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Summary: An independent woman looks at her life through travel
Review: Without Reservations is a delightful tale of a mid-age woman rediscovering her life. Alice Steinbach is for the first time in many years a truly "independent woman," without the constraints of young children to take care of, a job that tethers her to an office, and other habits that define many of us. Steinbach writes about her months in Europe and her journey into independence through Paris, Oxford, London, and Italy. Through her trip she meets a young girl getting married, women who she befriends, and a man she shares Paris with. Through these friends she writes about what it means to find herself again. Steinbach has many attention-grabbing insights into what it means to be an independent woman who chooses to look at her life through travel.
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Summary: Did Not Want This Book To End
Review: I enjoyed this book so much because I have been to most of the places she travels and I am probably about her age so I could empathize with her reasons for going. Everyone I have loaned this book to has also liked it. I did not find this book dry or slow as some of the reviewers mentioned.
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Summary: a charming book about midlife adventures
Review: I picked this book up on a whim with no preconceptions about it and loved it. After journeying with Steinbach to Paris, Oxford, and Italy, I know I will be giving this book to many other women. I enjoyed Steinbach's descriptions of each place and her internal experiences. I only wish her sections on England and Italy were as detailed as her long section about Paris. I wanted more. I understand she is writing another book and I'll be sure to read it.
After reading some of the negative reviews, I wonder if Steinbach might appeal more to women of a certain age who can relate to the changes of midlife. That's who I will be buying the book for.
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Summary: Should have read the reviews
Review: I agree with most of the online reviews....I picked up this book looking for some really interesting characters with wry humor sprinkled about each encounter...instead it is a rather dry book with sparse "can't put this down" fascination. Ms. Steinbach could do more if she put down the humorous internal conversations that I know she had while traveling abroad...she just didn't write them down. If you are looking for a good coffee-house book to read DON'T pick this one....pick GOOD IN BED, any of BILL BRYSON'S books....or anything else that you thought you would wait to read!!
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Summary: Helped me sleep
Review: I have to admit that I did not get very far in this book before realizing that I had 42 other books on my shelf to read and I had no obligation to finish this rather uninteresting journal. So, my review is only to let you know, as an avid reader, that I put this down after about 50 pages. I finally realized that I just didn't care about the author or her travels. She seemed contradictory at times and confused others. To me, this seemed to bewritten as a personal read for the author herself.
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Summary: Good Read
Review: This is an entertaining travel diary focused on exploration of being alone. In the book the author describes her travels and people she meets with detail that is important to her as a woman, a mother, a traveler. She doesn't give the reader any profound thoughts or philosophies on life - just a journey through a portion of her life. This is an easy read that might lead you to pondering your life.
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Summary: more pleasant village stroll than whirlwind European tour
Review: This travel memoir got off to a slow start -- it lacked the quirkiness & unexpected that I like in travel writing --food was "delicious", bells "tinkled." I felt like the writing was dry, predictable. Rather than experiencing the immediacy of her surroundings, Steinbach allowed them to send her back into the past, where she wallowed in memories of her ex-husband, her Scottish grandmother, her "former" life. About halfway through the book, about the time Steinbach hit the Imperial War Museum in London (one of my favorites) I became more engaged in Steinbach's journey. Although Steinbach is independent, she recognizes the importance of other people in her life. The most noteworthy aspect of the trip is how Steinbach manages to hook up with locals and fellow travelers --men and women of varied ages and backgrounds -- and describes them & their shared experiences in delightful detail (like the larger-than-life Australian psychoanalyst that she meets at the Freud museum, whose application of red-red lipstick only approximates the shape of her mouth, and the tweeded "spinster" who accompanies Steinbach on a lemon curd shopping expedition in the Cotswolds). Steinbach also strikes up a charming friendship with a Japanese businessman -- which keeps the reader guessing. This is more of a pleasant, reflective memoir than a traditional travel book. It doesn't detail many laugh-out-loud experiences, but it will make you smile.
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Summary: Thoughtful and Well Written
Review: For people who are expecting a series of essays on the culture of small towns and cities in Europe, this book will be a disappointment. This is more a travelogue of someone's self; Alice Steinbach's journeys are more inward than outward. That said, she writes about travelling alone, dealing with the passage of time and thinking about her past and present relationships in clear, engaging prose. I read this book on a long train ride, which might be the ideal conditions for reading Without Reservations. I thought it was a real pleasure to read.
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Summary: great appeal to the right category of reader
Review: for those who travel alone, who are independent and of a certain age, this book rings constant bells of familiarity and pleasure. It is for those who have never traveled in this way and also for those who do. I recommend this highly.
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Summary: My reservations
Review: This book is all sell - great bookjacket, good idea, poor execution and the author doesn't even seem to know it. She is a fine prose writer from a technical standpoint, but has so little wisdom or insight into her own life, such a case of a somewhat developed intellect over soul. Flimsey and shallow, don't waste your time. Steinbach just isn't interesting enough to travel with if you're over 15.
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