Desert Sojourn: A Woman's Forty Days and Nights Alone (Adventura Books) [Paperback]

Debi Holmes-Binney (Author)

Book Description

Series: Adventura Books | Publication Date: May 22, 2000

At age 31, having left a stifling decade-long marriage, Debi Holmes Binney set off alone into the harsh Utah desert to find direction and spiritual renewal. Armed with only basic supplies and her writing journals, she spent an extended sojourn in a place by turns physically terrifying, psychologically invigorating, and gloriously beautiful. Her moving account will appeal to both physical and spiritual adventurers.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"I'm going to the desert... because if I don't I think a part of me will die." After attending an out-of-town business seminar, Holmes-Binney, a frustrated editor in a failing marriage, was convinced that she must do something radical to reshape her life. In this memoir, the author recounts how she returned to her family in California and announced her plans to spend 40 days in a remote region of Utah's Great Salt Lake Desert. But she was little prepared for the harsh realities of her journey. Almost immediately, Holmes-Binney had to contend with torrential rains that soaked her clothes and ruined food. After the rain came a fierce snowstorm that essentially froze Holmes-Binney into her small shelter. Holmes-Binney describes her physical and psychological ordeal in detail. At one point, she thought she heard the ringing of a cell phone, an impossibility in the remote region: "not a single human print, and I'm totally mystified until it strikes me that perhaps whoever-it-is isn't in the canyon. It's possible that the sounds came from the other side of the cliffs .And that's when the phone rings again." Even readers unable to understand how Holmes-Binney could walk out on her children to undertake this journey will feel a part of her pain and fear. While this book may not persuade people to undertake a spiritual journey similar to the author's, the telling of her sojourn is crisp, vivid and realistic. (July)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Seal Press; Trade edition (May 22, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580050409
• ISBN-13: 978-1580050401
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 4.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,842,522 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not for women only!, September 5, 2000

By 

James M. Morris "James McGrath Morris" (Tesuque, NM) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Desert Sojourn: A Woman's Forty Days and Nights Alone (Adventura Books) (Paperback)

A reader would make a serious mistake to conclude that Debi Holmes-Binney's engaging account of her desert sojourn is reading solely reserved for women. It is a book for both genders. This book will touch the soul of anyone who has lived long enough to have realized that life is far more complicated than we were promised, that material rewards become hollow in time, that relationships are fragile, and that permanence in anything is elusive. If approached with an open mind, Desert Sojourn is an immensely fulfilling work that invokes the best of journal-writing traditions. Carefully and beautifully written, Holmes-Binney's text takes the reader into the desert and deep into her thoughts. When she is cold, we are cold; when she is scared, we are too; and, when she is triumphant, we are swept aloft. I found myself deeply moved by this slim volume. Read it for no other reason than it will force you to slow down. It will take you to a place of solitude. It will cause you to think carefully about your life. In the end, what more can one ask from a book?

25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Ill prepared, or self destructive?, January 6, 2001

By 

Janice M. Hansen (California United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Desert Sojourn: A Woman's Forty Days and Nights Alone (Adventura Books) (Paperback)

This book has left me with more questions of which I find few answers. First of all, I will and always will admire anyone brave and courageous enough to follow their hearts and write about it. The courage to write and confront what you have actually done is often times more difficult than the act itself. I believe with all my heart that Ms. Holmes-Binney deserves commendation for putting into words the fears and anxieties of her soul.

My concerns with her actions are relatively basic. First of all, she seems to come from a family experienced with the outdoors. While they pride themselves with "not cheating" when camping, I can not understand how in the world she planned this 40 day episode into the cold desert with such ill preparation. Did she deliberately choose NOT to take adequate clothing, specifically, jacket and footwear? ( I have been on a fair amount of camping trips, and I know those two items would be highly important on my list of items to have.) Instead of taking appropriate weather gear, she decides a "leather jacket" and some thrifty store salvation army type cowboy boots should see her through the endeavor. I couldn't believe how naive she seemed, or was it self-destructive? You decide.

Of course, with in the first few days, the inadequacy of all her chosen items seem to rear their ugly heads and it is literally her life that is at risk. An untimely snowstorm moves in on her very first few days. She is barely set up in her camp, her flimsy tent is flying apart and everything is soaking wet from the rainstorm that preceeded the freezing weather. Her sleeping bags are soaking wet, and she has fallen apart mentally and physically. Her only salvation is that she hopes the ranger and his wife will not leave her out there to die.

It astounds me that she risked all this and spent so little time PLANNING for this adventure. She never explains her motives for ill planning, either. It seems to be just an oversight, but any educated person familiar with the wilderness knows you must plan and prepare for any time in the wild. I just can not understand why she did this as she is not an ignorant person.

She plans to find her spiritual self in 40 days and nights in the desert. She elects to conduct this spiritual journey solo, but thankfully a few people come to her aid and literally save her life by giving her a stove, wood, and not to mention, the actual down jacket off the ranger's wife's back. I am just not so sure what she really found out there, as I have to wonder what she brought there in the first place.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Debi's struggle, September 8, 2000

By 

Robert Carrelli (Thousand Oaks, CA.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Desert Sojourn: A Woman's Forty Days and Nights Alone (Adventura Books) (Paperback)

My wife and I spent a few days with Debi's parents last year. They told us her story, and so we knew this book was coming. We also spent 10 years teaching with them in Taiwan, and we thought we knew them well. However, we were not prepared for the fascinating revelations about her family life as she was growing up. She skillfully interweaves family events and personal accounts into this excellent book. I was a bit dubious at first; after all, who would want or need to do something like this? Right away I put her in the same category as those who climb mountains, swim channels, or hike Antarctica. But as I progressed into the book, I realized that this was a very special woman, one who had an important story to tell, and one who could move me to tears as she told it. I read the book because I knew her parents, but I was swept up by it because of her power as a writer. Bravo, Debi, bravo, George and Lois for raising such a daughter.