Customer Reviews

Four Corners: A Journey into the Heart of Papua New Guinea

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book COMPLETELY engaged me from beginning to end. It tells the story of a young woman drawn to danger and adventure in one of the most remote locations on earth. She reaches distant tribes that haven't seen any white people, where the kids all run off in terror, thinking she's yellow-haired ghost. She spends time with other tribes still practicing cannibalism, puts up with unsavory local traders, meets shamans and fanatical missionaries and all manner of colorful characters. This is an adventure book on two different levels--we not only learn about the fascinating country of New Guinea, but we learn what drove Ms. Salak to go on such a dangerous and remarkable journey. And more incredibly, she went on this journey ALONE. My hat goes off to her.

If you're looking for some dry, academic kind of book on New Guinea culture--like the previous reviewer seemed to be--then I suggest you go to the library and pick up some scientific journals and go nuts. But if you'd like a great, really readable adventure story that will hold your interest from beginning to end, that won't be a waste of your time or money, then this is the book for you. I've shared this gem with all of my friends--world backpackers and arm-chair travelers alike--and they all loved it.

Being keen on New Guinea biota, I have been working to collect all the literature I can on the area. Most resources one finds are by missionaries, anthropologists, or military stories of World War II. Fairly useless for learning of the flora and fauna. Thus, seeing a book of a peregrination along hundreds of miles of lowland territory was intriguing.

Now, I'll concede there are no rules for writing a book about exotic adventures. However, I *did* have some preconceived expectations of travel writing about such an exotic destination.

I did not expect her to spend 1/10th of the book talking about how dangerous Africa is. I did not expect her to mention how dangerous PNG is on nearly every page, and manage to elaborate on it over and over with each mention. If she wants to cross PNG, sure, admit it can be a little dangerous. However, it gets old reading it page after page after page.

I really feel as though she could have packed twice as much information into the pages as she did. I felt as though I got to know few of the characters, and there was scant mention of the background settings. It was all about her, her thoughts, and how she is growing as a person. Now, this is all fine and dandy for some people, but I really wanted to read more about the characters she encountered, adventures she took. It was her book and she is allowed to write as she pleases. It just was NOT what I expected.

I especially find it incredible how she was able to cross the main landmass, and write so little about the flora and fauna she encountered. New Guinea is a mecca for wildlife, and you could write entire books on the subjects you find in 1 metre square. There is almost no mention of any plants or animals.

Despite my criticism, Ms. Salak indeed has a gift for writing and journeyed through one of the Earths most amazing regions. My review offers a poor rating because the book really wasn't about New Guinea, it was about a confused young woman trying to "find" herself.

Like all great travelogues, "Four Corners" is an account that recognizes the important fact that the traveler themself is an integral part of the journey. Kira Salak takes us on her adventure through one of the wildest and rawest parts of the world, filled with beauty and danger, friendliness and brutality. Along the way she spends time in introspective examination. Why would someone make this trip? Why subject oneself to the uncertainies of a trip with no itinerary through so remote a place? Her answers are as important to the book as the trip itself. Highly recommended.

I have read both of Kira Salak's books and thoroughly enjoyed them. I am hoping she will write another one soon. Four Corners was great and I was able to compare much of my trip to hers (although mine was not quite as adventurous). I don't feel she spoke too much on the dangers of PNG, as one reviewer wrote. The dangers are very real and different than other countries. I also enjoyed the excerpt on her travels through Mozambique included in this book. She has a gift for writing. Hurry up Ms. Salak and write another book soon!

If you are a friend of Ms. Salak and want to know more about her inner life, then I recommend this book highly. For the rest of us, her personal identity struggles and self diagnoses get old really fast. Like many travelogues, because she passes much too quickly through the areas that are her stated theme of the book, one doesn't really get to know much about the people and places; it is mostly an "author as hero" kind of book. If you'd like to know more about this area of Papua New Guinea, I suggest the very readable "The Gebusi: Lives Transformed in a Rainforest World," by Bruce Knauft.

I found this to be an excellent book in which the author, Kira Salak, retraces the journey across Papua New Guinea that explorer Ivan Champion took in 1927.
This book provides amazing descriptions of Papua New Guinea. It takes you to all parts of PNG, from the cities to the inner jungles, and introduces you to the PNG native tribes and their spiritual and religious beliefs. Salak also meets with the rebel leader of a guerrilla movement fighting in Western New Guinea through a series of adventures that are reminiscent of a scene in a James Bond movie. Throughout the book, Salak discovers ways out of nearly impossible situations.
What makes the book so readable and interesting is the vivid and powerful narrative that describes the journey from Salak's own perspective. This allows us to easily join Salak in this incredible trek across PNG as we read her story.
The book begins with the events in the author's life that led to her taking this journey. Without this introduction, I think I would have spent the entire book wondering what would lead a person to take such a journey. I consider this introduction an essential part of the book, giving a unique insight into what leads someone to take a dangerous journey into the unknown.
In this book you will find a rare glimpse into the hidden world of PNG as Salak works out her demons through this difficult journey. This makes for a book that cannot be put down. "Four Corners" is an inspiring real life journey into the unknown, and a story of survival and personal triumph. I highly recommend this book.

This book was fabulous. It kept me riveted from page one. What Ms. Salak accomplished in New Guinea (with her intelligence, guts, wit, courage and luck) is truly amazing. Hands down the best book I read all year. A true travel adventure.

This is by far the BEST travel adventure book I've ever read. The first chapter is so intense I guarantee you won't be able to put the book down! Without giving away anything from the book (you can read the description on Amazon yourself), I'll tell you this book is exciting from the first page all the way to the last. Does this woman have a death wish traveling alone through Papau New Guinea? I've read her other book, "The Cruelest Journey" and that was also incredible. I can't wait until she writes another book!

Not about the story in the book, but about the good ratings that book got. I'm myself travelling since many years to New Guinea. Dont expect to learn anything about the country in that book. This story could have been written about any other country, and you will not find it out when you ignore the names of places and villages. To compare that journey with the expedition of Ivan Champion is more then arrogant.
The only other book/journeyabout New Guinea that is more naive is „Zen explorations in New Guinea" from Neville Shulman. I dont say it's badly written, but it's a story of a self-finding teenager, not more or less, and could have been also written about a journey to Yellowstone Nationalpark. Most of the travelling she did by plane, by car or by boat. The only hike she did, was a short one without proper preparation.
When you like to read anything interesting and adventurous, where you can also learn something about the country, read: „Throwim' Way Leg: Tree-Kangaroos, Possums, and Penis Gourds" from Tim Flannery or „Where the Spirits Dwell from Tobias Schneebaum. Both authors know they country very well, the books are heartly written and full of facts, even with the extra of pictures. When you want to copmare the Ivan Champion expedition with the situation nowadays read: „Beyond Fear: A Harrowing Journey Across New Guinea" from Joel P. Kramer. He did his journey on land by canoe and hiking. After I did read the Salak book, I'm not surprised anymore, why there are no pictures in it. From what should thoose pictures be, from the capital Port Moresby, the Mining Town Kiunga or the Mission Station on the Sepik?
When you are yourself a traveller, when you want to visit New Guinea or you are interested in the country, dont waste your money and buy that book.

While some people may certainly enjoy this book, it is more of a memoir and a coming-age at 24 story than a story of Papua New Guinea. It is more about the psychological dynamics within Kira's skull than the cultures of PNG. It is more of story of getting over a libertarian childhood than of PGNer's having to deal with the outside world. The whole of PNG seems to be a background for Kira's spiritual journey. Even though Kira knows how to speak Pidgin and is obviously very intelligent and well read, she fails to make this book about PNG. The best example is when she goes to Blackwater, a refugee camp for those west Papuans who successfully fled the Indonesian genocide. A good three quarters of this section is dedicated to how Kira feels so guilty not being a real journalist that can bring the world's attention to this political rights crisis, and a great deal of half-assed philosophical musings about the meaning of hate. We learn about maybe three native species of PNG, a few tribe names, and a great deal of cultural practices that are left in a haze of mystery that serves only to move the plot of Kira's self discovery.

Perhaps this book should have been called "Ayn Rand Abroad" and featured Atlas-the-exotic-adventurer on the front as every corner of this book reverberates with Kira's libertarian upbringing rather than of any exotic cultures or jungles. The whole books ends up falling in a flat mire of irony as Kira's bubble of self-centeredness finally pops and she becomes one of us regular Americans that just wants to be home and have a steady job.

Ayn Rand objectivists and Liberal cultural relativists alike will be disappointed in this book. If you are a wandering soul like Kira, and perhaps struggling with a childhood dominated by a libertarian parents, trying to find something inspiring, then this is your book.