Middle East Media and Book Reviews Online Volume 1, Issue 1 | Page 45

2/2/2016

Middle East Media and Book Reviews Online

“You won’t change the East, but the East will change you” (p. 12). It is this awareness of a metamorphosed self which consolidates the author's
presence and gains her the trust and compassion of the cultural other; thus helping unleash that “gigantic reservoir of good will” that the editor
refers to in the book’s Preface (p. xx). In fact, the uniqueness of Ida Staudt’s travel experience can be attributed to this unmitigated feeling of
complete surrender to the natural state of being, to one’s true nature unhindered by hubris or repression, which proves crucial in making of the
memoir such a commanding, first-rate travelogue.

Middle East Media and Book Reviews Online

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