Blue Highways: A Journey into America by William Least Heat-Moon
Nonfiction - Travel/Memoir
2013 Hachette Audio (first published in 1982)
Read by Joe Barrett
Finished on July 20, 2019
Rating: 2/5 (Fair)
Publisher's Blurb:
Hailed as a masterpiece of American travel writing, Blue Highways is an unforgettable journey along our nation's backroads. William Least Heat-Moon set out with little more than the need to put home behind him and a sense of curiosity about "those little towns that get on the map-if they get on at all-only because some cartographer has a blank space to fill: Remote, Oregon; Simplicity, Virginia; New Freedom, Pennsylvania; New Hope, Tennessee; Why, Arizona; Whynot, Mississippi." His adventures, his discoveries, and his recollections of the extraordinary people he encountered along the way amount to a revelation of the true American experience.
Maybe I should stick to reading travel blogs. Apparently, travel essays are not for me; at least not those of Steinbeck's or Heat-Moon's. I have this book in both print and audio and having just finished almost 18 hours of listening time, I know the print edition would not have held my interest. The only reason I continued with the audio is because I really enjoyed listening to the reader. He was spot-on with all the various accents and his "performance" made the story just interesting enough to keep me listening. Meh.
It sounds like I'm safe to skip this one.
ReplyDeleteMy mom, stepdad and husband really enjoyed this one. It just wasn't for me.
DeleteThe love of my life recommended this book to me, and I read it happily (although probably because I cared more about him than the book itself, as I can’t remember much about it).
ReplyDeleteMeredith, the things we do for love! ;) I had such high hopes for this, but it just wasn't meant to be. I have one more "travel across America" type book that is a little more current, so I'll start in on it when we head out on our next road trip. The title is The Longest Road: Overland in Search of America, from Key West to the Arctic Ocean by Philip Caputo.
DeleteI'll never forget reading Blue Highways years and years ago, back when it first came out. I was wowed by how the author walked around and talked to people he met.
ReplyDeleteI feel certain it would read as dated now.
Deb, maybe that was part of my issue. It's almost 40 years old.
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