The Lost Girls

Starred review from May 3, 2010
Friends Pressner, Baggett, and Corbett were all busy climbing the corporate ladder of Manhattan media when they realized that, in their late twenties, they weren't sure they wanted the golden handcuffs of New York success. Reprioritizing, they decide on a rebellious, extreme course of action: quit their jobs, abandon their boyfriends, and take a year-long trip around the world. In this group memoir, the three take turns chronicling a journey from Peru to Kenya to Vietnam to Australia, and everywhere in between. Though they don't always get along, the three learn to rely on each other, keep their minds open and throw themselves enthusiastically after every adventure that comes their way. The three authors, all gifted writers (each has worked as a journalist), provide passionate, vivid descriptions of their far-flung travels, bolstered by thoughtful insights and genuine intentions, making this an intensely enjoyable read for fans of travel writing; their semi-improvisatory experience provides a broader look at travel than either a luxury tour or a backpacking trip would, proving especially resonant. This memoir should also be immediately relatable for any twenty-something unsure of his or her future (i.e., most of them).

April 15, 2010
After a thrilling trip to South America, Jen, Holly, and Amanda, three Manhattanites in their mid-twenties, decide to climb off the career ladder for a year to travel the world. Inspired by The Flame Trees of Thika, Jen has always longed to see Kenya, while Holly wants to study yoga in an ashram in India. Amanda has dreams of pursuing a career as a freelance travel writer, but when she takes time out from their adventures to work on articles, it grates on the nerves of Jen, who is hoping to truly immerse herself in their surroundings. Though the three encounter snafus on the wayHolly initially finds the rigors of the ashram disheartening, the girls find themselves trapped in a car with a frightening taxi driver in Vietnamthere are many rewards on the journey, most notably when the three friends organize a group of Kenyan girls to perform a play about an influential Kenyan woman. For those with similar wanderlust, Jen, Holly and Amandas lively accounts make for the ideal armchair journey.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)

April 15, 2010
Approaching 30, freelance writers Baggett, Corbett and Pressner took a year off to travel the world and live out lifelong dreams.

The memoir, alternating authors by chapter, traces their various adventures and misadventures through Brazil, Peru, Kenya, India, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, New Zealand, Australia and Panama. Their entertaining, eye-opening journey may inspire jealousy in readers, but the constant switching of authors proves rather confusing at first. In addition, the first two months of their travels—in Latin America—reads more like a college spring-break trip than a soul-searching, horizon-expanding venture into the unknown. As the book progresses, the authors find their stride as a writing team, and the narrative flows more smoothly. Unfortunately, the story becomes no more compelling, and the book ends with the platitude,"[t]he only leaps of faith you'll ever regret are the ones you don't take." Though Baggett, Corbett and Pressner experience a few dramatic revelations, particularly during their time volunteering in Kenya, their hopes and fears, their unexpected moments of enlightenment and appreciation and their encounters with the utterly bewildering do not stand out from similar experiences in other travelogues. Just as some writers take the mundane and elevate it to the level of the sublime, the stories here seem to make the outlandish, bizarre and exciting little more than mildly entertaining anecdotes. Adjusting to third-world conditions, encountering abject poverty, meeting new people, feeling awkward with unfamiliar languages and social conventions, forming unexpected friendships—these potentially fascinating experiences never take on the profound, moving quality readers may expect.

The authors learned a lot about themselves and the world during their year abroad, but they are unable to convey it in a compelling manner.

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