The Same River Twice

September 1, 2020
Travel writer Mandel tells a mesmerizing tale of youth adrift and the ways she used travel to find meaning in the world. A bookish yet ambitionless teen, Mandel is shipped off with a youth group to Israel by parents too caught up in their own problems to care much about her. Enjoying the hard work on a kibbutz, she chooses to stay, feeling there's nothing to return to in California. She takes up with Alistair, a British boy who unleashes his anger on her both verbally and physically. Substituting travel for purpose, they make their way through Europe and Asia by train, hitchhiking, and walking, taking on odd jobs for money. Navigating dangerous situations, Cold War-era political turmoil, and sickness, they rarely have a plan and are fortunate to receive help from numerous kind strangers. Mandel is adept at describing her surroundings, really putting readers right there with her. She also excels at capturing teenage turmoil and the feeling of being a secondary character in your own story. Memoir and travelogue readers will devour this.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)