Memoir | 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!

First They Killed My Father Book Cover

First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers
Loung Ung
HarperCollins
April 2006
288pp

The Short of It:

A young girl’s heart wrenching tale of her family’s struggle for survival during the Cambodian Genocide (1975-1979). Hard to stomach at times but beautifully written.

The Rest of It:

Ung’s tale begins in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Once known at “the pearl of Aisa”, Phnom Penh is the home of the Ung family which consists of her mother and father, and her siblings, Meng, Khouy, Keav, Kim, Chou, Loung (the author) and Geak. Life in Phnom Penh is quite pleasant for Loung. Her father (Pa) works for the government and is highly respected in the community. Due to his class standing, they live in a nice house and Loung’s mother (Ma), does not need to work. However, as the Khmer Rouge invade Cambodia, the Ung family is forced to leave their home. This is Loung’s story of what happened to them on their way to Thailand.

As you can imagine, this is a very tough story to read. Loung is so young when her family is forced to move. She is only five-years old. Caring for her younger siblings and sometimes even the older ones, must have been very tough for her. As her family makes their way from one work camp to another, their fight to stay alive becomes more difficult as food rations dwindle, and violence abounds all around them.

This is from page 149/50 of the paperback. Loung is referring to her younger sister’s emaciated body:

My eyes stay on Geak. She does not talk anymore. She is so thin it is as if her body is eating itself up. Her skin is pale yellow, her teeth rotten or missing. Still she is beautiful because she is good and pure. Looking at her makes me want to die inside.

Ung’s story is quite compelling. Her relationship with her father comes through as being strong and solid, so much so, that when the soldiers take him away, her world falls down around her. Since it is impossible to know exactly what happened to her father, she fills in the gaps with visions she has of the event. These visions seem plausible and serve as closure for her, and I found them to be quite effective. She uses this technique again towards the end of the story and although I saw it coming, it was just as effective and shook me to the core.

What was particularly poignant for me, were her memories of life in Phnom Penh. The clothes they wore, the food they ate. She never realized how good she had it until all of it was taken away. Those moments seemed so small to her at the time, but in reflection, they end up being the cement that holds her together.

My book club chose this book for May. We meet to discuss it next week. I didn’t know too much about the Cambodian Genocide before reading it. Although it is a tough read and hard to stomach at times (it took me a really long time to finish), I am glad I read it. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about this topic.

Source: Purchased.

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