Robyn Davidson's opens the memoir of her perilous journey across 1,700 miles of hostile Australian desert to the sea with only four camels and a dog for company with the following words: “I experienced that sinking feeling you get when you know you have conned yourself into doing something difficult and there's no going back."

Enduring sweltering heat, fending off poisonous snakes and lecherous men, chasing her camels when they get skittish and nursing them when they are injured, Davidson emerges as an extraordinarily courageous heroine driven by a love of Australia's landscape, an empathy for its indigenous people, and a willingness to cast away the trappings of her former identity. Tracks is the compelling, candid story of her odyssey of discovery and transformation.

Book found at my local street library and about to travel overseas to fulfill (hopefully!) a wishlist request. It doesn't look like I will make it to Europe this year so I might as well send my books on travels! And I hope its recipient will enjoy reading it.

Taking with me to the Falkirk Anniversary Convention, placing in my NSS for poodlesister, I hope you enjoy and thankyou for all your hard work in organising, it is much appreciated.

Thanks for the books and all the other goodies. It’s been great to see you again.

Given to earthcaroleanne to send to Yogiberri (who will read it and return it to me). Too many books to fit in my luggage!

More exceptional content in a rammed box of books. Looking forward to revisiting the Aussie out back with this one. I also see the Island of Sea Woman was included in poodlesister's goodie package - please include be on the distribution list for that one! 👍👍👍👍👍Always pays to read the whole threads! 😀😀😀 V cheeky 😲

Brought back great memories of the outback and the process of spending so much time alone. Much appreciated read. Thank you all.

Back in the box to poodlesister.

Back with me. I am looking forward to reading it.

In some ways this book felt like a much more recent account than it actually was. I think it was the author’s attitude. I found her behaviours frustrating at times (beating one of her beloved camels out of pure anger) but I really admire her bravery and chutzpah. I visited Australia in the late 90s, and did a whistle stop tour in 3 and half weeks. I remember being shocked by some of the casual and open racism I heard expressed about Aboriginal people. Robyn was the opposite of this and by the end of the book really got the connection with the land, flora and fauna. A fascinating book.

This is going into the next round of the UK non fiction Bookbox.

Taken from the non-fiction book box.

There's no doubt that this was quite a journey & certainly made for interesting reading. I don't know what impression I expected to make of Robyn but by the end I didn't feel I really understood her any better than at the onset. As her journey commenced in earnest, I realised I wasn't aware (or had forgotten!) why Robyn was under taking this desert trek in the first place…what the hell was she thinking?!!

While I admired her strength & determination to undertake this journey & found it an absorbing account, I can't say I warmed to her as a person. She seemed to have rather a mercurial temperament, one minute being reasonably sociable (by her standards at least) to suddenly becoming aggressive….& I was surprised that this attitude also applied towards her camels. Sadly, there's a lot of cruelty directed towards to the camels both in the way they are trained (I don't know…but hope…that this isn't the case some 40 years on) & the way Robyn sometimes reacted to them, for example she "…beat the living daylights" out of Bub on one occasion. I found it rather ironic that, considering how she "nose-pegged" the camels, when it came to having her ears pierced, "it had taken months to work up the courage to participate in this barbaric custom" - at least she had a choice, the camels didn't!

It wasn't just the treatment of the camels that shocked me. The racism of the majority of the whites towards the Aborigines & their culture was appalling. One thing I found in Robyn's favour was her support for the indigenous people & highlighting the injustices they have suffered.

One criticism I have is the lack of photos. Only 8 pages - & 3 of those were of clips from the film Only one picture had a caption, with the pictures of Robyn & the camels having no details - I would have particularly liked to have had the camels identified by name. I understand that Robyn wasn’t keen on being photographed but the desert scenery sounded so beautifully stark yet peppered with flora & fauna that were mystifying to me so I would've liked some pics instead of having to resort to google!

Overall, an amazing adventure into a world alien to me…. but I still don't understand why she wanted to do it! In her "Postscript" Robyn says "The motivation behind my decision was intensely personal and private" Fair enough to some extent I guess, but after taking your readers 1700 miles through the desert, you can’t expect them not to want an answer to WHY??…


Read as part of my 2024 S-I-Y Non-fiction Challenge (1/12)