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©2004-2008 by Book Reader's Traverse. All rights reserved.
Jamaica Kincaid. National Geographic Society. Washington, D.C. 2005.Book review by Jane
This is Jamaica Kincaid’s personal account of a seed collecting trip through parts of Himalayas accompanied by three other collectors and porters. At first, I could really relate to her story, including the torment she felt leaving her home and family, especially her young teen son. Then, I felt less inclined to understand much about a trip where these four people were taken care of by native porters—all their meals cooked and their basins (of bathing water) drawn. Then, it became clear that there would be no way to traverse this kind of area without the natives, who knew the way. To get lost would have been death, and the natives could travel twice as much distance as they could. They actually confronted death on many different levels even with the help they had. There were the Maoists lurking around every type of abandoned area and holding up villages. Plus leeches that jumped up from the ground to feast on their flesh—maybe not entirely deadly, but certainly you would feel like you were dying. Then, after this realization, I fell very quickly and comfortably back into Ms. Kincaid’s conversational style.
They experienced altitude changes which brought them into climates that would allow Ms. Kincaid to find types of plants that would grow in her garden in Vermont. The other collectors gathered seeds at different levels of the climb. Of course, at the heights they climbed, they suffered some altitude sickness.
I heard of this book on National Public Radio, and I don’t recall
the show. This book is a reflective story, speaking of the feelings the
author experienced during her journey—the dangers as well as the
joys. She carefully logged in her journal the species she came into contact
with, and on this level the book would thrill a gardener or horticulturist.
She also was in the company of some competent botanists. I would like
to recommend this book to Tracey, because she has become quite a gardener.
I will have to ask her if she is up to a trip to the Himalayas—with
all she has to do!
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