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Braver Than You Think: Around the World on the Trip of My (Mother’s) Lifetime
Newly married and established in her career as an award–winning newspaper journalist, Maggie Downs quits her job, sells her belongings, and embarks on the solo trip of a lifetime: Her mother’s.
As a child, Maggie Downs often doubted that she would ever possess the courage to visit the destinations her mother dreamed of one day seeing. “You are braver than you think,” her mother always insisted. That statement would guide her as, over the course of one year, Downs backpacked through seventeen countries―visiting all the places her mother, struck with early–onset Alzheimer’s disease, could not visit herself―encountering some of the world’s most striking locales while confronting the slow loss of her mother. Interweaving travelogue with family memories, Braver Than You Think takes the reader hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, white–water rafting on the Nile, volunteering at a monkey sanctuary in Bolivia, praying at an ashram in India, and fleeing the Arab Spring in Egypt.
By embarking on an international journey, Downs learned to make every moment count―traveling around the globe and home again, losing a parent while discovering the world. Perfect for fans of adventure memoirs like Wild and Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube, Braver Than You Think explores grief and loss with tenderness, clarity, and humor, and offers a truly incredible roadmap to coping with the unimaginable.
As a child, Maggie Downs often doubted that she would ever possess the courage to visit the destinations her mother dreamed of one day seeing. “You are braver than you think,” her mother always insisted. That statement would guide her as, over the course of one year, Downs backpacked through seventeen countries―visiting all the places her mother, struck with early–onset Alzheimer’s disease, could not visit herself―encountering some of the world’s most striking locales while confronting the slow loss of her mother. Interweaving travelogue with family memories, Braver Than You Think takes the reader hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, white–water rafting on the Nile, volunteering at a monkey sanctuary in Bolivia, praying at an ashram in India, and fleeing the Arab Spring in Egypt.
By embarking on an international journey, Downs learned to make every moment count―traveling around the globe and home again, losing a parent while discovering the world. Perfect for fans of adventure memoirs like Wild and Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube, Braver Than You Think explores grief and loss with tenderness, clarity, and humor, and offers a truly incredible roadmap to coping with the unimaginable.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published May 12, 2020
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February 23, 2020
I looked forward to reading this book. This is the author’s memoir of the trips she took, trips that she and her mother had dreamed of experiencing. Before I started the book I imagined, “Oh how splendid. I will get to be an arm-chair traveler. I hope we go to Paris, Florence, Sydney, maybe even Moscow or Budapest. Little did I know…”
Turns out that Ms. Down’s adventures were amazing. She went to places I would never have dream of going. She began in South America with a hike (not a bus ride) to Machu Picchu, and then on to Bolivia and Venezuela. Then, all on her own, she was off to Africa, South Africa, Rwanda and Uganda. Then she followed the Nile to Egypt and Jordan. India beckoned next, which led the author to Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam Nam, and Korea including the DMZ where she could see N.Korea. She stayed in hostels, and had incredible experiences with people whoever she went. She also volunteered and worked with elephants, monkeys, as well as tutoring young women. She even hiked to see the Mountain Apes in Rwanda. I’m not a brave traveler like she was, but I would love to see those families of apes.
Ms. Downs had a successful career in journalism. Why did she leave her job, and new husband to travel the world? Because of her mother. She and her mother were close, and when she was a young girl, they would both read the National Geographic from cover to cover each month and dream of all the wonderful places. Tragically, her mother suffered from early-onset Alzheimer’s for ten years. Ms. Down’s journey was in honor of her mother. She would see and experience what her mother could not.
The book is beautifully written and balanced. There is enough detail about each locale- the sights, sounds, colors, tastes…but not too much. There are flashbacks to her mother’s story- just the right amount. We learn and feel the author’s pain, worries, sorrows, joys, but are not overwhelmed. We are inspired, but not lectured to.
Ms. Down learns from her adventures. In a beautiful moment, she sees that perhaps her mother had lived a fulfilling life after all. That the journey was for herself and her future. A mesmerizing and emotional story that I highly recommend. Thanks to NetGalley and Counterpoint Books for an advance review copy. This is my honest review.
Turns out that Ms. Down’s adventures were amazing. She went to places I would never have dream of going. She began in South America with a hike (not a bus ride) to Machu Picchu, and then on to Bolivia and Venezuela. Then, all on her own, she was off to Africa, South Africa, Rwanda and Uganda. Then she followed the Nile to Egypt and Jordan. India beckoned next, which led the author to Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam Nam, and Korea including the DMZ where she could see N.Korea. She stayed in hostels, and had incredible experiences with people whoever she went. She also volunteered and worked with elephants, monkeys, as well as tutoring young women. She even hiked to see the Mountain Apes in Rwanda. I’m not a brave traveler like she was, but I would love to see those families of apes.
Ms. Downs had a successful career in journalism. Why did she leave her job, and new husband to travel the world? Because of her mother. She and her mother were close, and when she was a young girl, they would both read the National Geographic from cover to cover each month and dream of all the wonderful places. Tragically, her mother suffered from early-onset Alzheimer’s for ten years. Ms. Down’s journey was in honor of her mother. She would see and experience what her mother could not.
The book is beautifully written and balanced. There is enough detail about each locale- the sights, sounds, colors, tastes…but not too much. There are flashbacks to her mother’s story- just the right amount. We learn and feel the author’s pain, worries, sorrows, joys, but are not overwhelmed. We are inspired, but not lectured to.
Ms. Down learns from her adventures. In a beautiful moment, she sees that perhaps her mother had lived a fulfilling life after all. That the journey was for herself and her future. A mesmerizing and emotional story that I highly recommend. Thanks to NetGalley and Counterpoint Books for an advance review copy. This is my honest review.
April 4, 2020
Big five stars for this one. I loved it and wanted to slow down the pages turning but that was nearly impossible because from the moment I started it I was hooked.
Maggie Downs is 34 and very newly married - she is a newspaper journalist and begins her "braver than you think" journey by quitting her job, and selling her things to fund her trip just taking 10,000 dollars to last a year with no room for a contingency plan should things go pear shaped.
Why did she quit her job and throw herself massively out of her comfort zone?
Because of her Mother. They had a special bond and from a young age they would both snuggle on the same chair and read the National Geographic from cover to cover.
Unfortunately Maggie's mother has been suffering from onset Alzheimers from a young age and Maggie knows that her Mother will never see the places she dreamed of visiting now.
Maggie hikes the Inca trail to Machu Picchu, goes to Bolivia, South Africa, Uganda, Rwanda, Egypt, India, Thailand, Cambodia to name just a few places. A travel addict myself I loved the descriptions her agonising trek to Machu Picchu, working at a sanctuary for rescues monkeys.
She travels to some of the touristy places and to the more rural less visited spots - hard core back packing.
In Rwanda she visits Murambi one of the locations where 45,000 lost their life in the genocide and leaves you holding your breath when she learns how they were slaughtered. "If you had known me, and you had really known yourself, you would have not killed me"a message that visitors read as they see the skeletons and remains of the tragically killed.
This is a remarkable memoir of an incredibly brave lady. Even though I knew maggie must have made it to the end of the journey many times I was willing her to get through the dangerous situations she had found herself stuck in again and again.
I was so moved by the author's way of communicating with the reader and how she shared her grief of slowly losing her mother and how she deals with it mentality.
Sights, sounds, flashbacks, joyful moments, endless friendship, and worries this story had it all. Inspired beyond belief - I would highly recommend this read.
Maggie Downs is 34 and very newly married - she is a newspaper journalist and begins her "braver than you think" journey by quitting her job, and selling her things to fund her trip just taking 10,000 dollars to last a year with no room for a contingency plan should things go pear shaped.
Why did she quit her job and throw herself massively out of her comfort zone?
Because of her Mother. They had a special bond and from a young age they would both snuggle on the same chair and read the National Geographic from cover to cover.
Unfortunately Maggie's mother has been suffering from onset Alzheimers from a young age and Maggie knows that her Mother will never see the places she dreamed of visiting now.
Maggie hikes the Inca trail to Machu Picchu, goes to Bolivia, South Africa, Uganda, Rwanda, Egypt, India, Thailand, Cambodia to name just a few places. A travel addict myself I loved the descriptions her agonising trek to Machu Picchu, working at a sanctuary for rescues monkeys.
She travels to some of the touristy places and to the more rural less visited spots - hard core back packing.
In Rwanda she visits Murambi one of the locations where 45,000 lost their life in the genocide and leaves you holding your breath when she learns how they were slaughtered. "If you had known me, and you had really known yourself, you would have not killed me"a message that visitors read as they see the skeletons and remains of the tragically killed.
This is a remarkable memoir of an incredibly brave lady. Even though I knew maggie must have made it to the end of the journey many times I was willing her to get through the dangerous situations she had found herself stuck in again and again.
I was so moved by the author's way of communicating with the reader and how she shared her grief of slowly losing her mother and how she deals with it mentality.
Sights, sounds, flashbacks, joyful moments, endless friendship, and worries this story had it all. Inspired beyond belief - I would highly recommend this read.
May 13, 2020
A tour de force!
February 26, 2021
I gave up in South Africa. Let’s see. Mommy is dying, unpleasantly of the final stages of dementia. Dad is taking care of her. Our author finds this all so painful she leaves. Leaves sick mom, caregiver dad and new husband. Not so very Impressive an action but if she writes a book about those travels and declares every few paragraphs how much she loves mommy and how mommy would like to be doing the same thing , the author must really be a good person. But what is very annoying is calling dad who is usually sitting with mom, and insensitive dad shows no interest at all in her trip. Doesn’t ask any questions about it. At this point the only impressive person in the book seems to be dad. I’m with dad, uninterested in the exploits of this entitled thoroughly selfish traveler. Good bye!
March 3, 2020
Braver Than You Think: Around the World on the Trip of My (Mother’s) Lifetime by Maggie Downs is a travel memoir. Maggie is anticipating a grieving process as her mother nears the end of her life due to Alzheimer's disease. She decides to take a year of her life and travel in honor of her mother to all the places her mom had wanted to visit. Maggie is not really emotionally prepared for the hardships of travel at the beginning of the trip. There are times of joyful insight and other times of deep despair during Maggie's travels. "In the midst of chasing life, I'll have discovered I am mortal, decidedly so, and that has to be enough. I will be fragile, I will be sorrowful, I will be wounded, and I will be capable of finding pinpricks of light among the darkness."
Many times Maggie wrestled with the knowledge that her mother had to linger for ten years with this debilitating disease. I enjoyed reading about the places she visited. I was surprised that many of the areas Maggie stayed were places which had been war-torn and harbored sadness among the people, such as Rwanda. Some destinations were not a pleasure trip for sure!
I loved her descriptions of the approach at Macchu Picchu. Her experience listening to the prayers and hymns on the top of Mount Sinai was beautifully written. A touching tribute to the love she has for her mother.
Publication Date: May 12, 2020
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.
Many times Maggie wrestled with the knowledge that her mother had to linger for ten years with this debilitating disease. I enjoyed reading about the places she visited. I was surprised that many of the areas Maggie stayed were places which had been war-torn and harbored sadness among the people, such as Rwanda. Some destinations were not a pleasure trip for sure!
I loved her descriptions of the approach at Macchu Picchu. Her experience listening to the prayers and hymns on the top of Mount Sinai was beautifully written. A touching tribute to the love she has for her mother.
Publication Date: May 12, 2020
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.
May 2, 2020
I won’t be the first or last to point it out but see no way around saying it precisely: Braver Than You Think by Maggie Downs is precisely the book for right now. I have no doubt that Downs would be aggrieved when asked about having to cancel a publicity tour, to not have the opportunity to speak to people, to not have readings for reasons both professional and compassionate. No sane person would wish a sweeping illness on the planet and no one would want to not have the opportunity to promote years of work. But this book is perfect for this moment.
The book has a terrific, succinct elevator pitch premise but is based in actual tragedy and grief. Downs’ mother is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and, seeing that her mother is not only facing mortality but also losing the essence of herself, Downs takes it upon herself to complete her mother’s bucket list of travel and adventures over the course of a year.
She begins the trip with her new husband (a sky-diving instructor who she met while leaping out of a plane) on their honeymoon but must continue the journey on her own for the better part of the year while goes back to work and home.
What follows is a supremely comforting book even while Downs is battling horrific challenges. The book begins with her in Egypt during the Arab Spring. This in media res opening isn’t revisited until some two thirds into the book and her journey. Before then we accompany Downs as she battles monkeys at a sanctuary (a scene that is greatly helped by those having recently viewed Tiger King and wished that it had people in it who were, you know, likable), freezes through mountainous passes, prays in India, and wrestles with the memories of her family and the mystery of what will happen next, transitioning from being a daughter to thinking about her own new family through marriage.
Downs shines when describing the sensory details of what she is experiencing, particularly the glories of foods and the physical discomforts into which she has thrown herself while hiking, working with animals, while bone tired and cold. She travels with a “fifty-pound clown car” of a backpack. This same backpack, when cleaned in a steaming hot bath tub, turns the water “a gray dark, like a sooty tea.”
The prose is straightforward in setting scenes, clarity of place, and exactly what happens when. Downs saves the more showy writing for section ending bon mots, little bows to encapsulate the larger ideas at play in the scenario. These are effective and feel genuine in the reading, like we are learning these little truths with Downs as she is realizing them. It is easy to imagine some of them being embroidered onto something in some hipster’s home. And, I mean this sweetly, the writing doesn’t ask much of its audience in return. Downs’ prose is easy going and friendly, using figurative language only when it is precisely what fits in that moment, eschewing flowery prose to reach the widest possible audience.
When working in Rwanda, looking at the devastation wrought by the genocide, Downs is overwhelmed by the crushing grief of it, recognizing her place as an outsider and her position of powerlessness. “There is nothing I can do,” Downs writes “but let the sadness burrow inside me. What else can be done when surrounded by so many ghosts?” The phrase is apt and the pain well painted but the reader knows that all of her experiences are filtered through the coming loss of her mother. When her husband, early in the journey departs for home, Downs writes “I still miss Jason, of course. It’s the hollow situated just under my ribcage, a place of echoes and rustling leaves, but I’m starting to see how I can live with that feeling there. That ache is becoming a part of me.” The reader knows, even as protagonist Downs does not, what narrator Downs has laid out: that this book is about preparing for grief, that it has stages that do not fit neatly in acronyms.
While Downs has extraordinary adventures and bears witness to extraordinary horrors, she is careful to not present herself as any kind of savior, sidestepping the kind of issues that have plagued ecotourism and white savior complex narratives in missionary work. This is largely achieved through a very precise kind of honesty about what is driving this journey.
Braver Than You Think is divided into three sections of “Love,” “Death,” and “Life.” The procession of these in this order will aid anyone wanting to very quickly distill what the book has to say about processes of grief but the first and third section names could easily switch. It is a more complex approach, a less neat and pat approach to these ideas.
Early in the book, Downs writes “I put myself here on purpose, chasing adventure for the sake of living deliberately and passionately. This is the risk of being an active and living participant in the world. Death happens because life does.” The passage sent me scrambling, ringing some bell in my head. I saw where Thoreau wrote “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” I’ve never really cared for Thoreau. For all of his ideas, he never really left home. Downs leaves home and enacts things Thoreau could never dare to do, braver, indeed, than this bristly man.
Braver Than You Think is a document of love in the face of illness, hope when things are terminal. It is about pressing on with dreams and goals. It is about the connectedness between people around the world, about seeking for meaning and satisfaction in adventure. It is a travelogue when we can’t leave our homes. The comparisons to works like Wild and Eat, Pray, Love were perhaps inevitable but Downs has created and documented something individual and specific in its own right. It also is precisely the book for this moment.
The book has a terrific, succinct elevator pitch premise but is based in actual tragedy and grief. Downs’ mother is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and, seeing that her mother is not only facing mortality but also losing the essence of herself, Downs takes it upon herself to complete her mother’s bucket list of travel and adventures over the course of a year.
She begins the trip with her new husband (a sky-diving instructor who she met while leaping out of a plane) on their honeymoon but must continue the journey on her own for the better part of the year while goes back to work and home.
What follows is a supremely comforting book even while Downs is battling horrific challenges. The book begins with her in Egypt during the Arab Spring. This in media res opening isn’t revisited until some two thirds into the book and her journey. Before then we accompany Downs as she battles monkeys at a sanctuary (a scene that is greatly helped by those having recently viewed Tiger King and wished that it had people in it who were, you know, likable), freezes through mountainous passes, prays in India, and wrestles with the memories of her family and the mystery of what will happen next, transitioning from being a daughter to thinking about her own new family through marriage.
Downs shines when describing the sensory details of what she is experiencing, particularly the glories of foods and the physical discomforts into which she has thrown herself while hiking, working with animals, while bone tired and cold. She travels with a “fifty-pound clown car” of a backpack. This same backpack, when cleaned in a steaming hot bath tub, turns the water “a gray dark, like a sooty tea.”
The prose is straightforward in setting scenes, clarity of place, and exactly what happens when. Downs saves the more showy writing for section ending bon mots, little bows to encapsulate the larger ideas at play in the scenario. These are effective and feel genuine in the reading, like we are learning these little truths with Downs as she is realizing them. It is easy to imagine some of them being embroidered onto something in some hipster’s home. And, I mean this sweetly, the writing doesn’t ask much of its audience in return. Downs’ prose is easy going and friendly, using figurative language only when it is precisely what fits in that moment, eschewing flowery prose to reach the widest possible audience.
When working in Rwanda, looking at the devastation wrought by the genocide, Downs is overwhelmed by the crushing grief of it, recognizing her place as an outsider and her position of powerlessness. “There is nothing I can do,” Downs writes “but let the sadness burrow inside me. What else can be done when surrounded by so many ghosts?” The phrase is apt and the pain well painted but the reader knows that all of her experiences are filtered through the coming loss of her mother. When her husband, early in the journey departs for home, Downs writes “I still miss Jason, of course. It’s the hollow situated just under my ribcage, a place of echoes and rustling leaves, but I’m starting to see how I can live with that feeling there. That ache is becoming a part of me.” The reader knows, even as protagonist Downs does not, what narrator Downs has laid out: that this book is about preparing for grief, that it has stages that do not fit neatly in acronyms.
While Downs has extraordinary adventures and bears witness to extraordinary horrors, she is careful to not present herself as any kind of savior, sidestepping the kind of issues that have plagued ecotourism and white savior complex narratives in missionary work. This is largely achieved through a very precise kind of honesty about what is driving this journey.
Braver Than You Think is divided into three sections of “Love,” “Death,” and “Life.” The procession of these in this order will aid anyone wanting to very quickly distill what the book has to say about processes of grief but the first and third section names could easily switch. It is a more complex approach, a less neat and pat approach to these ideas.
Early in the book, Downs writes “I put myself here on purpose, chasing adventure for the sake of living deliberately and passionately. This is the risk of being an active and living participant in the world. Death happens because life does.” The passage sent me scrambling, ringing some bell in my head. I saw where Thoreau wrote “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” I’ve never really cared for Thoreau. For all of his ideas, he never really left home. Downs leaves home and enacts things Thoreau could never dare to do, braver, indeed, than this bristly man.
Braver Than You Think is a document of love in the face of illness, hope when things are terminal. It is about pressing on with dreams and goals. It is about the connectedness between people around the world, about seeking for meaning and satisfaction in adventure. It is a travelogue when we can’t leave our homes. The comparisons to works like Wild and Eat, Pray, Love were perhaps inevitable but Downs has created and documented something individual and specific in its own right. It also is precisely the book for this moment.
March 21, 2021
Travel memoir. A story about grief and searching. Maggie shares stories about her yearlong travel around the globe, visiting places that her dying mother wished for but never managed to see in person.
I have a hard time articulating my thoughts. I loved the writing. Stories are exciting and make it easy to live them through. The author allowed me to participate in some adventures I am sure will never live any other way than through stories like these.
However, I am struggling to understand her story. Right away, I noticed that we are very different people. We do not share the same values. Therefore it was hard for me to connect with her.
I am not going to pretend that I understand how hard it is to lose your mother to sickness that takes away every magical part of that person day after day. I am not sure how I would handle this situation, but I am certain that I would not go on a trip around the world. Do not get me wrong, I do not judge her for doing something that she needed because sometimes we need to take care of ourselves before we are ready to be part of someone else's life. But I have a problem with how she decided to do it because the majority of this trip was her limbo with tragedy. Day after day, she made decisions that threatened her life. And in none of the pages, I found her worried that these decisions might have a lasting impact on someone else in her life. She never thought about her dad’s or husband’s feelings.
I was also expecting a little more about her mother. Book promises to tell about her mother’s lifetime, but she does not share much about her life. Nor explanation why these destinations were important to both of them. Her journey felt more like jumping around the world without any plan or reason. Unfortunately, the ending was a little too cliché for me – from all places and sadness she discovered, the author ends up in India, where during meditation and yoga practice comes to a sense that life is beautiful being mundane. 🤦 This revelation comes long after she visited Rwanda…
I have a hard time articulating my thoughts. I loved the writing. Stories are exciting and make it easy to live them through. The author allowed me to participate in some adventures I am sure will never live any other way than through stories like these.
However, I am struggling to understand her story. Right away, I noticed that we are very different people. We do not share the same values. Therefore it was hard for me to connect with her.
I am not going to pretend that I understand how hard it is to lose your mother to sickness that takes away every magical part of that person day after day. I am not sure how I would handle this situation, but I am certain that I would not go on a trip around the world. Do not get me wrong, I do not judge her for doing something that she needed because sometimes we need to take care of ourselves before we are ready to be part of someone else's life. But I have a problem with how she decided to do it because the majority of this trip was her limbo with tragedy. Day after day, she made decisions that threatened her life. And in none of the pages, I found her worried that these decisions might have a lasting impact on someone else in her life. She never thought about her dad’s or husband’s feelings.
I was also expecting a little more about her mother. Book promises to tell about her mother’s lifetime, but she does not share much about her life. Nor explanation why these destinations were important to both of them. Her journey felt more like jumping around the world without any plan or reason. Unfortunately, the ending was a little too cliché for me – from all places and sadness she discovered, the author ends up in India, where during meditation and yoga practice comes to a sense that life is beautiful being mundane. 🤦 This revelation comes long after she visited Rwanda…
December 6, 2020
As Maggie runs away from grief, while her mother was going through the final stages of Alzheimer’s disease, she takes us on an adventure of a lifetime. In her beautiful voice, this memoir is both poignant and full of heart that I needed to get me through what is going on in the world.
Moving, joyful and hopeful, this was a breathtaking journey - a tour de force!
Moving, joyful and hopeful, this was a breathtaking journey - a tour de force!
November 13, 2020
Is it time for me to write a book of my own travels? This brought me back to Thailand, Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia, South Africa, Vietnam, Cambodia, and my current country of residence, Argentina. I’ll never tire of hearing one’s travel memories.
January 27, 2023
Maggie Downs' mother was slowly dying from Alzheimer's. In memory of her mother, Ms Downs took a year long backpacking trip to all the places her mother wanted to see and never did. This book resulted from the trip experiences, her mother's death and her own reach and struggle towards clarity and illumination. I'm primarily a fiction reader but this book spoke to me. I am my elderly mother's caregiver as she becomes more infirm and her memory becomes more porous. As the book wends its way towards an end and an answer of sorts, it touched me deeper and deeper. This is a wonderful book.
May 5, 2020
This book is beautiful. Part travelogue, part memoir, Braver Than You Think follows Maggie Downs as she leaves a stable job for a year of backpacking, exploring the places she and her mother used to talk about visiting when she was young. Now, Maggie's mother has been battling Alzheimer's Disease for years. She cannot stay at home safely by herself anymore, let alone travel the world to see the wonders that she would share with her daughter in National Geographic Magazines years ago.
At times, the book is mesmerizing as Maggie makes her way by bus, motorcycle, and on foot to experience life in Bolivia, Rwanda, Cambodia, Egypt, Jordan, and more. This is no resort life. She's couch surfing, hostel living, volunteering at a monkey sanctuary, dj'ing for a country music station in Africa, and laying cement to fill potholes. She is brave - to trust that the scrapes she gets into are teaching her something, and to continue to move forward despite feeling directionless.
The book is also poignant and wistful, full of memories both happy and regrettable. It is also the story of a mother/daughter relationship and what happens when that relationship changes, or worse, ends. For Maggie, her mother's dementia felt like she'd lost her mom a long time ago, but as her mother's physical health declines in addition, she reexamines their time together and questions what every child who idolizes their parent wonders: Do I make her proud?
Stunningly written, weaving between action adventure scenes, chance encounters and new friendships and connections, Maggie tells the story of her mother, her family, and what comes next. I want to sit on the floor and look at photographs with the author and her family. I want to keep hearing these stories.
At times, the book is mesmerizing as Maggie makes her way by bus, motorcycle, and on foot to experience life in Bolivia, Rwanda, Cambodia, Egypt, Jordan, and more. This is no resort life. She's couch surfing, hostel living, volunteering at a monkey sanctuary, dj'ing for a country music station in Africa, and laying cement to fill potholes. She is brave - to trust that the scrapes she gets into are teaching her something, and to continue to move forward despite feeling directionless.
The book is also poignant and wistful, full of memories both happy and regrettable. It is also the story of a mother/daughter relationship and what happens when that relationship changes, or worse, ends. For Maggie, her mother's dementia felt like she'd lost her mom a long time ago, but as her mother's physical health declines in addition, she reexamines their time together and questions what every child who idolizes their parent wonders: Do I make her proud?
Stunningly written, weaving between action adventure scenes, chance encounters and new friendships and connections, Maggie tells the story of her mother, her family, and what comes next. I want to sit on the floor and look at photographs with the author and her family. I want to keep hearing these stories.
March 8, 2020
When Maggie considered her mother lost to Alzheimers, she quit her journalist job, left the country with her brand new husband, and then continued on without him on a journey through 16 more countries. Along the way she describes all she encounters, from the people, flora, fauna and her own thoughts - colorfully, honestly and with humor. Downs is a remarkable travel writer, I loved her descriptions of places I've been as much as those I haven't yet.
Maybe if I weren't living overseas for the last four years, a continent away from my parents and siblings and their issues and losses, and feeling wracked with guilt about it, maybe then I'd be able to read this and enjoy the beauty of it more. But as it is, I'm afraid I've projected my own guilt onto Maggie, fixated not on her own adventures but rather about her sister and father who are left behind, dutifully visiting the mother slowly disintegrating in Ohio. I can't say for a fact what I would do in her place, if my mother were dying of Alzheimers, so I do feel bad judging her for taking off. But after her mother died and she wrote about that loss so searingly and eloquently I forgave her. "Though we will continue after she's gone, our family will only be the remains of something that once was. We will always yearn to be whole again." She writes with the same veracious conviction about how hard marriage can be. And I feel strongly that her final message for those worried about inheriting Alzheimers is a beautiful one, "Jason and I decided risk was a better path than regret."
Maybe if I weren't living overseas for the last four years, a continent away from my parents and siblings and their issues and losses, and feeling wracked with guilt about it, maybe then I'd be able to read this and enjoy the beauty of it more. But as it is, I'm afraid I've projected my own guilt onto Maggie, fixated not on her own adventures but rather about her sister and father who are left behind, dutifully visiting the mother slowly disintegrating in Ohio. I can't say for a fact what I would do in her place, if my mother were dying of Alzheimers, so I do feel bad judging her for taking off. But after her mother died and she wrote about that loss so searingly and eloquently I forgave her. "Though we will continue after she's gone, our family will only be the remains of something that once was. We will always yearn to be whole again." She writes with the same veracious conviction about how hard marriage can be. And I feel strongly that her final message for those worried about inheriting Alzheimers is a beautiful one, "Jason and I decided risk was a better path than regret."
April 20, 2020
I really enjoyed this book. Maggie Downs is an engaging writer, and it's a fast read that does a good job transporting you to different places. I also appreciated her own reflections on her family, mother's illness, and growing up. I have also been fortunate to engage in long-term travel and it captures the rootlessness and inspiration that comes from those experiences. However, I have two major issues to bring up. Firstly, Maggie volunteers at a number of different NGOs/non-profits during her travels. I don't know about the specific non-profits and think that it's possible volunteer ethically with rescued animals, but overwhelmingly, I want people to know that voluntourism is a dangerous practice and overall very bad. I wanted Maggie to make that clear for potential people that wanted to follow in her footsteps, but unfortunately she did not. Secondly, I've traveled to the majority of places Maggie goes and she far overstates some of the danger in some of them. I understand that this was for dramatic effect but it did rub me the wrong way. However, these minor flaws did not take away from my enjoyment of the book overall, and would recommend it for anyone interested in reading travel memoirs.
April 13, 2021
2.5
Downs’ story of her year of travel adventures in honor of her mother who is dying from early onset Alzheimer’s, works well-ish as a travel book. She decides to travel to all the places her mother wanted to visit. However, as I read I was not entirely convinced her mother would have wanted to actually go around the world couch surfing in Uruguay or caring for monkeys in Uganda.
The introspective bits read like she was enjoying the trip and then remembered she had to somehow fit her mom into the narrative.
Downs’ story of her year of travel adventures in honor of her mother who is dying from early onset Alzheimer’s, works well-ish as a travel book. She decides to travel to all the places her mother wanted to visit. However, as I read I was not entirely convinced her mother would have wanted to actually go around the world couch surfing in Uruguay or caring for monkeys in Uganda.
The introspective bits read like she was enjoying the trip and then remembered she had to somehow fit her mom into the narrative.
March 19, 2020
Wow. This starts out slow and then becomes incredible. I believe in Divine Intervention and this book certainly comes to me at a time when I am just about to experience the Alzheimer's scenario. At times I felt like I couldn't breathe. Even though I was reading the book knowing it was in the past I felt myself praying to get Maggie through. This is uplifting and eye opening. Thanks Maggie for writing this book and more for taking me on an incredible adventure through your words.
March 14, 2020
I felt like I traveled the 17 countries in a year with Maggie Downs as I read her book, Braver Than You Think. She is an outstanding story teller and can describe a setting placing you there. I laughed about her time spent with Barbara and cried about her mom as well as Stick Dog. I haven't traveled the world and appreciated her descriptions of so many places - both the good and the bad.
April 8, 2020
This book was everything I had hoped it would be after the synopsis. I was fortunate enough to have received a free copy through a goodreads giveaway. This book captivated me from the first pages. The writing is beautiful and it will hook you. I had to purposeful slow down my pace because I wanted to savor the story. I am so happy I took this in chunks (which is something I never normally do, but it just felt right with this one!) I would highly recommend this book to everyone. You will be taken on a fantastical journey to places most people only dream of going. It will make you reflect on your own life and how sometimes we have obstacles that it seems like we’ll never overcome. It will empower you. I hope you enjoy it just as much as I did!
March 16, 2020
When I read this memoir, I expected to gain insight into the author’s experience with her mother’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis and decline. The memoir does, in fact, detail that story but it also tells another story, one of travel and adventure, of grasping the meaning of life through different experiences around the world. I was very moved by the author’s ability to describe grief and the head space of the bereaved in ways that resonated with my own experience. This story includes both the universal and the personal, written in beautiful, clear prose.
October 4, 2020
I liked the book of travel, did not appreciate that she chose travel over staying near to her mom and dad and husband.
Selfish year. Seemed self motivated, not really for her mom.
Just my 2 cents. But is a good writer.
Selfish year. Seemed self motivated, not really for her mom.
Just my 2 cents. But is a good writer.
Want to read
September 17, 2022I may start doing "why I'm interested in books I don't have time to read" reviews, such as this one.
for a couple of reasons: (1) my schedule has gotten stupid this year with all of the funerals and other things and (2) my reading list is honestly 10x what this is. If I feel obligated to review a work, I'm actually less likely to pick it up, less likely to finish it, less likely to review it at all. But there's no harm, no foul in reviewing something I haven't touched simply to show interest. And that's 90% of what fellow authors are interested in with reviews: generating interest.
This is not unlike Scalzi's new books and ARCs posts. In fact, for awhile I stopped taking books from authors because I live in an NYC apartment and I'd prefer your book to not get wet and moldy on the street.
And yet.
In the long run, having already "reviewed" a book or a film will actually make me MORE likely to read it, particularly since these sorts of reviews most authors and publishers seek are not the academic reflections I prefer to do such as what I did with the Dark Knight. If I'm writing sincerely about why I want to read something, that seems to be more in line with what the general public uses to find new books they too want to read. "Ah yes, Lance is like me in X and therefore I might want to read the book he wants to read." This, in the end, sells far more books than comparing Harry Potter to Dante's Inferno, though the latter seems to help both the author and the reader become better people much faster.
ce la vie.
In that spirit, here's a non-review of a book I don't have time to read:
https://lanceschaubert.org/2022/09/16/braver-than-you-think/
for a couple of reasons: (1) my schedule has gotten stupid this year with all of the funerals and other things and (2) my reading list is honestly 10x what this is. If I feel obligated to review a work, I'm actually less likely to pick it up, less likely to finish it, less likely to review it at all. But there's no harm, no foul in reviewing something I haven't touched simply to show interest. And that's 90% of what fellow authors are interested in with reviews: generating interest.
This is not unlike Scalzi's new books and ARCs posts. In fact, for awhile I stopped taking books from authors because I live in an NYC apartment and I'd prefer your book to not get wet and moldy on the street.
And yet.
In the long run, having already "reviewed" a book or a film will actually make me MORE likely to read it, particularly since these sorts of reviews most authors and publishers seek are not the academic reflections I prefer to do such as what I did with the Dark Knight. If I'm writing sincerely about why I want to read something, that seems to be more in line with what the general public uses to find new books they too want to read. "Ah yes, Lance is like me in X and therefore I might want to read the book he wants to read." This, in the end, sells far more books than comparing Harry Potter to Dante's Inferno, though the latter seems to help both the author and the reader become better people much faster.
ce la vie.
In that spirit, here's a non-review of a book I don't have time to read:
https://lanceschaubert.org/2022/09/16/braver-than-you-think/
May 23, 2020
When Maggie's mom is diagnosed with Alzheimer's, Maggie decides to take a year and travel the world, visiting the places that had been on her mom's bucket list. This combination of travelogue/memoir is a tribute to her mother who inspired her and a moving exploration of grief as she comes to terms with the loss of her mother, even before she dies.
April 30, 2020
I received an advanced reader copy of this from NetGalley. This book reminded me a lot of the book The Yellow Envelope by Kim Dinan. It's about a woman who travels the globe, visiting all of the places her mother would visit if she could. Her mom had Alzheimers and was at the stage where she did not really remember she had a daughter. During this time of COVID-19, I have been really feeling some wanderlust and this book brought me to many places. Often the author relates some of the lessons she's learning to what is going on with her mom. It was an enjoyable read. Many of the locations she visited are not locations that would've been my first choice to visit, so I enjoyed learning about the them.
June 14, 2020
An inspirational read which made me cry, laugh and gasp as I followed Maggie on her journey around the world in the midst of losing her mother to Alzheimer's. This is a must read. It highlights the light and shade of travel and is an honest reflection on the challenges faced by a family grieving for a loved one. I'm sure it will help lots of people out there realise they are not alone and are much stronger than they think. Thanks Maggie Downs for a wonderful book.
April 25, 2020
I am so happy I won this ARC through Goodreads giveaways. I am not sure I would've read it otherwise and would have missed out on a remarkable journey. I have never had the desire to visit the places Maggie does in this book, but she writes it all so well, I felt like I was experiencing it all with her and enjoying it. I lost my grandma to Alzheimers years ago so I was also able to make that connection as well. Thank you Goodreads and Counterpoint for this ARC and thank you to Maggie Downs for sharing your story!
April 26, 2020
Backpacking the world or going through grief are both daunting. In 'Braver Than You Think' Downs lovingly, beautifully and bravely recounts how she traveled both at once.
My copy was a gift through Goodreads First Reads.
My copy was a gift through Goodreads First Reads.
June 7, 2020
Fantastic read! Maggie's journey takes you to places in the world you didn't know existed and will inspire you. The interwoven story of her mother is a powerful and moving tribute motherhood. This is a must read!
March 25, 2020
I received a free digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Downs' memoir explores her grief as her mother descends into late-stage Alzheimer's disease. Knowing her mother cannot finish her own bucket list, and that there are destinations they will not visit together as they'd hoped, she sets off on a year-long excursion that takes her to several continents. The memoir is written chronologically for the most part, but as people and places bring her mother to mind, she reflects organically on the person her mother was and their close relationship.
Many travel memoirs have a whiff of entitlement or can feel flighty, but Downs' book is weighted with more gravitas, both because of her mother's illness and in how she approached her travels. Downs traveled on a limited budget and often stopped to volunteer along the way. There is also a balance between visiting touristy locales and less-visited spots such as genocide memorials in Rwanda. Downs never shies away from sharing her negative experiences, either, whether in facing illness, danger, or grief. I found the ending a but rushed, but all in all, this a very approachable and compelling memoir and I hope to read more from Downs in the future.
Downs' memoir explores her grief as her mother descends into late-stage Alzheimer's disease. Knowing her mother cannot finish her own bucket list, and that there are destinations they will not visit together as they'd hoped, she sets off on a year-long excursion that takes her to several continents. The memoir is written chronologically for the most part, but as people and places bring her mother to mind, she reflects organically on the person her mother was and their close relationship.
Many travel memoirs have a whiff of entitlement or can feel flighty, but Downs' book is weighted with more gravitas, both because of her mother's illness and in how she approached her travels. Downs traveled on a limited budget and often stopped to volunteer along the way. There is also a balance between visiting touristy locales and less-visited spots such as genocide memorials in Rwanda. Downs never shies away from sharing her negative experiences, either, whether in facing illness, danger, or grief. I found the ending a but rushed, but all in all, this a very approachable and compelling memoir and I hope to read more from Downs in the future.
September 15, 2020
This travel memoir was an account of how the author visited 17 countries on behalf of her mother, who was facing early-onset Alzheimer's disease and impending death. The author described different travel experiences and how they were relevant to her mother, though it often felt contrived to me - firstly because many of the places she visited seemed to be borne out of personal interest rather than having any link to her mother, and secondly because the author seemed to be creating metaphors and finding meaning where there was none. It almost felt like the author was trying too hard in retrospect to justify her actions of chasing her wanderlust and leaving her ill mother behind, making me wonder if it was fair to claim that she was taking this trip on behalf of her mother. Nonetheless, I acknowledge that while I may perceive the author as being selfish, different people grieve in different ways, and I am not in the position to doubt the legitimacy of her personal lived experiences and emotions. That aside, the author had some interesting travel experiences such as doing volunteer work and praying at an ashram. Unfortunately, the duration that the author spent at each location was short, and her descriptions seemed brief and lacking in insight. I personally found "The Lost Girls: Three Friends. Four Continents. One Unconventional Detour Around the World" by Jennifer Baggett, Holly Corbett, and Amanda Pressner a more complex and honest travel memoir.
June 9, 2020
Maggie Downs writes with great honesty about facing her mother's Alzheimer's challenge. She undertakes a trip by herself that she and her mother would have taken, had it been possible. If you like travel books, you will meet people and have experiences far from the beaten track. If you like memoir, you will learn the heartaches and joys of being a solo traveler, but experiencing the wonder of it all for two people. If you like personal growth, you will find joy in the self-revelations the author experiences as she seeks to discover and understand herself. And if you like sensitive, beautiful writing that puts you on a beach or reveals a sunrise or delves into the soul, you will come to the close of this book a richer person.
January 31, 2022
I finished this book but I didn’t enjoy it. I kept reading anyway because it was fun (and gave me some hope) to travel through the pages in a time I can’t really travel IRL. The story has a lot of potential but her writing is pretty disappointing. A lot of the connections between travel + home/her mom seem forced, and I felt pretty awkward reading her honest takes on the countries she visited (like Bolivia and India) that seemed jarringly ethnocentric. All in all I don’t recommend, but it really was nice to travel in my mind (albeit through the lackluster and cliché-filled pages). The epilogue was cute though. :)
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