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BOOK REVIEWS
Inside The Belly Of An Elephant Todd Lawson 2023 ISBN 978-1-7716057-5-5
Inside The Belly Of An
Elephant is much more than just a motorcycle travelogue , it ’ s a story of life and the resilience so often required to navigate it .
Tood Lawson tells of family life , the early days when trying to make a go during the hardest of times , disaster strikes and through it all comes adversity that leads to adventure , bringing discoveries of the new , and things that challenge conceptions .
Inside The Belly Of An Elephant takes the reader around the world yet more importantly takes one on an expedition of discovery of their surroundings , the lives of those around them , and more importantly a discovery of oneself .
Wonderfully written , Inside The Belly Of An Elephant takes the reader rushing headlong into adventure then pulls you back to reflect on what has just occurred and ask yourself “ how would you deal with it ?”. You ’ ll be left laughing , crying , wondering and the whole time you will want more .
Lawson has an important story to tell , and he ’ s managed to tell it with a level of grace and humility that leaves the reader wanting more , Inside The Belly Of An
Elephant is a read that should be added to everyone ’ s list .
Tarifa-North Cape Arthur van der Lee 2022 ISBN 979-88548495-3-1
Reading like a blog entry , Tarifa- North Cape is the tale of Arthur van der Lee riding through Europe to the most northern parts of Scandinavia .
There ’ s little doubt that the adventure was there , van der Lee made sure he wild camped as much as could , a chance to meet like minded people , yet repeating like Groundhog Day , Tarifa-North
Cape seems to become bogged in a repetitive mire of waking late , riding a few hundred kilometres , drinking beer , eating sausage , going to bed … repeat .
The narrative becomes a little draining and although interspersed with observations of locale and community often these are viewed as negative and comes across at times as being extremely judgemental perhaps even bigoted .
Tarifa-North Cape is a journey that could offer so much more , an adventure into the unknown , the seldom explore tracks away from the usual , the chance meetings with storekeepers who for the most part seem to be migrants from far away lands … what is their story ? Why are they here ? When did they come ? We ’ ll never know , we ’ d like van der Lee to explore this further .
In Tarif-North Cape van der Lee has written his thoughts as it occurred yet has fallen foul of the self-publishing trap , a slight rework would provide so much more .
TRAVERSE 231