A phenomenally raw and brutally honest travel memoir, "The Same River Twice" sets a new standard for the genre. Eschewing grandiosity or forced meaning, the author unravels her own painful past, opening in early 1980's California, where as an awkward-yet-intelligent young woman, she exists on the margins of school, family, culture, and America-at-large.
Shipped off to an Israeli kibbutz, her own coming-of-age in the desert is tender in the beauty of her widening worldview, yet disastrous as the characters around her take advantage of her naïveté, youth, and gender. Resisting anything that smacks of formulaic narrative, the author tells each new chapter as they happened in real life. There is no handsome woke princely male savior. There is no sudden redemption or awesome turn-of-events. This is the story of a young woman who (sometimes literally) crawls to the other side of the world, up and over mountains, learning the power of her own lungs, her own hands, and her own mind.
From a feminist perspective, this book is unique and important. The narrator begins as a blank canvas upon which society, family, men (and many women) instruct her regarding the definitions, boundaries, and attributes of being a woman in the world. As it turns out, a lot of that instruction is lousy, ill-fitting, and does very little favors to the narrator.
Just like real travel, the writing fluctuates from smooth lyrical picturesque moments of wonder, spaced out with the hard work, discomfort, and real humdrum of life on the road. At moments, there is a welcome dryness to the story. The author is not fighting for the reader's attention or pity. She is merely revealing her deepest truths and lining them up in a natural chronology that leads us to . . . an end? More like a continuation, but a young woman's life now lived with more confidence, a life lived with greater self-knowledge, on her terms, with a newfound strength that only comes from the self-test of no-frills travel.
As an author, Mandel has delivered the ultimate Bildungsroman for the Gen X woman. If you've ever felt forgotten, marginalized, pressured into something that was not right for you, undervalued, you will find something highly relatable in these words. You will also find the hope that merely learning the power of your own voice is hugely liberating.
Highly recommended.
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About the author
A Refreshingly Honest Voice that Transcends Time & Setting
A phenomenally raw and brutally honest travel memoir, "The Same River Twice" sets a new standard for the genre. Eschewing grandiosity or forced meaning, the author unravels her own painful past, opening in early 1980's California, where as an awkward-yet-intelligent young woman, she exists on the margins of school, family, culture, and America-at-large.Shipped off to an Israeli kibbutz, her own coming-of-age in the desert is tender in the beauty of her widening worldview, yet disastrous as the characters around her take advantage of her naïveté, youth, and gender. Resisting anything that smacks of formulaic narrative, the author tells each new chapter as they happened in real life. There is no handsome woke princely male savior. There is no sudden redemption or awesome turn-of-events. This is the story of a young woman who (sometimes literally) crawls to the other side of the world, up and over mountains, learning the power of her own lungs, her own hands, and her own mind.From a feminist perspective, this book is unique and important. The narrator begins as a blank canvas upon which society, family, men (and many women) instruct her regarding the definitions, boundaries, and attributes of being a woman in the world. As it turns out, a lot of that instruction is lousy, ill-fitting, and does very little favors to the narrator.Just like real travel, the writing fluctuates from smooth lyrical picturesque moments of wonder, spaced out with the hard work, discomfort, and real humdrum of life on the road. At moments, there is a welcome dryness to the story. The author is not fighting for the reader's attention or pity. She is merely revealing her deepest truths and lining them up in a natural chronology that leads us to . . . an end? More like a continuation, but a young woman's life now lived with more confidence, a life lived with greater self-knowledge, on her terms, with a newfound strength that only comes from the self-test of no-frills travel.As an author, Mandel has delivered the ultimate Bildungsroman for the Gen X woman. If you've ever felt forgotten, marginalized, pressured into something that was not right for you, undervalued, you will find something highly relatable in these words. You will also find the hope that merely learning the power of your own voice is hugely liberating.Highly recommended.
Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2020
Shipped off to an Israeli kibbutz, her own coming-of-age in the desert is tender in the beauty of her widening worldview, yet disastrous as the characters around her take advantage of her naïveté, youth, and gender. Resisting anything that smacks of formulaic narrative, the author tells each new chapter as they happened in real life. There is no handsome woke princely male savior. There is no sudden redemption or awesome turn-of-events. This is the story of a young woman who (sometimes literally) crawls to the other side of the world, up and over mountains, learning the power of her own lungs, her own hands, and her own mind.
From a feminist perspective, this book is unique and important. The narrator begins as a blank canvas upon which society, family, men (and many women) instruct her regarding the definitions, boundaries, and attributes of being a woman in the world. As it turns out, a lot of that instruction is lousy, ill-fitting, and does very little favors to the narrator.
Just like real travel, the writing fluctuates from smooth lyrical picturesque moments of wonder, spaced out with the hard work, discomfort, and real humdrum of life on the road. At moments, there is a welcome dryness to the story. The author is not fighting for the reader's attention or pity. She is merely revealing her deepest truths and lining them up in a natural chronology that leads us to . . . an end? More like a continuation, but a young woman's life now lived with more confidence, a life lived with greater self-knowledge, on her terms, with a newfound strength that only comes from the self-test of no-frills travel.
As an author, Mandel has delivered the ultimate Bildungsroman for the Gen X woman. If you've ever felt forgotten, marginalized, pressured into something that was not right for you, undervalued, you will find something highly relatable in these words. You will also find the hope that merely learning the power of your own voice is hugely liberating.
Highly recommended.
A Refreshingly Honest Voice that Transcends Time & Setting
Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2020
A phenomenally raw and brutally honest travel memoir, "The Same River Twice" sets a new standard for the genre. Eschewing grandiosity or forced meaning, the author unravels her own painful past, opening in early 1980's California, where as an awkward-yet-intelligent young woman, she exists on the margins of school, family, culture, and America-at-large.Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2020
Shipped off to an Israeli kibbutz, her own coming-of-age in the desert is tender in the beauty of her widening worldview, yet disastrous as the characters around her take advantage of her naïveté, youth, and gender. Resisting anything that smacks of formulaic narrative, the author tells each new chapter as they happened in real life. There is no handsome woke princely male savior. There is no sudden redemption or awesome turn-of-events. This is the story of a young woman who (sometimes literally) crawls to the other side of the world, up and over mountains, learning the power of her own lungs, her own hands, and her own mind.
From a feminist perspective, this book is unique and important. The narrator begins as a blank canvas upon which society, family, men (and many women) instruct her regarding the definitions, boundaries, and attributes of being a woman in the world. As it turns out, a lot of that instruction is lousy, ill-fitting, and does very little favors to the narrator.
Just like real travel, the writing fluctuates from smooth lyrical picturesque moments of wonder, spaced out with the hard work, discomfort, and real humdrum of life on the road. At moments, there is a welcome dryness to the story. The author is not fighting for the reader's attention or pity. She is merely revealing her deepest truths and lining them up in a natural chronology that leads us to . . . an end? More like a continuation, but a young woman's life now lived with more confidence, a life lived with greater self-knowledge, on her terms, with a newfound strength that only comes from the self-test of no-frills travel.
As an author, Mandel has delivered the ultimate Bildungsroman for the Gen X woman. If you've ever felt forgotten, marginalized, pressured into something that was not right for you, undervalued, you will find something highly relatable in these words. You will also find the hope that merely learning the power of your own voice is hugely liberating.
Highly recommended.
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Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2020
Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2020
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Reviewed in the United States on March 21, 2022
Top reviews from other countries
Ciaran Buckley
Compelling and Gut-Wrenching Memoir
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 17, 2023
