 "She's amazing, but I couldn't relate to her..." | 2008-07-13 |
| - Reviewed By amwmsw04 |
Let me just say that I admire this woman. What she accomplished was incredible - trekking mostly alone across the Australian desert with her 3 camels. And she had to go out and get the training she needed without much help, and a lot of prejudice against women.
However, I found it hard to relate to her. I was rooting for her, but I kept thinking that I would NEVER have put myself in those situations to start with. I love to travel, but I'm not that adventurous. |
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 "One of the best books I've read" | 2008-01-27 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2CML34K84CPM1 |
| This book was so inspiring, I had to order it twice. I had lent my original copy which was given to me as a gift, and the person lost it. I ordered a second copy because this book was a keeper, and foolishly I lent it out again, and lost it again. I now have a brand new copy again, which just arrived, and I will not be lending it. This is a book I will keep forever as a reference, or to read ove and over at times in my life when I need to be motivated, or need to find the strength to endure. |
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| "Tracks the story behind from alice to ocean" | 2007-07-02 |
| - Reviewed By river-falls_books |
Well I could begin and go on for pages but let me keep this short.
A young woman heads to the edge of civilization as most people know it.
She learns about how people really are by her interaction with others who are barely making it.
Heads into the wilds of Australia where she learns quite a bit more about herself and 'the raw undercurrent of what she thought was civilization' (you like that bit there?) Interspersed with some shots of the outback. This is the story behind the great coffee table book which is filled with some great photos.
Also part of the beginning of the age of interactive CDROMS (unfortunately the CDROM will NOT play correctly on anything newer that about 1990, win95 mac os9)
Highly recommended |
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| "Did she learn anything along the way?" | 2007-02-14 |
| - Reviewed By User: A11OTLEDSW8ZXD |
This story is 254 pages long and the first 100 pages are nothing but the battles Robyn fought with the townfolk and their feelings about Aborigines, her landlord, finding suitable camels and then training them.
When she finally starts her journey from Alice Springs two years after her arrival there, one is relieved to finally read about the torturous journey she undertook, both with the locals, those annoying tourists along the way, and her intermittent relationship with photographer/sex partner Richard from National Geographic. Somewhere in the middle of the book the journey lost its meaning for me, although I finished the book. It was obvious by then that Robyn made this trek to wrestle with the demons within her, to battle something she had been battling all her life.
A travelogue is always a journey of one's own soul and Robyn's soul was troubled from the start, both from loneliness and what appears to be either drug or alcohol addiction (she mentioned several times how she'd drink her whiskey hard after trouble with the camels.)
I have to admire her for finishing her journey, but she doesn't give her partner enough credit for pulling her through this. She loves her camels and her dog and yet sometimes she treats them as less than that, and like some readers have already mentioned, she paid dearly for that in the end. Some of the honesty angered me and I wanted to yell out "Woman, why would you do something like that!"
This is not an adventure I'm willing to emulate. Although Australia and its people and terrain fascinate me, I'd be much happier along the eastern shore. |
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| "Writing from the Guts" | 2007-02-11 |
| - Reviewed By hillzertoo |
The integrity of this writing, this soul-baring, reminded me of Doug Peacock's Grizzly Years: a flight from the insanities of civilization into the healing refuge of nature's raw dangers. Tracks was written by a rare bird; this is writing from the guts. For a first book, exploding out of nowhere, chronicling a soul in search of what is ultimately significant, Robyn Davidson has got the write stuff. Intrepid is the word.
The crystalline expressions of her soul match the purity and desolation of the Outback landscapes. Even a guy like Edward Abbey was swept up in admiration for the courage of this person to embark on her 9 month odyssey. Truly a remarkable book - 5 plus stars.
Extracts: A Field Guide for Iconoclasts |
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| "Great for the explorer in everyone!" | 2006-12-02 |
| - Reviewed By frumpalina |
Let me first say that this should be required reading for young girls. I think Robyn summed it up best when she said, "The two important things that I did learn were that you are as powerful and strong as you allow yourself to be, and that the most difficult part of any endeavour is taking the first step, making the first decision." Having been on a few 'mini-adventures' with my husband, this rung so true in my ears that I had to quote it in my review. How many of us, especially young women, are afraid to take that first step? This is a great tale of the human struggle to overcome fear of the unknown and accomplish a deeper sense of self in a beautiful land of mystery. You must get a copy of this book and go along on Robyn's journey.
Chrissy K. McVay
author of 'Souls of the North Wind' |
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 "Probably more than you ever wanted to know about camels..." | 2005-11-22 |
| - Reviewed By dragonmama |
The beginning third of this book, in which Ms. Davidson is preparing for her trip, really should have been cut in half. I thought she'd never get going.
Once her journey begins, there are a few interesting adventures interspersed with many excruciatingly long passages of introspection and whining.
But the main reason I gave this book a mere two stars is because I really disliked the author--she came across as a
self-centered nutcase who survived through sheer luck and the help of others, rather than because of her intelligence or survival skills. She is definitely not in the same category of women as Jane Goodall or Diane Fossey. |
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| "Essential reading" | 2005-09-05 |
| - Reviewed By User: A330JDXRJTB49J |
| Robyn Davidson's Tracks is an epic journey of a woman travelling across 1,700 miles across Australian bush, from Alice Springs to Hamelin Pool (Western Australia), with 4 camels and a dog. Davison feels unsettled with her life in the city, so chooses to become a borderland person, living on the margins of civilized society to find her identity and a sense of place in central Australia. Davidson cleverly interweaves the injustice of Aboriginal assimilation, land issues, and racial and cultural genocide with the process of preparing for her journey and the trek itself. Here the reader not only becomes aware of Davidson's identity crisis being experienced by a white woman living in Australia, but the unsettlement of Aboriginal people who are struggling with cultural and identity displacement. |
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| "the outback, a faithful dog, 4 camels and aboriginal magic" | 2004-03-29 |
| - Reviewed By Anonymous |
| There are few adventurous people that by-pass the luxury of their diesel-pushers to experience the likes of what Robyn Davidson embarks on as the challenge of a lifetime. That is precisely what makes this book so phenomenal. Granted, this adventure took place in 1980, but the age of the event changes nothing of the experience. Roughly structured, and for her reasons only, she embarks on a 1,700 mile trek across the outback to the ocean from Alice Springs. Her transportation? Camels! The most fascianting part of this trip is she must learn about these amazing creatures from scratch. She moves to Alice Springs and sets forth to find those that are willing to teach her the camel business. Some of these teachers are of worthy content and impart essential knowledge. Robyn, however appears to be a natural with these animals, and a relationship with them developes that draws the reader into the story and through every foot of the trip. Her chosen camels have strong personalities. Her unique writing style capture their wonderful, quirky attitudes that lures the reader in a feeling of acquiantance. It is not difficult to feel her fondness of these creatures and her heartbreak when difficult times develope. Her sincere appreciation and love for the camels provides delightful distraction and imparts great humor and solice on her desert quest. Special mention must be made to her best female friend, Diggity. This incredible dog was her lifeline and her mainstay through many trying days and nights in the bush. Diggity's personality was beautifully captured by Robyn's recollections and will tweak the heart of any dog lover. Robyn's ability to bring the aboriginal people and outback to life as she treks across it's vastness is truly astounding. After I finished her book, I immediately went back to amazon.com and ordered every single book and reference she wrote. Her amazing zest and appreciation for the life in th outback of Australia was exhilarating. I urge you to read a truly moving, tear jerking, humorous, insightful and generally captivating novel that bespeaks of the ultimate travel experience one can ever hope to conjure. Thank you Robyn!! Highly recommended for an enhanced reading experience: _From Alice to Ocean; Alone Across the Outback_ photographed by Rick Smolan; with excerpts from Robyn Davidson's bestselling _Tracks_ |
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| "Soul on sand and scrubland - a camel trek across the outback" | 2003-07-18 |
| - Reviewed By govind917 |
| This book is a true story by a determined Australian woman who crossed one of the most inhospitable stretches of land in the world - a wide swathe of treelees dry scrubland which is most of Australia's center and its northern half. I especially enjoyed this Australian classic, having just visited the remarkable and idyosyncractic town of Alice Springs where the early part of the book is set. This is where the author learns how to tame, care for, live with, and depend on camels for survival, as she prepares for the dramatic trek which lies ahead. The rage against the male photographer who keeps showing up - the compromising aspect of her compact with her sponsors at National Geographic - is at times shocking, leaving one to wonder whether the author has more sympathy for her camels than fellow human beings. But this impression is deceptive. The mostly male characters who populate her book hardly seem caricatured, while the camels do emerge as a woman's best friend in the outback. "One does not have to delve too deeply to discover why some of the world's angriest feminists breathed crisp blue Australian air during their formative years, before packing their kangaroo-skin bags and scurrying to London or New York or any place where the antipodean machismo would fade gently from their battle-scarred consciousness like some grisly nightmare at dawn. Anyone who has worked in a men-only bar in Alice Springs will know what I mean." The rage, courage, vulnerability, determination, and other emotions and qualities which this trek depicts, almost seem like a metaphor for the complex place of the outback in the Australian experience. "It was delicious new country but it was tiring. The sand dragged at my feet and the repetition of the dunes lulled me into drowsiness when the first excitement wore off. The stillness of the waves of sand seemed to stifle and suffocate me." Even without seeing the photos from National Geographic, the reader is left with graphic inmages of a remarkable landscape and the unusual qualities it takes for a transplanted urbanite to survive it. Beyond character and landscape descriptions, the books offers some inspirational passages. Consider this extract from the final paragraph: "As I look back on the trip now, try to remember how I felt at that particular time, or during that particular incident, try to relive those memories that have been buried so deep, and distorted so ruthlessly, there is one clear fact that emerges from the quagmire. The trip was easy. It was no more dangerous than crossing the street, or driving to the beach, or eating peanuts. The two important things that I did learn were that you are as powerful and strong as you allow yourself to be, and that the most difficult part of any endeavor is taking the first step, making the first decision...." Another bookshelf recommendation for those who are serious about Australiana or about unusual human endeavors. |
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