Customer Reviews

Kiss the Sunset Pig: A Canadian's American Road Trip with Exotic Detours

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Anyone with a gypsy heart, itchy feet, and an attraction to the open road will find Laurie Gough's account of her soul searching trip from Ontario to the Californian coast a delightful escape from the humdrum of everyday life. The reader is made to feel like an old friend, reading with envy this story of self-discovery and independence. Throughout the main story, Gough seamlessly weaves in anecdotes from her international adventures, which adds spice and serves to increase the readers appetite for more.

While reading the book, I couldn't help but reminisce about my own adventures and search my soul about my home and identity. Like great travel writers, Gough does not merely describe a trip or a place, she recounts a life experience from which a lesson is learned and new perspective is gained. Life is not merely about work and the occasional "microwave" holiday, it is about actively confronting our myopic views of our lives and the world around us.

If you're looking for a fun read or a read that stimulates introspection, I would recommend this book on both counts.

Thumbs up from me,

NW

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and highly recommend it. From the first page, Gough pulled me in and peaked my curiosity. I couldn't wait to learn what would happen next as she related her trek across America and other worldwide adventures.

Her narrative was fluent and natural, at times laugh-out-loud funny. Her "flying by the seat of her pants" exploits kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the entire read. Never a dull moment.

Laurie's vivid descriptions of her travels across the U.S bring back memories of my own treks throughout America, especially California.

Kiss the Sunset Pig is at times funny, sad and introspective and above all, always entertaining.

I highly recommend this book!

This book is for anyone who wonders if they have the courage to put their life in a pack and voyage far from home, in all senses of the word. The author uses the framework of a cross-country soul-searching trip to California, the place she thinks she wants to settle. Along the way she revisits more exotic, remote and challenging travel destinations that left an imprint on her journeying soul. I dare you to read the chapter on Sumatra without trembling. This book is a page-turner, and I loved every funny, scary, evocative, and moving page of it.

wow, what a great ride. i just rode west with laurie gough all the way to the magic, mystical california coast! on the way, we side- stepped to even more exotic locales as the authour reminiced of her travels around the globe. laurie (she's the sort of writer that you feel you're on a first name basis with) writes in such a clear style that at times it was almost as if i was there with her.

the book operates on two levels: Primarily the travel memories of laurie's past. all interesting and many downright dangerous. it is a small wonder that she was never seriously harmed. (altho that's not really true if one has read the italian adventure in laurie's first travel book Island of the Human Heart.)

secondarily, we are jogged back into the present as each story ends...the present is a 30-something laurie driving west in an ailing vehicle in the vain hope of re-discovering a cave in the cliffs above the pacific surf in which she camped as a young woman. this cave represents the innocence of her youth, dimmed over the years by the realities of life and the now ever-looming responsibilites of "settling down" to family life. can laurie (or anyone) ever find our way back into the womb? and watch the breakers roar through safety of a belly-button window...along the endless horizon of the forever ocean?

Having done my share of backpacking, I was curious to see if Gough could caputre the experience with any authenticity. Although we had different adventures in different countries, this book made me feel I was normal. I'm not the only one to pick up hitchhikers for companionship, stay at strangers' apartments or cry with frustration when the buses don't make sense. Travel changes you and this book describes the insane things travellers do that seem so logical at the time. And she makes it seem so natural.

Sunset Pig is a wonderful tapestry of Gough's past treks woven into a road trip to California. She opens with an amusing story of heading west in a cantankerous Ford Bronco with a woman she dubs Morticia. Their adventures begin at the border and from that point on you'll wonder, "What can happen next?" Apparently a lot.

Through a mixture of funny, frightening, uplifting and depressing adventures, Gough explores what it's like when you pack your life into a knapsack and leave everything familiar behind. She takes us with her to Jamaica, Alaska, Sumatra, Korea and a few US detours on the way. Although she's tells of her explorations across the world and the various cultures she encounters, these stories spring naturally from her self-examination. This common thread binds the book into a cohesive whole and keeps it from lapsing into a series of unrelated travel tales.

My only complaint is that the epilogue was too short and left too many questions. It could have been a book in itself -- one I hope Gough writes next.

Finally a book that shows and describes the thought processes that go through a mid-adults' mind! I remember in my twenty-something years analysing my thoughts the very same way Laurie Gough did and thinking... does everyone else go through this?
These thought processes are blended throughout several adventures that Laurie has travelling trying to find out what she wants in her life. This book is full of adventure, twists and turns, unexpected occurrences, changes of analysis, opinions, and ideas! If you want mental stimulation, adventure, and a clear window to view the travelling world this is it!

Just an all round good read.

I am a 64 year old male 350 pound bald tax consultant who found the exploits of this female back packer almost incredible.

Have recommended it to a dozen people since.

I travelled lasy yr in the states annd canada, and this beautifully written book refllected some of my experieces. I also slept on the gorgeous beach in point reyes, and have met some Americans who wernt that bad, amazing as that is.. This book is definately worth a read and will give you some hot tips on how to travel. If you want to immerse yourself in a book that makes you feel like you are actually in good America. This one is for you.

I just wanted to thank Laurie for allowing me to travel along with her vicariously. I'm a married man with 4 children (stupid! stupid! stupid!), but I think I must have been a traveller in a past life, as the pull to travel is very strong in me (and of course the means are weak!).

I may actually have to (gasp) purchase her other two books!

She probably doesn't have as many male readers as female -so I just wanted to add how much the guys enjoy her writing too - when not spitting with envy about the adventures she's had. She has a fresh way with words that that's like a salt-water breeze - so I just wanted to thank her for the pleasure of my imaginary travels, and I highly recommend this read!