Backpack

Tansy's mother just died and her relationship with her boyfriend is falling apart. So what is a girl to do except travel throughout Asia for the next year? While traveling, Tansy gets closer to her remaining family and friends, and she even meets a few new friends. But don't think Tansy is a backpacker -- she is adamant that is is not...until one day she finds she may be the type of person she always loathed. But is that necessarily a bad thing?This book read like a non-fiction traveling book until the end. It was interesting to see Transy grow as a character and to explore these new countries with her. But the character was very hard to like, so much so that it was hard to read. This book is recommended for anyone who wants to have a bit of traveling but can't afford the plane ticket.*3 STARS*http://bookaholic16.blogspot.com/2015/02/backpack.html

Backpack is the story of a lost British girl named Tansy. After her mother dies and she meets her long lost brother she decides to go on a backpacking trip through Asia with her boyfriend. Of course the boyfriend dumps her before the trip and she decides to go without him (in hopes that he will join or be impressed). Basically she is a big city girl who isn't interested in the backpacker lifestyle but finds herself in Asia wishing she were anywhere else. Tansy does a lot of growing and learning while on her travels.Meanwhile murders start happing all over Asia and Tansy feels they are somehow connected to her. An interesting story with a loveable leading lady.

I purchased this book with the impression that this would be a romantic comedy.After reading the first pages, I quickly realized that, in my opinion, I would certainly not qualify this as a comedy.The writing was heavy and I just did not care for it at all.

I was reminded of Backpack by Emily Barr when I saw she had recently released a new book. I bought Backpack many years ago now, a few years after its initial release (I’m thinking 2007?), so with a bit of digging through my cupboards I found the paperback copy and gave it a read.When I first saw this book, I remember thinking it was chick-lit (based on judging the book by its cover), not something I’d be interested in. But after I’d read the blurb and it talked of backpacking through Asia with a murderer following her, I took the plunge and bought the book. Once I started reading it I was so glad I did. So while it is categorised on Amazon as “Women’s Fiction”, I feel all sexes would enjoy reading this.Tansy, in the beginning of this novel, is fairly unlikeable. Her mother has just died, and she’s hard drinking / hard drugging herself to forget about it. Convinced to take some time off from her life and go travelling with her boyfriend, she books a backpacking trip through Asia. Her boyfriend pulls out at the last minute and she’s forced to travel alone.She arrives with impractical clothing and despising everyone, especially the backpackers who she believes herself to be above. Of course along the way she meets many interesting people who she begins to trust and love. As the novel progresses, news of murdered backpackers that look a lot like Tansy are showing up dead, in places she has visited. Of course she becomes less of a douche along the way, and embraces the backpacking way of life.So part mystery / suspense, part self-discovery, part comedy, this novel deftly blends all three together into a thoroughly enjoyable read. The descriptions of life on the road as a backpacker and of the places and people Tansy meets along the way are immersive, obviously written by someone who has travelled the circuit.

"Sometimes travelling alone can be murder".... Backpack by Emily Barr opens with Tansy burying her Mother, the end of a lifetime of care that frees her up to leave her job and go travelling. Young Tansy is not a likeable character as she jets off to Vietnam, her demons plague the prose - alcoholism, drug-taking...you name it. To begin with she is a hugely self-referring character, critical of others, desultory about events, and just plain angry. It is, to be frank, a huge struggle to stick with her. But stick with her you should, because she takes her readers to all kinds of wonderful places on the backpacker trail, and introduces us to the obvious places like the Khao San Road in Bangkok, and amazing Lao and the Plain Jars (and what their purpose was, nobody knows) as well as China and Tibet. So, enjoy the read as she grapples with her sense of self in exotic surroundings, as the pathos builds with a rolling backstory of the murders of young women, all of whom bare a scary resemblance to her....