Customer Reviews

Tracks

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Subtitled, "A Woman's Solo Trek Across 1,700 Miles of Australian Outback," this 1980 book by Robyn Davidson, then 30 years old, is now considered a classic. She did it alone, with four camels, a loyal dog, and all the self-doubt and introspection that make her very human. Ms. Davidson grew up in Adelaide, a city in Southern Australia, but she traveled to the Central Australian town of Alice Springs, arriving with just $6 in her pocket and a desire to learn about camels. She worked in a bar and apprenticed herself to a camel owner, performing menial jobs and learning all she could. It took two years and half the book, but finally she was ready to pursue her dream.

She never was able to accumulate the funds needed to outfit her camels and so she applied for and received a grant from National Geographic. Throughout the book she questions that decision because this meant she had to meet with a photographer on several parts of her journey as well as an onslaught of unwanted publicity. In her mind, the trip became less the pure expedition she had envisioned and there is much soul searching about this. This is not the only thing she constantly reflects about though. Throughout her 7-month trip, she questions everything, even at times, her own sanity. I learned not only about the harsh Australian Outback, the pleasures and problems of living with camels, and the plight of the Aboriginal people she met along the way. I also shared every nuance of her fears and inner journey, which was as complex and richly landscaped as the harsh and beautiful land around her and found myself laughing out loud at times at her offbeat sense of humor. And I watched her change from self-conscious timidity to a woman who gives up so many trappings of civilization that towards the end of the book she walks naked next to her camels, her skin browned and thickened to a leather-like consistency, heavy calluses on sandaled feet from walking 20 or 30 miles a day, and so far from the former civilized accouterments, that she doesn't care that menstrual blood is dripping down her legs.

There's little background information that explains why Ms. Davison undertook her journey and I never really understood her reasons for doing it. That didn't matter though. What did matter, however, is that she is a living example of someone who made choices to follow her own personal dream. And for that, she is an inspiration. Upon finishing the book I was left with the thought that if she could do this, anything is possible and I applaud this her for reminding me of this. Recommended.

It's a cliche to call books "inspiring," but this one really is -- not because Robyn Davidson is heroic, but because (as she points out repeatedly) she's an ordinary woman from a rather sheltered background, but with extraordinary determination, persistence, and resourcefulness. To her, the meaning of her journey is that anyone can achieve whatever they want to. But, she tellingly points out, many of the reporters who dogged her steps portrayed her as crazy because that blunted her message -- which, if women took it seriously, would rock the foundations of society. She's completely frank about her feelings, her doubts about her journey, and the excuses she makes to herself when she's tempted to quit; but, to me, this made her accomplishment even greater because she was fighting herself as well as external obstacles. The internal journey she underwent was as important as the external one, and those readers who complain that there's too much of the former and not enough of the latter are, I think, completely missing the point of the book.

Who really knows why Robyn Davidson--a woman who describes herself in "Tracks" as a disaffected refugee of the superficiality of Sydney's and Melbourne's urban culture of the late 1970s--sold her belongings and trekked to Alice Springs, a tiny town nearly in the center of the Australian continent? Sure, plenty of us have trekked to Nowheresville in our youths, but from the first page of "Tracks," readers will immediately recognize that Davidson is not only leaving something, like Hemingway, she is searching for something as well. In light of a renewed interest in Aboriginal rights--and in the rights of Native Peoples everywhere on the planet--Davidson's seminal account of a grueling (and also rewarding) journey across one of the world's most forbidding wildernesses should prove to mainstream thinkers and commentators that Davidson had it right all along. Like Beryl Markham's "West With the Night," another account of a pioneering woman taking on what at the time was reserved for the so-called men of the world, Davidson's "Tracks" is not only filled with useful information (did you know "whoosh!", a word almost everyone in the English-speaking world, is actually an Afghani word that means "sit!"?), it is also one of the most readable adventure and travel books written in many years.

Davidson's commentary on Aussie society is sometimes as snide as she wants it to be, but it's always on the beam, and it's all telling too: Her observations of Aboriginal life, her plaintive advocacy for better treatment for a valuable human resource hidden away in the Southern Hemisphere and her descriptions of how Aboriginal religious beliefs are idiosyncratic to both the terrain and the atmosphere are things never written before, at least not without the help of abstractions and scientific jargon. In essence, then, this is a personal account, and a truthful one. Davidson was a young woman when she wrote "Tracks," but her wisdom at the time of writing was far beyond her years.

I first discovered Tracks during the boring period of my life, when I was a bank manager. Since then, my whole life has changed, and with Robyn Davidson as inspiration, I am much more of an adventuress. What I like best about this book is the soulful, brave way Robyn shares her inner journey...her attitudinal shifts, the way in which she sheds the trappings and conventions of society for something more real, a life lived closer to the bone. It's a must-read on a number of levels...I still re-read it once a year just to remind myself that there are places left to travel and inner realms to be explored.

There are few adventurous people that by-pass the luxury of their diesel-pushers to experience the likes of what Robyn Davidson embarks on as the challenge of a lifetime. That is precisely what makes this book so phenomenal.

Granted, this adventure took place in 1980, but the age of the event changes nothing of the experience.

Roughly structured, and for her reasons only, she embarks on a 1,700 mile trek across the outback to the ocean from Alice Springs. Her transportation? Camels!

The most fascianting part of this trip is she must learn about these amazing creatures from scratch. She moves to Alice Springs and sets forth to find those that are willing to teach her the camel business. Some of these teachers are of worthy content and impart essential knowledge. Robyn, however appears to be a natural with these animals, and a relationship with them developes that draws the reader into the story and through every foot of the trip. Her chosen camels have strong personalities. Her unique writing style capture their wonderful, quirky attitudes that lures the reader in a feeling of acquiantance. It is not difficult to feel her fondness of these creatures and her heartbreak when difficult times develope. Her sincere appreciation and love for the camels provides delightful distraction and imparts great humor and solice on her desert quest.

Special mention must be made to her best female friend, Diggity. This incredible dog was her lifeline and her mainstay through many trying days and nights in the bush. Diggity's personality was beautifully captured by Robyn's recollections and will tweak the heart of any dog lover.

Robyn's ability to bring the aboriginal people and outback to life as she treks across it's vastness is truly astounding. After I finished her book, I immediately went back to amazon.com and ordered every single book and reference she wrote. Her amazing zest and appreciation for the life in th outback of Australia was exhilarating. I urge you to read a truly moving, tear jerking, humorous, insightful and generally captivating novel that bespeaks of the ultimate travel experience one can ever hope to conjure. Thank you Robyn!!

Highly recommended for an enhanced reading experience:

_From Alice to Ocean; Alone Across the Outback_ photographed by Rick Smolan; with excerpts from Robyn Davidson's bestselling _Tracks_

This book is a true story by a determined Australian woman who crossed one of the most inhospitable stretches of land in the world - a wide swathe of treelees dry scrubland which is most of Australia's center and its northern half.

I especially enjoyed this Australian classic, having just visited the remarkable and idyosyncractic town of Alice Springs where the early part of the book is set. This is where the author learns how to tame, care for, live with, and depend on camels for survival, as she prepares for the dramatic trek which lies ahead.

The rage against the male photographer who keeps showing up - the compromising aspect of her compact with her sponsors at National Geographic - is at times shocking, leaving one to wonder whether the author has more sympathy for her camels than fellow human beings. But this impression is deceptive. The mostly male characters who populate her book hardly seem caricatured, while the camels do emerge as a woman's best friend in the outback. "One does not have to delve too deeply to discover why some of the world's angriest feminists breathed crisp blue Australian air during their formative years, before packing their kangaroo-skin bags and scurrying to London or New York or any place where the antipodean machismo would fade gently from their battle-scarred consciousness like some grisly nightmare at dawn. Anyone who has worked in a men-only bar in Alice Springs will know what I mean."

The rage, courage, vulnerability, determination, and other emotions and qualities which this trek depicts, almost seem like a metaphor for the complex place of the outback in the Australian experience. "It was delicious new country but it was tiring. The sand dragged at my feet and the repetition of the dunes lulled me into drowsiness when the first excitement wore off. The stillness of the waves of sand seemed to stifle and suffocate me."

Even without seeing the photos from National Geographic, the reader is left with graphic inmages of a remarkable landscape and the unusual qualities it takes for a transplanted urbanite to survive it.

Beyond character and landscape descriptions, the books offers some inspirational passages. Consider this extract from the final paragraph: "As I look back on the trip now, try to remember how I felt at that particular time, or during that particular incident, try to relive those memories that have been buried so deep, and distorted so ruthlessly, there is one clear fact that emerges from the quagmire. The trip was easy. It was no more dangerous than crossing the street, or driving to the beach, or eating peanuts. The two important things that I did learn were that you are as powerful and strong as you allow yourself to be, and that the most difficult part of any endeavor is taking the first step, making the first decision...."

Another bookshelf recommendation for those who are serious about Australiana or about unusual human endeavors.

Every woman should read this book because it is a model for what a woman is capable of doing. Often we do not realize what we are able to do until we are put (or subject ourselves) into a situation which tests us. Not only is this book interesting in the detailing stereotypes of Australian men, the wonder of the Outback and demystifying the aboriginies, it shows you an every day woman's spirit and instinct for survival. I read this book while in a 4 wheel drive truck going from Alice Springs to Perth in Australia. It was incredible to look up to rest my eyes from reading and see the landscape I was just reading about.

When I was in New Zealand, about to go to Australia, I read this book.
I was drawn into a totally different world - one of red earth and solitude, heat and pestering flies. Though conditions were harsh, Robyn's words make you want to follow in her and her camel's footsteps.
The entire journey is filled with lots of epiphanies and hard times, as well as beautiful moments of clarity. At one point I cried. And man did I ever fall in love with camels.
When I finally got to Australia, I got to ride a camel, and I found them just as wonderful as Ms. Davidson described.

I can't recommend this book highly enough.

I first read "Tracks" when I was living and working with camels in Alice Springs. My first reaction was that it was the book I wish I could have written! This book helped me through a very rough period - becoming a sole parent. The loneliness, despair and frustration through parts of the book mirrored my own feelings at the time. I now refer to my experience as my "camel trip". Read it more than once!

This story is 254 pages long and the first 100 pages are nothing but the battles Robyn fought with the townfolk and their feelings about Aborigines, her landlord, finding suitable camels and then training them.

When she finally starts her journey from Alice Springs two years after her arrival there, one is relieved to finally read about the torturous journey she undertook, both with the locals, those annoying tourists along the way, and her intermittent relationship with photographer/sex partner Richard from National Geographic. Somewhere in the middle of the book the journey lost its meaning for me, although I finished the book. It was obvious by then that Robyn made this trek to wrestle with the demons within her, to battle something she had been battling all her life.

A travelogue is always a journey of one's own soul and Robyn's soul was troubled from the start, both from loneliness and what appears to be either drug or alcohol addiction (she mentioned several times how she'd drink her whiskey hard after trouble with the camels.)

I have to admire her for finishing her journey, but she doesn't give her partner enough credit for pulling her through this. She loves her camels and her dog and yet sometimes she treats them as less than that, and like some readers have already mentioned, she paid dearly for that in the end. Some of the honesty angered me and I wanted to yell out "Woman, why would you do something like that!"

This is not an adventure I'm willing to emulate. Although Australia and its people and terrain fascinate me, I'd be much happier along the eastern shore.