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shellysjournal

Shelly's Book Journal

The 3 Rs: Reading, Reviews & Recs.

Let's chat about books!

 

Currently reading

The Civil War, Vol. 2: Fredericksburg to Meridian
Shelby Foote
Progress: 380/976 pages

The Cactus Eaters: How I Lost My Mind - and Almost Found Myself - on the Pacific Crest Trail (P.S.)

The Cactus Eaters: How I Lost My Mind-and Almost Found Myself-on the Pacific Crest Trail (P.S.) - Dan White Dan and his girlfriend Allison are in their mid-20s and decide to quit their jobs and hike the 2600 mile Pacific Coast trail from Mexico to Canada. They are pure amateurs when they start, but settle into the hike. Circumstance keeps them from finishing the trail before winter, and then an injury prevents Allison from returning to finish the following year. As Dan completes the trail alone, he seems to slowly lose his mind, and the interest of this reader!Well, I am a huge fan of trail books, this was my first PCT Trail adventure. Honestly, the first section of the book was fantastic. The Lois and Clark expedition developing their repoir and rhythm - making it through bad luck and raw stupidity to embrace the trail. Overall, Dan was immature, but after they left to the trail in Oregon, it just got annoying. Can anyone be more shallow? Why do I care about this? He was a madman when he got back on, and I lost all interest in his story. His post trail antics were unbelievable. It's amazing to me that he would find anyone to marry him. The other thing that really bothered me was the use of the f-bomb through much of the story. I am certain that their dialog was littered with it on their hike, but do you have to share it in the book? The English language is so rich with words, and two writers on the trail can only use the f-bomb to describe things????? I don't recommend this book to anyone. There are plenty of trail stories out there. Pick another one.