Sunday, August 7, 2011

Review and Giveaway: The Glimpse Traveler by Marianne Boruch

Opening lines of the book:

“There’s rain and there’s rain. Maybe there’s a difference at the edge of a continent.”

Why I read it:

I was born in 1970, a year before Boruch went on the road trip she chronicles in The Glimpse Traveler. I was curious to get my own glimpse into the American counterculture of the 70s.

What it’s about:

It’s a Thursday, almost spring, in 1971, when 20-year-old University of Illinois student Marianne Boruch meets Frances, a 21-year-old widow, who’s about to embark on a hitchhiking trip to California. Frances casually invites Boruch to tag along. The Glimpse Traveler recounts that memorable road trip.

What worked:

I always find it hard to review books I love, and The Glimpse Traveler is one of my favourites this year. What Marianne Boruch has done in this memoir is nothing short of extraordinary: nearly 40 years after the fact, she has managed to recreate a road trip—and a time period—so wholly that I felt like I was there, in the car (or van), speeding west and drinking in the sights with Boruch’s younger self. It helps that Boruch is a bit of an observer on this trip, which is driven by Frances’ search for answers; the reader can easily identify with her.

Although the title of the book refers to glimpses, there’s nothing choppy about this memoir—in fact I’m astonished that Boruch could remember so much of this road trip so many years later. The memoir’s short chapters drew me in, and Boruch’s occasional tangents only added to the magic of her story. As Boruch says, “Certain moments open and you fall right in, sucked back to some previous elsewhere” (p. 136). This is what she succeeds in doing in this memoir: taking the reader back with her to a moment in her personal history—it’s hard to believe this road trip lasted only nine days—while at the same time giving us a vivid glimpse into a pivotal time in American history.

On a side note, I was absurdly pleased that this book connected me to another of my recent reads, Fire Monks by Colleen Morton Busch (read my review), by mentioning the wildfires that devastated California in 2008. (Boruch and Frances visited Big Sur and stayed with painter Emil White, whose house was miraculously spared from the flames years later.)

What didn’t work:

There was nothing in The Glimpse Traveler that didn’t work: Boruch’s narrative is pitch-perfect throughout this spellbinding tale.

Favourite quote:

“Outside it would gradually turn to wheat and grazing land, to full-blown prairie, not simply land wrenched by sweat and axe from its woods. Because hadn’t it always been like this, endless and pretty much treeless? I knew those fields would eventually give way, rolling on and out to mountains I’d heard of, to this thing, the sea, only a word to someone of my land-locked childhood but the dazed, bluest eye of it, multiplied way past eight zillion times.

“That something sharp and tangled caught in me: what to call it exactly? We kept going, into day two’s long afternoon. Forgive me: I’m cutting ahead to that place for a moment, to us waiting for ride number whatever-it-was, dropped there a good long time by this time, midway through Nebraska. Was it the stillness of old wheat cut down to its jagged quick or that distant line of maple and ash? Was it the darkening sense of all those truly hard crossings and betrayals a century before? Our own waiting—not exactly legendary, its little half-teaspoon of not-quite-misery, three hours now, our hope for the flash of a car, that someone going in the right direction was generous. But it did something, to time.” (pp. 16-17)

Final thoughts:

I highly recommend this thoughtful memoir set in a turbulent period of American history.

Thank you to Indiana University Press for sending me this book to review.
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Other review: Sophisticated Dorkiness

You can also read reviews on the Indiana University Press site.

Author interview: Indiana University Press blog

Excerpt of the book: The Glimpse Traveler
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Would you like to win a copy of The Glimpse Traveler? Indiana University Press has generously offered to send autographed books to two of my readers. The giveaway is open to U.S. and Canadian residents only (no P.O. boxes). I will accept entries until 11:59 PM Eastern Time on Monday, August 29.

If you are a follower or subscriber, please let me know and I will give you another entry.

Make sure you provide me with a way of getting in touch with you. Entries without a blog link or email address will be disqualified.

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.
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23 comments:

  1. Well, now that I found out you were born in 1970, I feel really old! The book sounds fascinating. kathy(at)bermudaonion.net

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  2. Please enter me in contest. I am a follower and email subscriber. Tore923@aol.com

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  3. please enter me in draw.I am email subscriber.Lomazowr@gmail.com

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  4. I would enjoy this book. Many thanks. Ellie. elliotbencan(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  5. This book sounds fantastic and completely captivating. I've always thought about road-tripping across America although there are some major impediments for me. I would love to read an account by someone who did road trip particularly at an interesting time in our country. I'm so impressed that Boruch remembers so much of the trip. Based on the passages you've included in your review, this is a wonderful read.

    Thank you for hosting a giveaway of this book, as well!
    I'm a GFC follower of your blog.
    Aimala127@gmail.com

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  6. I like that this book is set in the 1970s. It's before my time and I'm also intrigued with that time period.

    I am a GFC follower.
    Cambonified[at]yahoo[dot]com

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  7. You make this book sound wonderful. And now I feel old too! Seriously, I'd love to win a copy. undermyappletree at gmail dot com (And I'm a follower)

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  8. I am fascinated by that time and the book sounds intriguing!
    kessna6@yahoo.com

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  9. I'm glad you liked this one so much! I like when I find little connections between the books I'm reading, it's such fun. Thanks for linking to my review, I added yours as well.

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  10. I actually did quite a bit of hitchhiking back in the early 70s. It was a wonderfully exciting way to travel, and I think it's a real shame that it's just too unsafe to be an option these days. I'm glad to hear how much you enjoyed this book - these kind of memoirs can go either way. Thanks for the chance to win a copy myself and, perhaps, take a trip down memory lane!

    geebee.reads AT gmail DOT com

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  11. +1 I follow - GFC

    geebee.reads AT gmail DOT com

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  12. I would love to win a copy of this book.

    lkish77123 at gmail dot com

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  13. This sounds great! Count me in!

    Margaret
    singitm@hotmail.com

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  14. I'm a follower

    Margaret
    singitm@hotmail.com

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  15. I'd love to read this book! I had an unfortunate cross-country road tripping experience in the mid-70's (Indiana to Florida), and would really enjoy reading of someone else's experience.

    I'm a new follower (referred here by 'West of Mars - Love her!) Fantastic review - glad I found you!
    jcsites2002 at hotmail dot com (can't seem to post on my Google ID - Dolly)

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  16. Thanks for the giveaway.
    I'm a follower.
    mtakala1 AT yahoo DOT com

    ReplyDelete
  17. I would really enjoy reading this book. Please enter me. Thanks!

    Follow on GFC!

    Anita Y
    ayancey(at)dishmail(dot)net

    ReplyDelete
  18. I like the sounds of this book!


    unforgetable_dreamer_always (at) hotmail (dot) com

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  19. This woman's name keeps popping up everywhere for me recently... and I don't know a thing about her!!! Strangely enough, someone did a search on her name and got my blog! Not sure how that works exactly :s Anyway, I'd love to find out more about her because from what I've read of hers, her style of writing really appeals.

    Count me in! :) Link to my blog can be found by clicking on my name (in case you didn't know, lol!)

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  20. This book sounds like a great read! Count me in.
    laura at laurafabiani dot com

    ReplyDelete
  21. I am a GFC follower. Thanks!
    laura at laurafabiani dot com

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  22. This sounds like a great read!

    misusedinnocence@aol.com

    ReplyDelete
  23. I follow on gfc. :)

    misusedinnocence@aol.com

    ReplyDelete