Pottstown resident Janet Jay recently sent me an email singing the praises of a novel her book club had read. I asked Janet if she would guest blog her review of that book. It is as follows. I just added the photos. Thanks, Janet! If you would like to guest blog, too, post a comment.
Book review: Redwood to Deadwood: A 53-year-old dude hitchhikes around America. Again. By Colin Flaherty
But I suppose if you
really need to learn how to cook squirrel, how to ride the rails, or how
to get free food, you can learn that here too.
Book review: Redwood to Deadwood: A 53-year-old dude hitchhikes around America. Again. By Colin Flaherty
Robert Pirsig famously said Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is not about Zen and it is not about motorcycles.
But when you talk about
great books about great American journeys, Pirsig has to be on any book
lovers shelf, along with Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, and Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods,
and if you insist, John Steinbeck’s Travels With Charley.
But when you talk about
great books about great American journeys, Pirsig has to be on any book
lovers shelf, along with Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, and Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods,
and if you insist, John Steinbeck’s Travels With Charley.
More than travel, these books are all about discovery.
To this list of great travel and discovery books, I am adding Redwood to Deadwood, a 53-year old dude hitchhikes across America, by Colin Flaherty.
When he first started
his three month journey around the country, Flaherty rejected any kind
of talk of self-discovery as indulgent, and he said, kind of silly. He
soon learned better:
"Before I tucked my
thumb in for the final time, I'd run with wild horses. Visit a pot farm.
Hunt big game. Poach big game. Get by a police helicopter. Get info
family feuds. Ride in cop cars. Reconnect
with old friends. Make new ones. Get tired and exhilarated. Lost and
found. Kicked out and invited in."
"I know how to cook muskrat, squirrel and rockchuck. And oh yea, I almost got killed.”
“I did not know why I objected so
vigorously to anyone thinking I might actually learn something about
myself after such a journey. Had I known what the next three months
would bring, I would not have said anything
so stupid.”
You better believe
there was discovery of all kinds aplenty there. Whether he wanted it or
not. Most of it is fun and funny and adventurous.
During one part of the
book, Flaherty describes hitchhiking around to meet the people who were
with his brother Kevin when he died in Viet Nam. Then learning at the
same time his son was heading off to
Afghanistan.
Very moving.
And when mixed with the
wry observations of the material that comes before and after this, that
pushes this writer and this book into a whole new level. This is not
just a travel book. This is literature
at its most riveting and relevant.
 |
| COLIN FLAHERTY |
Flaherty grew up down the road in Wilmington, Delaware, but spent most if his adult life in San Diego, as a reporter, political staffer, and owner of an on-line ad agency.
When the world stopped in the Winter of 2008, Flaherty started. He took off for Colorado, where he taught snowboarding for five months. Then, after wondering why no one hitchhikes anymore, he decided
to find out.
So this 53-year old
award-winning writer stuck out his thumb, and sticking to the back roads
and curvy twists on the map (a la Pirsig) he spent the next three
months zig zagging around to places where
the closest Wal-Mart is 120 miles away.
These places still
exist. Great characters still live there. And in Redwood to Deadwood, a
great writer tells us all about them.
I’ve had a lot of fun reading this book. And so have my friends. And I hope you do too.
Here’s a link to the book’s web site.
http://RedwoodtoDeadwoodbook.com Janet Jay Pottstown p.s. I think he came pretty close to Pottstown, too. |
1 comment:
What an interesting story Colin has, and a great review! Given I'm a writer who loves to travel (or is it a traveler who loves to write?) I want to read this book. Thanks Janet and Michelle!
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