Button

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!

I'd Know You Anywhere Book Cover

I’d Know You Anywhere
By Laura Lippman
HarperCollins
August 2010
373pp

The Short of It:

I’d Know You Anywhere forces you to constantly reassess the appropriateness of human interaction and to consider the boundaries that exist within all of us.

The Rest of It:

In the summer of ’85, fifteen-year-old Elizabeth is kidnapped by a serial killer and held hostage for several weeks. To Walter, Elizabeth is different from the other girls he’s kidnapped. So different in fact, that Elizabeth is the only one who lives to tell about her ordeal. Years later, Elizabeth (now called Eliza) is married, living in the suburbs with her husband Peter and her two children, Iso and Albie. As she lives her life, Walter sits on Death Row for the murder of another girl.

One day, Walter happens upon a photograph of Eliza(beth) in a magazine he is reading. With the help of a friend, he sends Eliza(beth) a letter saying that he’d know her anywhere. Confused over why he would want to contact her now and terrified of her children finding out about her past, Eliza(beth) sets out to explore a relationship that she’d just as soon leave in the past.

This book is part mystery and part psychological thriller and although mystery is not my thing, the psychological thriller part is. I’m fascinated by the human mind and the complexity of human relationships. The relationship between Eliza(beth) and Walter is disturbing at times. Lippman manages to create sympathy where no sympathy should exist. Walter is a serial killer, but there are times when I understood where he was coming from. As disturbing as this is for me to admit, it helped me understand Eliza(beth) and why she would even consider having a conversation with this man after what he did to her.

The mechanics of control and the lack thereof are big here. Walter can read Eliza(beth) pretty well. He also knows how to push her buttons and as much as Eliza(beth) wants to, she cannot put him completely out of her life. She has her own demons to battle and as the lone survivor, she is often misunderstood by the other victim’s parents. Mainly because she never tried to escape, and she failed to save Walter’s last victim even though she was in a position to do so.

In addition to the main characters, Lippman introduces us to Barbara, the friend on the outside who is determined to save Walter from death row. Let me tell you, Barbara is a piece of work. Well-to-do but rude as hell and full of herself. I did not like her at all and although she too, was a victim of violence, I felt nothing for her but contempt. The inclusion of such a character is interesting because it just goes to show you that there are all kinds of people out there and just knowing this puts you in a vulnerable position.

This was my first experience with Lippman’s writing and although I felt that the characters were emotionally reserved in places, I can see myself picking up another Lippman book in the future. Also, it should be noted that the violence depicted in this novel is not written with great detail. You are given just enough to know what happened, the rest is left up to your imagination.

Laura Lippman

To visit Laura Lippman’s website, click here.

To view Lippman’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.

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