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Backpack
 
 

Backpack (Paperback)

by Emily Barr (Author)
3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 384 pages
  • Publisher: Headline Review (1 Feb 2001)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 074726676X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0747266761
  • Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 13 x 2.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 23,060 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #2 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > B > Barr, Emily

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
It's New Year's Day and the year isn't kicking off well for Tansy: her mother's dead, she's a cocaine addict and her boyfriend has just left her. A trip around the world seems like the only option except that she's not interested in seeing the world, just escaping from it, and the last people she wants to hang out with are backpackers.

Like a lot of travellers on the Lonely-Planet-led Asian Grand Tour, Tansy is intensely irritating at first. Always on the look out for the "real" Vietnam--the one in which she can walk around "like a model, fanning myself gently, strolling into ancient temples and learning about inner peace"--she is opinionated, narrow-minded and remarkably naive (for a supposed media luvvy). Once she has shrugged off her addiction to lines of coke, skinny lattes and Nicole Fahri jumpers, she becomes more appealing. So by the time she's fallen for Max, a fellow traveller, she'll have won you over and you'll be just as worried as she is about the serial killer who appears to be on her trail.

Emily Barr is a former Westminster researcher who now writes for the Guardian and the Observer. Backpack is her first novel and, like Tansy, takes a while to find itself. City-girl pretensions jostle with shoestring-style travelogue and it is only when it hits full-throttle thriller mode that Barr's strength as a novelist becomes apparent. Be prepared for echoes of The Beach--hardly surprising given that Barr was an extra in the film. Also be prepared to get itchy feet--if nothing else, you'll be tempted to reach for that backpack and slap on the insect repellent.--Jane Honey

Review
'Barr's debut comes as a blast of fresh air' Sunday Express

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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Backpack
72% buy the item featured on this page:
Backpack 3.7 out of 5 stars (41)
£5.99
Baggage
10% buy
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8% buy
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Customer Reviews

41 Reviews
5 star:
 (15)
4 star:
 (13)
3 star:
 (5)
2 star:
 (3)
1 star:
 (5)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.7 out of 5 stars (41 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Witty and intelligent, I loved it, 13 Nov 2001
By A Customer
What struck me most about Backpack was how intelligent it was whilst being so entertaining, this book has a strong voice and makes you really identify with Tansy (despite how brilliantly screwed-up she is at the beginning of the book - very funny indeed). I know several people who have read it after or while they were travelling, who loved the travel aspects of it. It's not just travelogue, though, it's a page turningly good plot, with enough of an intelligent viewpoint on travellers, politics and human relationships to make it way more thought-provoking than the chick-lit style of the cover would have you believe.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars So fantastic I had to read it again!, 17 Jan 2003
By T. Iserles "Tali" (UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
"Backpack" ain't your typical travelogue and Tansy ain't your typical heroine. But beyond this sharp-tongued, foul-mouthed exterior is a deeply endearing protagonist who develops together with this wonderfully tongue-in-cheek book. Join cokehead Tansy as she comes to terms with her turbulent past, discovers Asia and flirts with death - both voluntarily and otherwise.

"Backpack" will make you question your own notions of tourism and colonialism. Did you know, for example, that Laos got bombed by the Americans every eight minutes every day for nine years?

Fantastically written, there are many observations that ring true to anyone who's ever been globetrotting - and many of Tansy's cynical comments regarding the institution of "backpacking" had me laughing out loud!

Add a chilling thriller into the equation and you've got one mindblowing read. And what a wicked twist!

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars well worth it, 20 Jul 2005
I brought the book as I was away for a couple of weeks and it was quite. I seen it in a book shop in a small Spanish town in Tenerife I was surprised to see it there as it was an English book so I brought it was one of the most involving book I have ever read it was so hard to put down that I took it to bed most night till it was finished and was deeply upset when it had finished it wasn't what I had expected from the book but it made me want to travel which I will be doing later on in the year thank a great and interesting book one not to miss
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Loved it!!!!
I initially dismissed this book as a light-hearted chick lit holiday read but I soon found myself drawn in to the book with the great writing, the interesting characters and the... Read more
Published on 21 April 2007 by Ms. K. N. Hill

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting!
I began this book disliking the main character somewhat and almost dismissed this as just another chick-lit, even though I had previously read and enjoyed 'Baggage' by the same... Read more
Published on 27 Oct 2006 by JL McKinnon-Johnson

4.0 out of 5 stars Great read
I really enjoyed this book, The characters were deep and complex and the setting and countries described perfectly. Read more
Published on 11 Jun 2006 by kimmy

4.0 out of 5 stars Well observed travel fiction
A fairly bold move giving the book the title backpack as this immediately puts it in the firing line, but as fiction travel writing the book stands up well, and has a very... Read more
Published on 26 Oct 2004 by simon gurney

5.0 out of 5 stars Travel Fiction At Its Best
This book made me want to pack in my job,throw on some flipflops and backpack myself off to somewhere I've never seen. Read more
Published on 2 Mar 2004 by deboweruk

4.0 out of 5 stars A good read whilst back packing anywhere in the world
I was pleasantly surprised by how easy this book was to read and refreshed that the main character was someone alot of people could relate to (reference to: airline hostesses,... Read more
Published on 11 Feb 2003 by molally

5.0 out of 5 stars will give you wanderlust
Fantastic book, clever and well written. i do have to agree the end was somewhat sickly sweet but don't we all love happy endings?! Read more
Published on 10 April 2002

4.0 out of 5 stars Mixed Feelings
I have to agree with the mixed reviews that have been submitted. I think the book is extremely well written and I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish, in fact it became... Read more
Published on 14 Mar 2002 by pippawells@hotmail.com

1.0 out of 5 stars Tedious character and plot
This looked a great book from the intro but Tansy is most irritating and vacuous and has no redeeming or identifiable qualities. Read more
Published on 28 Feb 2002

5.0 out of 5 stars absolutely brilliant
I dont want to start ranting and raving, but this is such an enthralling read. From the first chapter you are compelled to read on to see what happens to Tansy - then it takes a... Read more
Published on 21 Nov 2001

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