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Title: Walk Across America, A by Peter Jenkins ISBN: 0-06-095955-X Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 18 September, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.55 (66 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: One of my Top 5 Favorite Books of All Time!
Comment: Peter Jenkins story of his 1973-1975 walk from New York to New Orleans is one of those books that you just can not put done once you have started. You will find yourself thinking about the book when you should be doing other things and you can't wait to pick it up again. When I finished reading the book I wanted more. I even purchased the old April 1977 National Geographic Magazine to read his article that he wrote for them and see even more of the pictures of his journey. Luckly, Jenkins journey does not stop in New Orleans, his walk continues and so do his books: The Walk West, The Road Unseen, Close Friends, and Across China.
Peter Jenkins says, "I started out searching for myself and my country and found both." The story would have been good enough just hearing about the trip, the things that he saw, how he survived, and the companionship of his faithful dog; but what make the book great is the people. The people that he meets, how they accept him, and in some cases don't. It is the sociology as well as the adventure that make this one of the best books I ever read for pleasure.
Rating: 3
Summary: Hippie Takes a Long Walk
Comment: Note that the cover of this book, showing a Rocky Mountain scene, is inaccurate. This book covers Jenkins' walk from New York State to Louisiana, while his trek to the Rockies is in a later book. In this story Jenkins starts as a disillusioned hippie in 1973 and decides to walk across America to restore his faith in the country. He started with little knowledge of the challenges of hiking - embarking in New York in the fall and thus suffering through winter in the Northern Appalachians, then spending the sweltering summer in the Deep South. There are many surprises in this book concerning the people Jenkins met along the way. This is especially true of his run-in with racial prejudice in the Deep South, and his perspective as an extremely naïve hippie white boy from up north is rather interesting. In the North Carolina mountains he was harassed by Yankee-hating rednecks who threatened to lynch him. But in the very next town he found shelter with a friendly black family who let him live with them in their cramped trailer home for five months. Jenkins' time with the Oliver family is the best part of this book, even though it interrupted his walk - and his account of his first service at their church is hilarious.
Other than meetings with some interesting people, this book cracks under Jenkins' completely juvenile and naïve writing style. Examples can be found in odes to his faithful and personality-rich dog Cooper, who was his traveling companion. Try not to gag on lines like "my irresistible friend brought, for the thousandth time, a smile like all of sunshine to my face" or "he and I were going to be together forever!" Jenkins is unable to convey any sort of emotion without an over-reliance on exclamation points and remedial platitudes - some examples are "Oh! I was mad!" and "Mobile made me want to sing and shout!" This tendency ruins for the reader the truly monumental events in Jenkins' life during his trip - the death of his dog, an unexpected religious conversion, and falling in love with a southern belle. Worst yet is his total lack of insight into his own efforts at soul searching, the freedom of unrestricted travel, or the real America that he was looking for and found. That all makes this book little more than a dry travel diary, and I sure hope that Jenkins' later books show more skill and insight.
Rating: 5
Summary: The best book I ever read
Comment: This book is my all time favorite. It is true adventure with a new happening one every page. A must read !!!
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Title: The Walk West: A Walk Across America 2 by Peter Jenkins, Barbara Jenkins ISBN: 0688006663 Publisher: William Morrow Pub. Date: November, 1981 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Looking for Alaska by Peter Jenkins ISBN: 0312261780 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 16 November, 2001 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: Along the Edge of America by Peter Jenkins ISBN: 0395877377 Publisher: Mariner Books Pub. Date: 15 September, 1997 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank ISBN: 0060931396 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 April, 1999 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
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Title: The Road Unseen by Peter Jenkins ISBN: 0449212122 Publisher: Fawcett Books Pub. Date: 12 March, 1987 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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