Ffyona Campbell

By the time I managed to read this book it was quite dated. However, the experience of walking through Africa is honestly described with all the hardships of weather, disease and hostility.

What is most interesting and disturbing for me was her experience in Morocco with sexual harassment. The fact that this did not happen in all other Muslim countries in Africa is emphasized. This ehoes my own experience as a woman growing up in Muslim Arab countries. I feel safer among African men that I do among people sharing my culture. Africans have in general more respect for women than Arabs.… (mehr)

Er blijkt een superdosis doorzettingsvermogen nodig te zijn om 16.088 km te wandelen, dwars door Afrika. Spijtig genoeg komen we veel niet te weten. F.C. is ook niet echt een romanschrijfster, zodat veel persoonlijke aspecten (zoals bv. de relaties tussen de teamleden) in algemene bewoordingen worden verteld in plaats van ze te illustreren met sleutelscenes.

Zeer wisselend beeld van Afrika. F.C. is geen toeriste. Toch verliest ze uit het oog dat ze een Europeaan in Afrika is - en dat ze in Afrika is om Europese (Westerse) redenen. Om echt anders te reizen had se de hele weg haar kar moeten duwen. Maar dan had ze het niet gehaald.… (mehr)

“If I had ever stopped to think of all the places where my body hurt, damage which made the return of perfect walking impossible, it is doubtful that I would have remained confident about finishing.”

Ffyona Campbell set records in becoming the first woman to walk around the world (across the USA, Australia, Africa and Europe), and Feet of Clay chronicles her walk across Australia.

Firstly, kudos to someone who can walk across Australia/around the world.

However. That does not an author make.

Maybe I came into this with too-high expectations, but I quickly tired of the very self-centred perspective (although, there were few other people around to focus on, other than her back-up driver/gofer/motivational dude). I know that the point of the book is to tell the story of “this is how hard it is to walk this far”, but the constant suffering and inwards perspective irritated me.

One for misery memoir fans?… (mehr)