Voyager: Travel Writings

Having studied with Russell Banks and read most of his fiction, I was happy to come upon this collection of travel essays. I suspect that some people will be put off by the long first entry in the book, a recounting of a trip he took in the Caribbean with the woman who would become his fourth wife, in which he shares with her–and the reader–the sad history of his previous marriages. Meanwhile, they hop from island to island and the story gets bleaker and bleaker. But for the reader who perseveres, the second half of the book is less self-indulgent, filled with adventures around the world, including a Himalayan trek when Banks was already in his 70s.

See my full review here.