Like Jack Kerouac's intrepid little sister, Ariel Gore spins the spirited story of a vulnerable drifter who takes refuge in fate and the shadowy recesses of a string of glittering, broken relationships. With just a few pennies and her I Ching, a change of clothes and a one-way ticket to Hong Kong, a perceptive, searching sixteen-year-old Gore makes her way from the sterile suffocation of the Silicon Valley through the labyrinthine customs of Cold-War China, wanders through bustling, electric Kathmandu, and hunkers down in an icy London squat with a prostitute and a boyfriend on the dole. Yet it is in the calm, verdant landscape of rural Italy where, pregnant and penniless, nineteen-year-old Gore's adventure truly begins. An illuminating glimpse into the boldly political Gorecreator of HipMama. com and Hip Mama magazinethis unflinching memoir offers a poignant exploration of the meaning of home and surveys the frontiers of both land and heart. "
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In the late 1980s, at age 16, Gore dropped out of high school, took her GED, and bought a one-way ticket to Hong Kong. From there she made her way to China, finagled herself into the Beijing Language Institute, and began a three-year journey of self-discovery that took her to Tibet, Nepal, India, Amsterdam, England, and Italy (to name only a few of her ports of call). This astounding memoir describes her experiences, including stints as a language student, smuggler, pilgrim, squatter, and indie film actress. Along the way, more than one person, upon learning her age, declares, "Your mother is crazy." Few would argue with that assessment, but whatever one may think of teaching self-reliance through benign neglect, it's clear that Gore's adventures make absorbing reading. She didn't end up dead, a fact that will strike most readers as remarkable, but she did end up pregnant in Italy at age 19 by her lout of a boyfriend. Ever resilient, Gore used her experiences as a young mother to good advantage, founding the well-regarded and unapologetically political magazine Hip Mama. Beth Leistensnider
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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"Ariel Gore...provides succor to moms who cannot related to our culture's mawkish notions of motherhood."
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
By J. Aragon
Format:Paperback
I could not put this book down. I heard Gore read a section at the Mamagathering in LA this summer. I bought a signed copy from her at her table and started reading the book that evening. The other reviewers are right that the book is part memoir and part travel story. If you are looking for something different and compelling read this book.
Format:Paperback
I love Ariel Gore's otehr books and was excited to hear about her adventures before motherhood. This book was wonderful, At first I though the title and cover were a little bit cheesy and I tried not to let that bother me. It really didn't matter because the storytelling and thoughts in this book are so real and so there.
Format:Paperback
I work at a large bookstore, and I get a LOT of advanced reading copies (ARC's) from publishers. When I read on the ARC back cover of Ariel Gore's ATLAS OF THE HUMAN HEART that she was described as "Jack Kerouac's intrepid little sister..." I thought, 'Oh, puhleeeze!'
Thankfully, Gore must have intervened, because that phrase is not on the final cover, and rightfully so. I remember reading Kerouac's ON THE ROAD when I was 19 (before Ariel Gore was born) and I didn't think much of it. Having hitchhiked across the US, Canada and Europe myself--back when it was a far safer mode of travel than it is now--I found Kerouac's book lacking in what I refered to then as "substance." Perhaps what I'd call it today is "Heart."
Thankfully, Gore must have intervened, because that phrase is not on the final cover, and rightfully so. I remember reading Kerouac's ON THE ROAD when I was 19 (before Ariel Gore was born) and I didn't think much of it. Having hitchhiked across the US, Canada and Europe myself--back when it was a far safer mode of travel than it is now--I found Kerouac's book lacking in what I refered to then as "substance." Perhaps what I'd call it today is "Heart."
Well, move over, Jack. Ariel Gore's memoir is NOT just a "chick version" of ON THE ROAD. There's more to ATLAS OF THE HUMAN HEART than drugs, alcoholic binges, and wild rides across state lines, where we're told that Neal or Jack or Allen jabbered non-stop--but we never heard exactly what they talked about. Gore's memoir is about the complexity of finding oneself while in the midst of ever-changing terrain, relationships, and communities. We get more than a wild ride form Ariel Gore; we're shown the lines on her map as clearly and intimately as she might show us the lines in the palm of her hand.
Gore's thoughtful narrative illuminates her own corner of herstory with song lyrics, Tibetan philosophy, insightful musings from "unassigned readings" of literature and poetry, and the ringing bell-tone wisdom of kua's from the I-CHING. Gore gives us not only postcards and snapshots of her life, she takes us along with her on a redemptive journey across a familiar emotional landscape. We travel with a free-spirited teenager, sharing her education, not in the "School of Hard Knocks," but as Earth University Seekers, landing with her Plop--in the muddy world of youthful cohabitation and motherhood. What an intelligent, heartfelt, and honest look at one very intersting and inspiring life!
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4.5 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ready for an Adventure?
If you want to read a book of travel stories - this is the adventure for you. It is a wonderful feeling to hold a good book in your hands, enter it's realm and have the story come... Read more
Published on May 8 2003 by China Martens
5.0 out of 5 stars
magical realism? creative nonfiction? definitely fantastic
I can't recommend this book enough. Ariel calls it a novel/memoir, i call it creative nonfiction at it's finest. Read more
Published on May 4 2003 by Jackie Regales
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