- Hardcover: 272 pages
- Publisher: Profile Books; 1st Edition edition (27 Jan 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1861977085
- ISBN-13: 978-1861977083
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14 x 3.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,191,260 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
'The most remarkable book I've ever read ... about the thing which you hope isn't going to happen' John Bayley, author of Iris
Brendan Kennelly
A great book … the Ulysses of the twenty-first century. What stunningly beautiful and moving writing.
Inside This Book
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a truly moving account of the loss of a wife to cancer at much too early an age. Christopher Rush recalls with great honesty his emotional crash on the death of his wife and mother to his two children. In the telling I never felt he tried to make me feel sorrow or pity for him or his circumstances - he had no need to do that - the tragedy as it unfolds speaks for itself. Already a published writer and admirer of Robert Louis Stevenson, Rush sets off alone on a journey of healing and recovery as he walks in the footsteps of Stevenson's Travels With A Donkey through the Cevennes in France. The parallels in these journeys,separated by a hundred years, become more obvious as Rush allows the reader to accompany him in his deepest, and someimes, darkest moments. This is a tale of real life, early death, great loss and the miraculous seeds of recovery. It is at once a 'kindly account of a memorable journey' and a story to touch each of us if we let it.
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I started this book as a travelogue, which indeed it is, but it is so much more than that. I've lived on my own in the wilds of the French mountains and reckon myself pretty hard-bitten but I was sobbing my heart out by page 10. It seems trite to say it but this indeed a story of a physical and emotional journey that is both harrowing and uplifting.
Mr Rush's truthful account ensures that he emerges from it as an all-too-human person who has had to confront those facets of life and our own character which we prefer to ignore until they force themselves upon us.
I am convinced that every reader will take something different away from the experience but you really do have to read this book, if only to be sure that the human spirit can overcome almost anything - sooner or later in your life you will be glad that you did.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I can't understand the last reviewer's comments. I found the writing superb - crisp, erudite and fresh. No cliches or tired metaphors here. The background story is heartrending, but its treatment is far from gushing or sentimental. Rush describes his breakdown following the death of his wife in a way which evokes empathy rather than pity.
There are highly entertaining moments too and I found myself laughing out loud at the reluctant donkey and naked river crossings. Nor does he patronise the reader by translating every word of French he uses...
An intelligently written book and worth the time.
There are highly entertaining moments too and I found myself laughing out loud at the reluctant donkey and naked river crossings. Nor does he patronise the reader by translating every word of French he uses...
An intelligently written book and worth the time.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Elegantly written
This is an elegantly written memoir of the period grief and recovery following the unexpected death of Rush's wife in the early 1990s. Read more
Published on 28 Aug 2007 by J A C Corbett
emotional gush
Sentences that are too long, with too many syrupy adjectives. Gushing text. Emotional indulgence. Get a grip! Got the drift? One definitely to be discarded.
Published on 27 May 2006 by D. J. Willis
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