Amazon Dream [Paperback]

Roberta Allen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1992

travel memoir by novelist Allen with photographs

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If there's an opposite to swashbuckling, Roberta Allen's exploration of Peru's Amazon is it. Sensitive and in no hurry, she learns the ways of the jungle, the river, and the people, despite her occasional fear and discomfort as an unmarried American woman of 41 traveling on her own through a foreign culture, language, and land. She tells a beautiful, perceptive, and introspective tale that allows the spirit of the Amazon to emerge.

From Publishers Weekly

Allen's ( The Daughter ) tale of her journey in the Peruvian Amazon is intriguing but strangely detached from the natural wonders she sees and the people she meets. Allen witnesses--and describes in clear, visual terms--the secret life that teems both above and below the surface of the forest, yet her tone seems curiously superficial in light of her claim that she had always fantasized about the Amazon. Particularly fascinating are her visits to the isolated villages of the Shipibo peoples, whose delicately painted pottery she admires; but here, too, her perceptions fail to penetrate the surface: having been told that the Shipibo love to bargain, she is disappointed when one artist refuses to negotiate with her. She is at once afraid of and interested in the various men who act as guides throughout her trip, but she seems somewhat ignorant about their culture. Allen reports the many times that someone asks her whether she is married or has children; seeing a photo of the cast of Dynasty on the wall of a village hut, she seems surprised to learn that "everyone knows about Dynasty ," as one of her guides says. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: City Lights Publishers; First Printing edition (October 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0872862704
• ISBN-13: 978-0872862708
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,900,229 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A native New Yorker, artist/author Roberta Allen left home to live in Europe at age 20. For decades, she travelled alone to such places as the Peruvian Amazon, Indonesia, and Central America. Her travels inspired her story collections. Her art is in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum. She taught creative writing at The New School (1992-2010), and has taught in the Writing Program at Columbia University. In 1991, she started private writing workshops in NYC: 2011 marks the 20th anniversary. She also coaches writers nationwide by email and phone. Visit her website: www.robertaallen.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars AMAZON DREAM, August 13, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Amazon Dream (Paperback)

HAVING BEEN RAISED ON A FARM IN THE APPALACHIANS AND A DEGREE IN CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY, I FOUND THIS TO BE AN AMAZING BOOK. TO SEE HOW A "NYC GIRL" WHO FANTASIZES ABOUT THE JUNGLE, DEALS WITH THE HARSH REALITY OF JUNGLE LIFE IS ENTERTAINING TO SAY THE LEAST. HER DESCRIPTIONS ARE FASCINATING AND AT TIMES HUMOUROUS, AND HER HONEST STRUGGLES WITH DEALING WITH REALITY VERSUS HER FANTASIES OPENS THE DOOR TO SEEING WHERE ONESELF HAS THE SAME PROBLEM AT TIMES, THOUGH WE'D LIKE TO BELIEVE WE DON'T. AMAZON DREAM IS A REALLY GOOD AND FUN BOOK FOR THOSE OF US WHO FIND CITY PEOPLE FUN AND ENJOYABLE TO OBSERVE, BUT ALSO FOR EXPLORING ONES OWN FEARS, STRUGGLES, IDEAS AND HIDDEN DESIRES FOR ADVENTURE.

2.0 out of 5 stars no title, November 11, 2005

By 

C. L Wilson (Elmhurst, Illinois United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Amazon Dream (Paperback)

Very odd, makes me wonder how this book ever got published in the first place, doesn't really make the Amazon appealing. It almost reveals more about Allen than about the area she toured, alone, in 1987 when she was 41. It prepared me for rain, mud, and all the insects in the world. And so much of it, to Allen, was dirty, and poverty-laden, and slovenly. She kept trying to find meaning in everything, searching for something she obviously needed. She is always fearful, feels alienated, and men seem to scare her, though she seems to fall for almost every one she meets, especially her guides. Maybe being alone makes a difference. She had no group support to fall back on. This book has very little of beauty, or wonder, or just plain fun. It is haunting, but in a thoroughly depressing way.

2.0 out of 5 stars A Shopping Trip, September 2, 2005

By 

Erika Mitchell (E. Calais, VT USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Amazon Dream (Paperback)

This book details the experiences of a New York artist shopping for tribal pottery in the Amazon region of Peru in the late 1980s. Allen starts off from Iquitos, spends time in Belen, and Callao, before reaching Pucallpa where she wishes to visit members of the Shipibo tribe to observe their work and purchase pottery bowls from them. She had always been fascinated with the rain forest since she was a small child. But once she arrived in the towns near the jungle, she found herself overwhelmed with the Third World conditions. She hired guides to take her up the rivers to visit villages and see wild life. Not everything worked as planned, and sometimes the guides weren't willing to go, or sometimes she wasn't ready mentally to face the hardships on the river. In the end, though, she finally makes it to some Shipibo villages, buys a few pots, and returns home again.

Allen acknowledges her New York sensibilities, noting how careful she is about letting her guard down. One part of the motivation for her trip seems to be the thrill involved with leaving behind the stable, predictable life in the big city to descend into the unknown, uncomfortable and poverty stricken surroundings of the Third World, if only for a few weeks. In the trip described here, which seems to have lasted no more than about two months, she meets no one other than guides and First World tourists like herself. Her dealings with the guides are confined to work related duties, and she holds herself aloof from the other tourists. Most of her interactions seem to be inside her own head. Although she seems to have traveled in the area before, she's not what you might call a seasoned traveler. For instance, on an expedition to a remote area, she finds herself so dirty that she feels compelled to bathe with the group's drinking water, much to the dismay of the guides and other tourists. In this book, Allen doesn't devote much space to vivid descriptions of the scenery. She also never gets around to telling us about the unique characteristics of the Shipibo art. All in all, this is simply a travel journal covering the superficial events of a journey in the Third World.