Tag: Kira Salak

Cruelest Journey

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Salak, Kira. The Cruelest Journey: 600 Miles to Timbuktu. National Geographic, 2005.

Reason read: Timbuktu gained its independence from Mali in April.

Why do we as humans do hard things? Why do we run one hundred miles in a desert? Why does Kira Salak want to travel the length of the Niger River from Old Segou to Timbuktu? Six hundred miles of enlightenment? Courage? Money? Recognition? Mungo Park, a Scottish explorer from the 1770s is an obvious inspiration for Salak. She draws upon the experiences gleaned from Park’s letters about his journey down the Niger River in 1795 Not only does Salak provide readers with a mini biography of the man, she also includes a great deal of historical context when thinking (obsessing?) about Mungo Park.
What sets The Cruelest Journey apart from other travel memoirs is that Salak lets the reader into her private thoughts and fears in a transparent manner. In addition to worrying about her safety and getting to Timbuktu in one piece, she is equally concerned about her future. Will she get married and settled down? She goes to great lengths to get answers.
I have to admit the buying of the slave girls was an odd twist at the end of the journey. Even though freeing a couple of Mali slave girls was an objective Salak claimed to have had from the very beginning, she did not mention it throughout her journey until the end. Wouldn’t this be on her mind as she travels the six hundred miles? It’s not like looking out for hippos or dealing with dysentery. Buying people just isn’t common practice for a young white girl.

As an aside, I was reminded of the nature photographers when out photographing wildlife. They cannot interfere with the circle of life no matter how distressing the situation. When Salak reaches Timbuktu she is suffering from exhaustion, dysentery, starvation, and heat stroke. Remi and his partner, Heather, act like Salak is a wild animal they are not allow to interfere with. Salak does not mention them giving her aid or anything to ease her discomfort and illness other than to offer her a bottle of water, but she repeatedly describes Remi’s personal chef and other luxuries on the boat.

Line I liked, “I’ve never been good at small talk, particularly not with people I’ve just purchased” (p 223). I was going to say this is also something we have in common, besides being left-handed and afraid of hippos, up until the part about purchasing people. My favorite line, however, is the very last sentence in the book, “…the journey will always tell you when it’s over” (p 229).

Author fact: Salak was the subject of a CBS segment in 2008.

Book trivia: even though a National Geographic photographer followed Salak down the Niger River there are no photographs in The Cruelest Journey. I was a little more than disappointed.

Confessional: Salak wrote, “As a matter of fact, I had a strange, irrational fear of hippos that was so strong it might have come out of a past life” (p 31). I, too, have that same strange fear. I do not live anywhere near the animal, but I cannot ever bear to look at them in captivity or on a television screen.
Like Salak, I too, am a southpaw.

Music: Salif Keita

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Timbuktu and Beyond” (p 229).

November Accomplished

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I wanted to rename November Nope the second I published it. I don’t know why I always have a pessimistic view of the month before it has even started. I think I need an attitude adjustment! For starters, I finished the books I set out to read for the month:

Fiction:

  • The Sporting Club by Thomas McGuane.
  • The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak.

Nonfiction:

  • Four Corners by Kira Salak.
  • Israel is Real by Rich Cohen.
  • Silverland by Dervla Murphy.

Series continuations:

  • Master of Hestviken: the Snake Pit by Sigrid Undset.
  • Echo Burning by Lee Child.

Early Review for LibraryThing:

  • Teaching Empathy by Suzanna Henshon, PhD.

Four Corners

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Salak, Kira. Four Corners: Into the Heart of New Guinea: One Woman’s Solo Journey.
Salak, Kira. Four Corners: One Woman’s Solo Journey into the Heart of Papua New Guinea. Washington, D.C.: Counterpoint, 2001.

Reason read: November is supposedly a really good time to visit Papua New Guinea, if you enjoy that kind of dangerous travel.
Confessional: I started reading the uncorrected proof of this memoir before receiving the published version.

There is no doubt Kira Salak is a strong woman. As an eleven year old kid her father taught her how to handle a gun. She remembers her father encouraging his young daughter to aim between the eyes. All her life Kira considered herself tough, wanting to be a soldier, a warrior of Green Beret quality. For all of her courage, time and time again while reading Four Corners I was struck dumb by her seat-of-her-pants travel style in Papua New Guinea. Salak travels beyond the outer reaches of civilization because she has an inexplicable calling to do so. It seems incredulous one could be so naive about everything, including basic survival skills for the jungles of Papua New Guinea. Salak goes into the region without a clear plan or even a way to support herself should the missionaries and locals refuse to ensure her safe passage regardless of the money and/or gifts she has to offer. She’s a creative writing student with no concrete connection to why she is there. Other reviewers of Four Corners called Salak “lucky.” She is that and then some!

I love it when a book makes me curious about other things. After reading Four Corners I had to research Well’s morlocks and Christian’s mutineers.

Quotes I had to quote, “Sometimes our lives are chosen for us, and we have about as much control over the matter as we do the situation we’re born into” (p 13), “Living is nothing but an attempt to champion the choice you’ve made” (p 148), “I am looking at hate, a hate so deep it’s palpable” (p 168).

Author fact: Salak has her own website and the photos I was hoping to see in Four Corners can be found here.

Book trivia: I was hoping for pictures (since the cover is so interesting) but none were included. See comment above.

Nancy said: Pearl had a different title for this book, Four Corners: A Journey into the Heart of Papua New Guinea. Pearl also said “for a goodly dash of [great beauty and danger] try Four Corners (Book Lust To Go p 150).

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the super simple chapter called New Guinea (p 150).

November Nope

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I don’t have writer’s block. I have writer’s apathy. I have nothing to say. Here are the books already underway for November:

Fiction:

  • The Sporting Club by Thomas McGuane – in honor of the Mackinac bridge being built in November of 1957.
  • The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak – I needed an author with my same initials for the Portland Public Library Reading Challenge.

Nonfiction:

  • Four Corners: a Journey into the Heart of Papua New Guinea by Kira Salak – in honor of November being a decent time to visit PNG…if you are into that sort of thing.
  • Israel is Real: an Obsessive Quest to Understand the Jewish Nation and Its History by Rich Cohen – in recognition of Resolution 181.
  • Silverland: a Winter Journey Beyond the Urals by Dervla Murphy – in honor of Murphy’s birth month.

Series continuation:

  • Master of Hestviken: the Snake Pit by Sigrid Undset – to continue the series started in October. I needed a translated book written by a woman. Voila!
  • Echo Burning by Lee Child – to continue the series started in July in honor of New York becoming a state.

Early Review for LibraryThing:

  • Teaching Empathy: Strategies for Building Emotional Intelligence in Today’s Children by Suzanna Hershon, PhD.