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Title: One Year Off: Leaving It All Behind for a Round-the-World Journey with Our Children by David Elliot Cohen, Devyani Kamdar ISBN: 1-885211-65-1 Publisher: Travelers' Tales Inc Pub. Date: 09 June, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.28 (53 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: TERRIFIC book!
Comment: What a fun book! Great reading for anyone who has ever yearned to pick up and go--you can live vicariously through these people who actually did it! In doing what most of us would be too terrified to do--giving up all material possessions, the Cohen family takes that huge leap and dares to live their dream.
Lighthearted and fun, this book takes you along on their travels across the world with their three young children. (Can't agree with the main review that they endangered their children on the way--any parent knows that accidents will happen anywhere.)
The book is casually written, following their adventures in letter format. If you are looking for serious cultural or travel info, this probably isn't the book for you. But if you want to curl up on the couch for a fun read, this is a great choice! I wish their trip had never ended, so I could have kept on reading their story.
Rating: 3
Summary: Is this all there is?
Comment: 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.
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent Lessons for Life!
Comment: I read this book years ago and continue to share it with friends and family members. It is a lovely mix of family stories and world travel. I particularly like the lessons it teaches us about how important life is. We only go around once so we better make it good.
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Title: Adventuring With Children: An Inspirational Guide to World Travel and the Outdoors (Avalon House Travel Series) by Nan Jeffrey ISBN: 0962756245 Publisher: Avalon House Pub Pub. Date: 01 October, 1995 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Exotic Travel Destinations for Families by Jennifer M. Nichols, Bill Nichols ISBN: 1891661361 Publisher: Santa Monica Pr Pub. Date: 01 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Family Travel: The Farther You Go, the Closer You Get (Travelers' Tales Guides) by Laura Manske ISBN: 1885211333 Publisher: Travelers' Tales Inc Pub. Date: August, 1999 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Gutsy Mamas: Travel Tips and Wisdom for Mothers on the Road by Marybeth Bond, Spong ISBN: 1885211201 Publisher: Travelers' Tales Inc Pub. Date: December, 1997 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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Title: Take Your Kids to Europe, 6th: How to Travel Safely (and Sanely) in Europe with Your Children by Cynthia Harriman ISBN: 076272790X Publisher: Globe Pequot Pr Pub. Date: 01 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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