http://www.vagablogging.net/book-review-in-the-sierra-madre.html Fri, 10 Feb 2012 20:14:01 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 http://www.vagablogging.net/book-review-in-the-sierra-madre.html/comment-page-1#comment-1057 Ganado Blu Wed, 08 Nov 2006 21:14:10 +0000 http://qs1937.pair.com/users/bootlabs/vagablogging.net/_wp/book-review-in-the-sierra-madre.html#comment-1057 I saw Biggers at the Texas Book Fest recently and picked up his book. He's quite dynamic in person. He's also a terrific storyteller, breathtaking at times. I read the book in two days, and often reread some very poetic passages. The section about his family losing their old homestead, while he was abroad and living in Mexico, was one of the most poignant chapters I've read in travel writing in a long time. I think the reviewer might have missed one of In the Sierra Madre's big themes, that is: the historical role of travelers and (some travel) writers in presenting the region to the outside world (ie Treasure of the Sierra Madre), which Biggers chronicles in a fascinating and nonlinear way. He digs up some amazing characters (french poet Artaud, George S. Patton, black explorer Henry Flipper, Irish soldiers) that blew my mind. Don't see this kind of research in most travel writing these days. I also found the buildup to the drought and its impact on the region to be gripping. Perhaps I had a different reading experience than the reviewer, but Biggers' ability to weave history, memoir, stories, etc. worked well for me. I saw Biggers at the Texas Book Fest recently and picked up his book. He’s quite dynamic in person. He’s also a terrific storyteller, breathtaking at times. I read the book in two days, and often reread some very poetic passages. The section about his family losing their old homestead, while he was abroad and living in Mexico, was one of the most poignant chapters I’ve read in travel writing in a long time. I think the reviewer might have missed one of In the Sierra Madre’s big themes, that is: the historical role of travelers and (some travel) writers in presenting the region to the outside world (ie Treasure of the Sierra Madre), which Biggers chronicles in a fascinating and nonlinear way. He digs up some amazing characters (french poet Artaud, George S. Patton, black explorer Henry Flipper, Irish soldiers) that blew my mind. Don’t see this kind of research in most travel writing these days. I also found the buildup to the drought and its impact on the region to be gripping. Perhaps I had a different reading experience than the reviewer, but Biggers’ ability to weave history, memoir, stories, etc. worked well for me.

]]>