Off the Road : A Modern-Day Walk Down the Pilgrim's Route into Spain

Rating:
Summary: Why is this book out of print!!
Review: Having just completed the Road to Santiago myself, reading Jack's book again was refreshing and helped me recollect a lot of what I saw. He does a great job describing the life and mind of a pilgrim and the history of the road. I would reccommend this book for people interested in walking the ancient road and for those who have completed it. It captures Spanish culture and history and combines it with the humor and challenges that the Camino brings.

Rating:
Summary: A disappointment
Review: Having read a favorable review of this book in one of the Seattle papers, and having heard my wife tell of the Pilgrim's Route to Santiago de Compostela, I looked forward to reading this and was very prepared to like it. Though Hitt is clearly a writer of some talent, the narrative was rather poorly drawn and aimless. There was simply not much interesting in his story. What's worse, the Kirkus Reviewer is right: Jack Hitt does adopt a smug tone, discussing the religious aspects of the journey and the concept of "god" (with a pointedly lower-case "g") in a belittling manner at every turn. He seems to incur experience but to absorb none of it; he seems to learn nothing, because he knew everything he wanted to know when he started. In short, this is a regrettable effort.

Rating:
Summary: Wherever you go, there you are
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The author is frank, spares neither himself nor others, and his writing is often screamingly funny. His fellow pilgrims are a motley collection of rogues, jocks, fanatics, earnest believers, and clueless tourists -- but even in more pious eras, people went on pilgrimages for all sorts of reasons, few of them lofty (witness the Canterbury Tales). Hitt never manages to pin down his own motivation for making the trip, doubtless disappointing readers who expect every journey to end in a blinding flash of insight. But I found his candor refreshing: he tells it like it is and doesn't pretend to a piety he doesn't feel, even when he's momentarily overcome with emotion upon reaching his goal. Chaucer had it right: a pilgrimage is a metaphor for life itself, we're all on this road together, and, if you keep your eyes open, you'll learn that the journey IS the destination.

Rating:
Summary: I am inspired to be a pilgrim myself
Review: I'm about as "religious" as Jack Hitt, but this book piqued my interest in the North of Spain, Romanesque churches and pilgrimages. Why would I do it? Well, the same reason as the author did; historical, architectural, for the connection with the past. In the Middle Ages, it seemed that pilgrimages were a great excuse to travel and there still is a culture of the pilgrim that exists on the pigrim road. When I travel to Spain I will most assuredly travel a part of the Pilgrims Road. I won't get to see as much as Jack Hitt did but I hope I will see enough to recall his ironic humor. When my daughters are old enough I hope to travel the road with them, as pilgrims.

Rating:
Summary: I am inspired to be a pilgrim myself
Review: I'm about as "religious" as Jack Hitt, but this book piqued my interest in the North of Spain, Romanesque churches and pilgrimages. Why would I do it? Well, the same reason as the author did; historical, architectural, for the connection with the past. In the Middle Ages, it seemed that pilgrimages were a great excuse to travel and there still is a culture of the pilgrim that exists on the pigrim road. When I travel to Spain I will most assuredly travel a part of the Pilgrims Road. I won't get to see as much as Jack Hitt did but I hope I will see enough to recall his ironic humor. When my daughters are old enough I hope to travel the road with them, as pilgrims.

Rating:
Summary: Keeping it Real
Review: Jack Hitt writes with honesty and a sense of play that give his perspective a certain type of gravitas. Who is to say that a pilgrim cannot have fun? After having read Shirley MacLaine's account (complete with astral travels and hallucinations)[also available on Amazon.com], Jack Hitt is down to earth, lucid, inspiring, and a breath of fresh air. I really appreciate the self reflexivity he brings into play about being "a true pilgrim." Yes, no matter what -- we are all "tourists" really -- unless we are world travelers without a set itinerary -- pilgrimage does not fall under that rubric. Irreverent, hardly. I think we are past the days when we could excommunicate folks like Hitt for being candid, if not funny. Jack Hitt's book moves at a pace that allows readers to savor the route. I especially enjoyed Chapter 7 which is an extended exploration of the rise and fall of the Knights Templar and subsequently the various explanations of the architecture of the fortress in Ponferrada. Hitt makes me want to start my trek at least before Ponferrada if not Leon. While most books give you the travel monologue and the rest swing the other way -- with deep spiritual musings, Hitt gives it to you like a buddy but also moves along with reflections on the historical that I know will make my planned trip along the Camino richer and fuller. Undoubtedly, Hitt is a wonderful writer and Off the Road is full of interesting personal as well as historical reflections -- and when the two fuse -- it is nothing short of [cough] magical. Hitt's reflections on Romanesque architecture brings it to life and for someone like me who has seen a lot of Gothic, Baroque and Rococo -- I know this sounds crazy but I yearn to smell the animal droppings and then segue into one of these "inviting" Romanesque building as Hitt so deftly describes. A must have (if not must read) for all those considering to do the Camino.

Miguel Llora

Rating:
Summary: Good book!
Review: Jack Hitt's writing style is endlessly introspective, and so it is with no small surprise that when he set off on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, the resulting book would be full of allegory for his own personal travels.

Hitt admits this upfront, however, and the result is a book that is entertaining, but perhaps never quite as deep as he tries for.

Fans of travel accounts will laugh along as Hitt describes his initial travel problems, his incredibly zany and diverse fellow pilgrims, and a host of, well, hosts along the way that make the trip exciting and memorable.

Hitt is at his best when describing his life on the road to Santiago. It is when he tries to decipher the meaning the road holds for himself or others, he falters. Although his introspection is gently self-deprecating, it does not impress the reader any more because of this.

Hitt's book should be a, well "hit" if a person can stomach a little self-indulgence. But, hey, after all, maybe that's one of the things a pilgrimage can be?

Rating:
Summary: A road I wouldn't recommend
Review: Save this book for a very long plane ride going nowhere. Its---Ok. Yeah, Mr. Hitt is very detailed about his pilgrim's progress, yeah, he doesn't tell us why exactly he is a pilgrim---thats good---but.....I just was not impressed with this book. It wasn't a life changer. Was this journey a life changer for the author? If you are looking for a read that gives you----something----an insight, a little education, a little relief from boredom....look elsewhere. Its not entirely too clear to me why this book was written in the first place. Its as rambling as the many pilgrim roads his feet trod upon. Read it if you're a relative or a friend, but my advice would be to skip and reexamine Canterbury Tales.....again......