Booktopia Buzz Book of the Month for December 2008.
Listen to the author being interviewed by the Booktopia Buzz Editor, Toni Whitmont, by clicking here.
Listen to Joel Stratte-McClure read an excerpt from the book by clicking here.
Booktopia Buzz Review:
American Stratte-McClure is that rare bird among writers who can write a memoir that addresses the universal without sounding pompous or self-indulgent. Here is a man who tackles the most fundamental subjects with wit and profoundity in equal measure.
In the midst of a mid-life crisis of seemingly epic proportions, Stratte-McClure, an ex-pat American living in the south of France, put on his hiking boots and strode out, in the footsteps (sort of) of his childhood hero Odysseus. In fact, serial hiker Stratte-McClure determined to walk around the Mediterranean as close to the coast (and regrettably occasionally falling off the edge of the coast) as possible. On his way he made a fine fist of walking meditation while meeting his fair share of demons and temptresses, gods and monsters.
The Idiot and the Odyssey is the result. Described as Eat Pray Love for men, it is Stratte-McLure's account of that journey carried out with determination, a sack full of Homeric quotes and Buddhist wisdom. It is entertaining, informative and inspirational.
In fact, this book is much more than Eat Pray Love for men. It is an any-body (any age, any gender, any stage of life) book and as such , I am very happy to make it my book of the month.
I was delighted to meet with Stratte-McClure when he was in Sydney recently. To listen to an interview he recorded for Booktopia Buzz, click here.
From the publisher, John Keeney:
The Idiot and the Odyssey is much more than another travel-by-foot book, as good as it is in that less-than-a-category. No doubt the avid trekker will enjoy the challenges of the walk itself. Stratte-McClure is no slouch when it comes to scaling hills and wryly recording the rigours of long walking.
But The Idiot, as I came to call it, is much more than that. As an oblique introduction to Homer's Odyssey it probably has no peer - a non-academic unfolding of Odyseean tales and quotes inspired by the trek's landscapes and personal memories. For the armchair traveller, there is a fine if random series of impressions of historical sites and architecture and accompanying anecdotes drawn from years of tramping this part of the world. And then there is the continual thread of contemplation on alcoholism, from the often hilarious recollections of boozing years to the last decades of sobriety in its fullest sense and meaning.
The counterpoint to the extremes of excessive drinking comes from a steady flow of gentle observations and quotes on Buddhism, especially the walking meditation principles of a Zen monk which the author practiced, along with those of the Dalai Lama and assorted others.
A good part of the book is solitary, bringing forth countless ruminations, some profound, others of deep amusement: the crush of divorce, the value of friends, parenthood, mortality, bankruptcy, life as an expatriate. Above all there is comfort here. We feel as though we are walking alongside the narrator in a relaxed conversation sharing insights and the delights of the trail.
Book description:
When inquisitive American journalist Joel Stratte-McClure decides to walk around the Mediterranean Sea, we’re in for an exhilarating adventure. As a 30 year expatriate in France, he explores the coast, countryside and regional cultures – as well as his own mind – with compulsive vigour. Armed with a copy of Homer’s Odyssey, he re-opens this great book for us as he ponders life, divorce, Buddhism, alcoholism, the art of trekking and a vast collection of weird, wicked, wonderful people along the way. This is a trip to get into!
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