Wanderlust: A Love Affair with Five Continents

When looking online for books to read for my independent study in travel writing, Wanderlust: A Love Affair with Five Continents by Elisabeth Eaves appeared at the top of my search results every time. I was searching for a mainstream book of travel writing when I first decided to give it a look, as the cover and title reminded me a lot of Eat, Pray, Love. I chose it because I not only felt that it appealed to a general audience, but because it seemed, from the summary, to properly contain what I believe are the elements that all good travel narratives should contain: a sense of romance, mystery, and self-doubt. I found out as soon as I opened it that the literary quality of the writing was higher than I'd expected. The book is a collection of essays that are separated into three sections based on a relative theme that they all share. While the collection is laid out chronologically, the essays themselves are not chronologically written. For example, in her essay "On Inspiration," Eaves begins by telling us about her first unsupervised trip abroad during which she meets Graham, her first boyfriend and high school sweetheart, but then she digresses into her first time leaving the country with her parents when she was nine-years-old. In this sense, the essays read and feel more like personal essays than traditional travel narratives. I loved the fact that it read more like a personal essay, as there are more points of reflection throughout--something I have noticed some travel essays lack. I feel that these reflections really strengthen some of the moments, such as when she explains why she felt it was okay to cheat on her long-distance boyfriend for the first time. She handles these reflections, which most of the time describe her interactions with the various men she meets, with a cold, logical thought process that left me feeling like she really did not care about the people she had hurt or what she was doing. There seemed to be a lack of passion in her writing when describing her relationships. Having said this, I do applaud her bravery in laying everything out there, good and bad, when she tells us of her exploits. She neither denies nor defends what she has done, but allows for the reader to develop his or her own opinions about her. When she tells of her multiple affairs, she does so with a detached voice that gives little importance to the event. I have mixed feelings for this attitude. I feel that she could have made the essays, and the book, stronger as a whole if she had actually acknowledged the fact that she felt detachment from personal relationships and tackled the subject head on, possibly creating a point of revelation that I feel is lacking in this book. However, despite some of the books stylistic flaws, I enjoyed Wanderlust overall. Once I picked it up and started reading it, I couldn't put it down. I was mistaken when I thought that this was going to be just another mainstream travel book, because the only thing it and Eat, Pray, Love have in common are travel and romance. If you're looking for a good book that bridges the gap between travel writing and the personal essay, pick Wanderlust: A Love Affair with Five Continents up and give it a read.

While I am an avid traveler, I found this author to be a great writer, but emotionally immature... especially in her "romances." Maybe because I am older than she seems to be, I looked at the many countries I have traveled to (over 40) in a different way. When I travel, I am not looking for "romance"; I am looking to connect to and learn about other cultures by meeting the people with an open humble heart.I was looking for more descriptions of the places she visited, connections with locals of all ages and vocations, her learning about other cultures, and because she is a good writer, I know she could have done that. They were lacking in this book. There are some good things, but not enough for me to recommend the book.

As an often-solo female traveler who's exploring her 20th foreign country this year, I had really high hopes for this book. Finally, a compilation of essays / short stories about what it really feels like to travel the world alone and what compels a woman to do so! I found some of the author's insights really wise and telling, and a few things frankly hit close to home. That said, I ended up being surprisingly disappointed for two glaring reasons:1. There really isn't enough description about the places in later essays. I not only wanted to understand her motivation and read some juicy relationship gossip, I also wanted to learn more about the exotic, and not-so-exotic, locales. I found that severely lacking in the latter half of the book, as she instead focused almost solely on her relationships with men. Granted, a great deal of traveling tends to be about one's relationships with other people, but I didn't sign up for that to be all-encompassing, especially when recounted in such a gratuitously bland and uninteresting manner, sans depth of feeling.2. That brings me to pretty much my main point, and what soured the whole experience for me: the narrator comes across as cold, devoid of emotion, impersonal and detached. She wrote of these grandiose (and not-so-grandiose) love affairs, but there was a distinct lack of passion throughout. I can forgive almost anything, but not that robotic retelling. I just couldn't empathize with her - despite really, really wanting to - and I actually ended up actively disliking her. Honestly, that really took me aback, as it wasn't that I found her to be morally bereft, necessarily, I just found her tone to be steely, humorless, unfeeling, and completely unsympathetic. This could strictly be a stylistic flaw in her narration, however, in that it's very detached and impersonal, because I can't believe that someone with such enthusiasm for travel is so disconnected from her feelings and those of others; she lays bare her flaws, honorably exposing them for all to see, but never really exposes herself emotionally. For me, that's critical in any author I read, so I can connect with him or her on an emotional - as well as intellectual - level; share in his or her personal (sometimes universal) truths; and hopefully discover something of myself in the process.Overall, the actual prose is well-written and there are some fairly poignant bon mots, but beyond that, there's not enough description of the places she visits, nor actual human emotion present. For those reasons, I recommend giving this book a pass.If anyone can recommend a female travel writer who actually taps into what it's really like to go it alone, please comment on this review and let me know. (I enjoyed Frances Mayes' first offering.) Thanks for reading and happy travels!

Fantastic and inspiring book. Beautifully written and just generally a joy to read.

As described

I connected so much with her story. It was a much more personal book than I thought it would be, thouroghly enjoyed it whilst on the road myself experiencing many of the same feelings. It's good to know that I'm not alone.

The travel aspect of the book is inspiring. Some of the many romances are exciting and feel very real, however her habit of being unsatisfied gets repetitive at times.

If this book doesn't awaken your wanderlust, then you just haven't got it in you.