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A review by sindri_inn_arsaeli
Wanderlust: A History of Walking by Rebecca Solnit
Did not finish book.
2.0
DNF. I *wanted* to like this book. I see I'm not the only one, either, which makes me feel better! It's subject matter that I generally choose as sort of comfort reads: travel narrative, walking narrative, get back to nature/movement narrative, those sorts of things. And this claimed to also include a history of such topics, which sounded like a bonus.
But, ugh, just, her writing was soooooo dense! The vocabulary came off as weirdly out of date, like she should have sounded more natural but was maybe *trying?* to sound more "old fashioned". I don't know if that was a stylistic choice, or just the way she writes, but especially the fact that that particular voice came through heaviest in some of the chapters where she was talking about modern pilgrimages, one especially of which she as a cultural outsider still managed to be invited into, it felt REALLY off putting for me.
Some chapters were easier reading than others, but when I still wasn't half way through and hit some more of that especially dense reading, I just threw up my hands. This was supposed to be fun, and it stopped being so and felt like research, and I'm so positive I could find another title that covers this topic's research and manages to be fun.
But, ugh, just, her writing was soooooo dense! The vocabulary came off as weirdly out of date, like she should have sounded more natural but was maybe *trying?* to sound more "old fashioned". I don't know if that was a stylistic choice, or just the way she writes, but especially the fact that that particular voice came through heaviest in some of the chapters where she was talking about modern pilgrimages, one especially of which she as a cultural outsider still managed to be invited into, it felt REALLY off putting for me.
Some chapters were easier reading than others, but when I still wasn't half way through and hit some more of that especially dense reading, I just threw up my hands. This was supposed to be fun, and it stopped being so and felt like research, and I'm so positive I could find another title that covers this topic's research and manages to be fun.