A review by gracemalizia
The Ghosts Who Travel with Me: A Literary Pilgrimage Through Brautigan's America by Allison Green

5.0

I picked up this book and didn't put it down until I was finished. Within moments, Allison Green had transported me into her memories, her road trip, and her fascination with a book I had never read and an author I had barely heard of. The beautiful stories of her childhood, woven with spectacularly crafted panoramas of a trip through Washington and Idaho, and vivid descriptions of people and places, some personal, some historical, engaged and enthralled me from cover to cover. Green's longing, almost palpable throughout, for a sense of belonging—to a generation, to a place, to a social or literary movement—pulls out an ache that never quite outgrows its place in teenaged minds and hearts. Simultaneously, her struggle to integrate her nostalgic love for Brautigan with an investigation of his problematic nature as a man and a writer is relatable for anyone who has created a hero for themselves only to later discover human flaws within. Intriguing, beautifully descriptive, and ultimately forgivable, Green's journey, both literal and literary, weaves together the parts of ourselves that are loveable and uncomfortable in a book that left me feeling like I saw something new.