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Praised by Leonard Lopate,
NPR
Radio
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Praise
for Amazon Dream
A Travel Memoir
Published by City Lights
"The quintessential women's travel book.
There are moments in a good travel book when
the reader experiences a shock of recognition
much like the traveler does -- a cloud passes
and something buried comes to light. That Allen
understands these moments and pursues them makes
the best parts of her book very, very good."
--Tracy
Johnston, Express Books Monthly Book Supplement
"It's exhilerating to see a woman seize
the boy form and make it her own. Roberta Allen
does just that in Amazon Dream,a chronicle
of her misadventures in the Peruvian jungle.
This isn't an account of conquering or even
comprehending the exotic Other, it's about insects,
sweat, and Shipibo Indian culture, and what
right a Manhattan artist has, if any, to approach
it. Allen's uncertainties about her role aren't
big-deal confessions, just honest responses
to circumstance."
--Katherine
Dieckman, Voice Literary Supplement
"Allen is a supple, poetic writer, able
to capture a scene in a few spare words. But
more interesting than her descriptions of exotic
flora and fauna is her desire to reconcile her
experience with her dreams."
--L.A.
Reader's Monthly Book Supplement
"This book is an interesting and well written
account of a region in flux. Recommended."
--Library
Journal
"Particularly fascinating are her visits
to the isolated villages of the Shipibo peoples..."
--Publishers
Weekly
"This is no casual travelogue, but a woman's
startling visit to the Amazon...More than most,
this details the impact of cultural differences."
--The
Bookwatch
Excerpt
from Amazon Dream
A passage early on in the book after she lands
at night in the tropical town of Iquitos.
As
the taxi drives toward the center from the
airport, I feel lightheaded, intoxicated.
The hot, sweet-smelling air in the darkness
gives me the sensation of riding through a
greenhouse with my eyes closed. A piece of
rope holds the cab door in place. Moths spin
round yellow lights on the road. The lights
multiply on the outskirts of town. Dogs and
barefoot children dart in and out of shadows.
Hazy figures linger in doorways and move in
slow motion behind swirling clouds of yellow
dust. The children's laughter seems muffled.
In the soft yellow glow, the town is ephemeral,
dreamlike, faint as an old film reel.
Amazon
Dream was a Quality Paperback Book Club
Selection
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