Mia Kankimäki blends travelogue, memoir, and biography as she recounts her enchanting travels in Japan, Kenya, and Italy while retracing the steps of ten remarkable female pioneers from history.
A thought-provoking blend of history, biography, women’s studies, and travelog, this should appeal to readers interested in any of these subjects, and those who love eclectic narrative nonfiction.
... astute, entertaining ... This insightful book will appeal to adventure enthusiasts and be an inspiration for those with an eye on hitting their stride later in life.
Though the book has a clear organizing principle, its execution feels aimless. The livelier travelogues of Tanzania and Japan clang against the more studious essays on Bird and Bly, and the author’s explanations of her subjects’ difficulties make her concluding 'night women's advice' feel thin or cloying ('be buoyant as hell'). Kankimäki’s repeated despairing that she’s unsure where she’s going with the book emphasizes the sense of disorder. However, the author engagingly maps her frustrations against those of her heroes, the 'illnesses, self-doubts, weak moments…ordinary human reality' that echo her own ... An enlightening if dense and patchwork study of the many hurdles women artists faced—and still face.
