Shoshana D. Kerewsky

I loved this book.

Beautifully written. Creative. Interesting. I loved the short stories, some very short, and the poems, and especially the structure!

I admire the author’s mind and heart.

I had to look up the meaning of some words. I found that fun. It’s unusual for me when I read to have to do that. It slowed me down a bit but what slowed me down more was that I kept looking up places on the Camino and other places, sites, objects, people, other books, artworks. Etc. Etc. Etc.

I love stretching my mind and this book did that. One of my weaknesses is that even though I’m a good analytical thinker I’m also way too literal a thinker, and yes both can coexist. I love being knocked out of my rigidity.

There were some laugh out loud moments. I greatly appreciated those!

It is really interesting to me because I haven’t done the kind of international travel that the author has done so I got to do a bit of armchair traveling.

I love the “Postamble” chapter name.

I liked that a list was included titled “Cancer untruths I have encountered.” I nodded yes all the way through it. I could add many more items to it.

There are so many great quotes but I didn’t take the time to make a list, but here are a very few that I liked:

“…unlike a fictional character I do have an interior life…”

“Arguably I would benefit from a nonlinguistic week, but I need language in order to grieve.”

“I am no longer everywhere I’ve been.”

It’s interesting that this is the second book I’ve read recently and both are nonfiction books about people have gone on silent retreats and in the same corner of the world though I’m nearly certain different places. [author:Jacqueline Winspear|5023] talks about a similar retreat in the book [book:What Would Maisie Do?: Inspiration from the Pages of Maisie Dobbs|40604819]. I’m intrigued and tempted.

I’ve always been interested in taking a very long walk but this one doesn’t appeal to me. I liked taking it vicariously via this woman’s experience and learning about it in general though. I used to think maybe I’d want to thru-hike the full Appalachian trail but however much I want to love nature I don’t love bees/wasps nor do I like being too far off from civilization’s amenities. Also, I would be afraid of some other people (especially since I saw the movie Wild and saw how a group of men behaved when encountering a single woman.) so I’m not sure, but I know I would not be interested in a route with such a heavy emphasis on religion, Christianity, any kind of spirituality really. Since the author identifies as an atheist and a Jew and maybe a Buddhist(?) I do wonder the appeal of a heavily Christian pilgrimage route or any religious/spiritual trek. Yes, I think she explained. It’s probably that the choice is just so far from any I would make that I struggle to understand.

I’m an online friend of the author’s for many years, on Goodreads and on Facebook. I have kept up with parts of her life stories via email and social media and I was interested in reading this book. I did end up buying a copy. My request for the library to purchase a copy/copies for circulation is still under consideration so I’m glad that I bought a copy to read.

Even though the author does make clear what appeals to her about this particular route, since she is not a believer and not a Christian, I am curious and want to ask her if she has any interest in long walks/meditation walks/pilgrimages that don’t have a spiritual or a religious component. There must be other ways to make a “pilgrimage” and have opportunities to connect with oneself and others in this same way?? The author says on her profile page that she welcomes questions about her memoir and that’s a question I have that comes to mind.

4-1/2 stars A half star off, and almost a whole star off, because while I’m interested in others and others’ beliefs, I’m least interested in anything religious or even spiritual and there was a lot of that in this book. Most readers will not have the same issues I had with that content.… (altro)