Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

As a vehicle for pure entertainment, this book held my interest a good part of the time. But as true memoir, I have difficulty believing this isn't another "no, really, I swear that's what happened!" kind of story, where Oprah will soon air a condemning reveal of all that was flourished or outright fictionalized in the telling. The story vacillates from the difficult to believe to the extremely repetitive, and sometimes manages to be both at once: how many times do we need to hear big, strong men tell her how heavy her pack is? Or how pretty she is? How many grueling, life-threatening walks need to be described before we know just how brave and crazy this was? I found myself rolling my eyes on several occasions, and wanting to skim the details through many others. I adored "Eat, Pray, Love" and am a big fan of the "redemptive memoir" genre, but here I found myself liking and trusting the author's voice less and less as I read on. Finally, in my opinion, the last chapter is a total cop-out (spoiler alert - don't read further if you don't want to know how the book ends). She touches the Bridge of the Gods, and next thing we know, all her intimacy issues have been resolved, and it's 9 years into a stable marriage to a wonderful, wonderful man, wonderful kids and a wonderful life. The notion that punishing physical activity is the panacea for psychic suffering is absurd and possibly dangerous. Such a journey can be a source of strength and esteem, but being alone in one's head while ripping one's feet to bloody shreds is not a reliable path to resolving childhood abandonment and mistrust of/intimacy issues with men.