Olga Sushinsky

This is the kind of book that’s right up my alley--a woman on a dream trip to an interesting country learning about herself and figuring out what she wants in life. Travel has had that effect on my life many times and I enjoy reading about others who have also been influenced by adventures, culture, and people. (I have a book blog with a specific list of 20+ books about travel and self-discovery--that's how much I love this subject.)

Finding Myself: A Novel is that kind of story--Becky is a young Canadian bored with her life. She has a dead-end job that has nothing to do with her passion, she has a comfortable but standard life with her husband, and she’s just sort of making it through when she’s offered the opportunity to join an archaeological dig in Israel...her dream job in her dream country. Of course, such an adventure comes with challenges--both internal and external--and, when the internship is over, Becky realizes she has some important decisions to make.

The idea is intriguing and it’s a great opportunity to learn more about ancient Israel, too.

The problem? The writing. It’s stilted; as I read some of the conversations and descriptions, I kept thinking of the old travel writing adage: “show me, don’t tell me.” The wording was unnatural and made characters seem shallow and unrealistic, which is unfortunate because the story itself has a lot of potential. Israel is also a great choice for a setting--so much interesting history--and while the author is clearly familiar with the location, her writing fails to fully bring it to life.

As mentioned, there are many other--more developed--stories about travel and self-discovery out there, but it is nice to find one set in Israel.

*I was given a version of this book for free in exchange for an honest book review.… (mehr)

Finding Yourself had amazing settings and great detail on student archaeological activities in the Middle East. The main character, Rebecca has always wanted to pursue higher education in archaeology, but instead has found herself in a dead end job married to a really nice guy. She receives a scholarship for a 3 week course in Israel and jumps at the change. While there she starts questioning her life choices and whether she should graduate education. This puts her whole life in flux and must decide which path to take. The experiences in the Middle East are very interesting, but some of the dialog is unnecessary and bogs down the pace of the book. More time developing the characters would improve the novel. Thank you to Library Thing for allowing me to read and comment on the book.… (mehr)