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Summary: Where is the dictionary?
Review: My son and I eagerly anticipated our trip around the world via this book. We would read this book in the car, in restaurants, at the dinner table and during quiet time. We were completely engrossed in the way David Cohen was able to reach myself and to keep the interest a my 9 year old. The only problem we had was that we had to keep a dictionary on hand. I consider myself fairly knowledgeable, but found myself not being able to pronounce words and feeling guilty for never having heard of many. So from one prospective, we have learned many new words. But from another, having to stop while traveling through a rainforest in Costa Rica, to pick up a dictionary, became a nuisance at times. Thank you to Mr. Cohen for wanting to share the experience most families wish they could too could enjoy.
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Summary: great read for the whole family!!!
Review: My wife read this book to our entire family on a long drive, Our children (ages 10,7,and 5) were totally engaged and loved the stories. We did too! Light and lively -- Cohen has a winner!!!
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Summary: A Travelers' Tale
Review: One Year Off by David Elliot Cohen is the charming picaresque tale of a disenchanted yuppie who trades in his big house, the SUV and the laid-back lifestyle for a round-the-world trip with his wife and their small three children. In the course of 14 months, the family learns a great deal about the world beyond Marin County, California-and themselves. While some of Cohen's more meditative passages slow down the travelogue, his prose sparkles when he relates the joy his children find in looking at African animals or describes the enormous warmth and hospitality he and his family find in rustic Sardinia. The reader will share Cohen's concern when a child is injured and his relief over the outcome. One Year Off is a good yarn: a good read and a terrific present for any family, adventurous or stay-at-home.
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Summary: I enjoyed this book more than if I had gone with my own kids
Review: One Year Off is a wonderful read -- a hilarious romp around the world with the author and his family. What parent wouldn't relate to the picky eater, the drama princess, the baby smearing ketchup on a stranger's linen suit in France? I enjoyed this book much MORE than if I had taken my own family, since, like one of the author's friends, this venture -- at least with my four children -- would be my idea of hell. The writing is conversational yet succinct. The places and events Cohen describes are at various times amusing, terrifying, poignant. I am planning to give this book to friends for Channukah, Christmas, Kwaanza, etc. READ IT! p.s. Those reviewers who have complained that the book is "self-serving" should know from the subtitle, cover and intro that it is ABOUT a trip with family, by a man approaching a mid-life awakening. GET REAL!
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Summary: I read it twice
Review: One year off is a wonderful, easy read. I laughed out loud- a lot, and I even shed a few tears.This book isn't just a travel book, it is an engaging tale of a family that appeals to all ages. I related to it as a grandma of 5. David Elliot Cohen is a funny, realisitc, sensitive writer.
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Summary: This book was outstanding. I recommend it to all.
Review: One Year Off was sheer delight from beginning to end. David Cohen wrote with a refreshing candor, not pretending the year was perfect at all times. After the fact, he even debated whether decision to take three young children abroad under such often perilous conditions had been such a good idea. I think we would all agree that it was. He was a devoted father and husband and I think his family will never forget the experiences they had, though there were times when they probably wished they'd stayed home! I know what I shall give my friends for Christmas. This book should appeal to everyone.
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Summary: A fascinating story told with humor and warmth!
Review: Read this book whether you're planning to take a year off or just thinking about what it would be like. Cohen's family life could parallel any of ours - career, kids in school and keeping up with our lives day to day. And the story begins with all the questions we would ask ourselves if we chose to leave it all behind. The to-do list alone sounds daunting. But once Cohen and his family get going, the adventures begin. Cohen writes about their one year off with colorful detail, humor and warmth. Even in an era of CNN and the Internet, this story makes the world still feel like a great big place waiting to be discovered. Ultimately, you see that what's most interesting about a year off with one's family is the chance to pursue life together. Be prepared to want to gather up your family (or yourself), lock the door and go!
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Summary: Is this all there is?
Review: The idea behind David Cohen's One Year Off is either wildly appealling or profoundly horrifying; he and his family got rid of everything - house, cars, jobs, presumably even their dogs (something that irked me quite a bit) - packed up the husband, wife, three kids, and babysitter, and went around the world. My reaction to this endeavor was that, crazy or brilliant, it *had* to produce an interesting story. And reading One Year Off, you do get the feeling that that story is there. But Cohen doesn't tell it. What Cohen gives readers instead is email. From various points in the trip, he sent email to his friends and family back home, and after he got back he collated them into One Year Off. And while I'm sure the updates were engaging and interesting to his email list - who wants to read a chapter-long email about someone else's adventures? - they just aren't sufficient for a book. Huge gaps are left in the tale (near the end of the book, nearly six months of the year off disappear, with no email updates or interpolation from Cohen) and lots of the details that stay-at-homes would find fascinating don't appear. The chatty, superficial style of the writing is fine for email, but it leaves readers with slightly less than half a story. The book even *looks* like an insufficient essay; the hardcover edition has wide leading and kerning and big margins and font - all the Freshman English Essay Extender tricks, but in book format. Even more frustrating, Cohen doesn't appear to understand where his real story lies, in the family interactions and family experience of travel. The real hero of the book, it emerges from between the lines, is his wife, who copes heroically and competently with their adventures. (Devyani does most of the planning and takes most of the responsibility. Cohen makes most of the mistakes. When a kid gets damaged or lost, it always happens in Cohen's care. When someone has a breakdown or snaps, it's usually Cohen.) But we hear relatively little about Devyani, and not much about the kids, either. Instead, Cohen chooses to write about mostly his own reactions to fairly commonplace destinations - France, Italy, Australia - as though he were producing a Fodor's Guide instead of a travel memoir. In short, the idea of the book is fascinating, so much so that it is well worth reading, even as it is. I love the idea of someone else packing up his family and going around the world - then telling me about it so I don't have to *do* it. I just wish that a different author had had that idea, had taken this trip. The book would've been marvelous in the hands of a writer who was a more careful observer, and who was willing to write a little more.
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Summary: A great read...
Review: This book is a great read for anyone WITH children interested in traveling around the world. I *expected* to hear of a trip that included first class flights and top-notch hotels...I *appreciated* David's honesty concerning the way money was handled. I think a lot of people are turned off by the whole "rich guy taking a trip with nanny along" mainly from jealousy. We may not all be as wealthy as David, but I did not find him pretentios at all. Great idea to put it in an "emails sent home" format. Very unique. Now, if he would only put a clip of the charging hippo video on his web site!
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Summary: Wonderfully entertaining!
Review: This is certainly not your typical travel book -- thanks heavens! This is a wonderful story of a family with 3 children who incidentally take a year to make a trip around the world! Everyone can recognize their family in the well-written book! I laughed out loud so many times and read portions out loud to my family! Now all of them are reading it as well! The real test: I bought 2 copies to ship to friends! Such wonderful entertainment!
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