Stephanie Dale

Stephanie Dale tells the story of accompanying her son on his pilgrimage from England to Jerusalem. At least her son did walk that distance; Stephanie only tried to walk from Rome to Istanbul. And she didn't even walk that whole leg as she would take a bus whenever she needed to rest. Stephanie practically describes every step of the way when she did walk including her interior dialogue about the state of her marriage. I quickly got tired of her moans about her husband's requests for sex which she thought he demanded because he was financially supporting her. Why did these two get married in the first place? That would have been the better question to ask.

I also got tired of how often she described what they ate (which seemed to be mostly chocolate and mandarins). It is true that eating local food is one of the delights of travelling but I really didn't need to know every time they stopped for a snack.

There were some worthwhile parts to the book. The journey through the countries that used to make up Yugoslavia was quite interesting and I very much envied her extended stay in Istanbul. But for every little nugget of delight there was a whole plateful of extraneous or annoying detail.… (més)

[My Pilgrim's Heart] by [[Stephanie Dale]]

This is a fascinating story of a woman's walk from Rome to Syria, a near perfect setting for exploring her gender socialization as well as her relationships with both men and women. It is intensely introspective, and is truly about the journey of her marriage, as the title clearly states: A Woman's Journey through Marriage and Other Foreign Lands. Many philosophies suggest in differing terminology, that people examine their "dark side", reclaim their "projections", etc. in regard specifically to their choice of partner. This is exactly what Ms. Dale does in her marriage. It is an amazing and courageous journey she undertakes. I LOVE this book. If you have any interest in these ideas, don't miss it! You'll never look at your partner the same way.… (més)

I received this book through LT's Early Reviewer program, and I have to confess to writing this review before finishing the book. I live in Italy and recently went to Istanbul, so this memoir of the author's walk from Rome to Istanbul with her son was very appealing to me. But I just can't seem to connect with the author. There are a few beautiful, lyrical observations set into pages of inner self exploration that are just boring and somewhat narcissistic (but I suppose that's what a memoir is). I have put the book down early on - after reading pages upon pages of the author's recent marriage and her complaints about her husband, who sounds like an old, lecherous, boring man who is a member of a religious cult, the author then describes an incident that occurs just before she and her son begin their walk. She finds a beautiful, expensive, travel backgammon set that she desperately wants to purchase, and after thinking about it, decides that she will purchase it, and she knows her husband will be pleased for her to buy something that makes her so happy. I found this moment to be the culmination of my growing confusion with the author's memoir. All of a sudden, this man who seemed so terrible, is now described as someone who sounds caring and loving. Another odd detail is that she comments on how she and her son are polite to one another, yet have no relationship. But she and her son walked the pilgrim trail, over 1000 miles, in Spain together only seven years prior to the walk of "My Pilgrim's Heart." How do you walk that long with your son and not get to know him as a person? If I can continue reading, perhaps the author's relationships will begin to make sense, but I can tell this book is going to take me months to get through. I just find the book, so far, to be too much of one woman's inner world that doesn't really make sense or keep the attention of a reader.… (més)

I received this book as an early reviewer. Had I checked it out from the library as I do most of my books, I would have either returned it unfinished or else skipped over large portions. It was not the interesting travel journal that I expected from the advance publicity. First, it is self-published, which always throws up red flags for me. The book would benefit tremendously from the touch of a good editor who would correct such mistakes as Woodrow Wilson dividing up Europe after World War II. The Australian author's son set out on a pilgrimage from Canterbury to Jerusalem. I remained unclear as to the purpose of this pilgrimage after finishing the book since neither the author nor the son appeared to be affiliated with any particular religion. Author Dale joined her son in Rome, and her complaining begins almost immediately. When her feet and other parts of her body hurt, she hops on a bus or train and waits for her son to arrive at their point of rendezvous. This seemed like a very unusual version of a pilgrimage. The book is also billed as a pilgrimage through marriage. The author had been married for less than a year to a Dutchman, who she apparently did not bother to get to know very well before she married him. (It sounded like she married him for his money.) Whether she can stand to stay married to him forms a lengthy section of the meanderings of this book. She flits back and forth between travel and marriage throughout the work. The travel sections have their interesting moments; the marriage sections do not. To save you the bother of reading the book: she divorces her husband. Skip it.… (més)