Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Nostalgic for his adventurous youth, Cohen quit his job at age 40 and embarked on a year-long voyage with his wife, Devi, their eight-year-old daughter and two sons, aged seven and two. This account of their adventures consists of 23 humorous and gripping e-mails that Cohen (an editor of the coffee-table book series that includes A Day in the Life of America) sent to friends and relatives during their 1996 journey to 14 countries, including Costa Rica, Italy, Greece, France, India and Australia. Having the children along sometimes made the Cohens anxious for their safety, but watching them thrill at the sight of wild giraffes, elephants and hippos on an African safari, for example, offset their parental fears. Although the children did not share their parents' fondness for visiting museums and churches, they were delighted to live on a houseboat and see the Leaning Tower of Pisa. A trip to a Jain temple near Delhi (Devi's father is Indian) so enthralled the family that they got locked in after closing hours. Although this year-long vacation included some harrowing moments, such as when daughter Kara nearly drowned off the coast of Queensland, the author considers the rewards of this unconventional trip for himself and his family well worth any risks or inconveniences they encountered. Photos not seen by PW. Agent, Carol Mann. Author tour. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
The man who created the "Day in the Life" series now gives us a year in his lifeÄspecifically, the year he and his wife sold the house, closed shop, and took their kids around the world. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A genial and forthright record, in the form of e-mails, of a year in the life of a San Francisco family who unloaded house, jobs, and possessions to travel around the world together. Fortieth birthday malaise led Cohen (A Day in the Life of America, not reviewed, etc.) in search of the ``spirit of adventure,'' which he felt had disappeared in marriage, kids, and a suburban lifestyle. He wanted to lose the suburbs, but not the wife and children (Kara, eight years old, Willie, seven, and Lucas, two) so he and his wife, Devyani Kamdar, planned an itinerary for the whole family. It took them six months, but by late summer 1996, they were en route to Costa Rica, where rain forests and coatimundis enchanted the children, and Cohen mused on the irony of sipping margaritas in a steaming pool beneath an active volcano. They toured the Louvre in Paris, cruised the Saone River in Burgundy aboard a rented houseboat, and joined Devi's father in Sardinia, where preparing and eating meals is a team sport. Next was Rome, Tuscany, Greece, and Turkey, where the children alternately disdained and enjoyed museums and historic sites, made more palatable by their father's stories and their mother's ingenious games. The children were rewarded at animal parks in Africa (where they escaped a hippo's attack), at a camel fair in India, and at an elephant playland in Thailand. In Australia, they settled down for nearly six months, enrolling the children in school. A quick swing through Laos and Cambodia (the same week that Pol Pot was deposed) ended the trip. Back in San Francisco, Cohen weighed the rewards of the trip against the risks and the ultimate question, was it worthwhile? Yes, in terms of shared experiences and personal epiphanies, although there were drawbacks (``there is such a thing as too much family togetherness.'') Anecdotes and advice aplenty for families bent on adventure travel. Photographs were taken by the author's wife.
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