Voyager - by Russell Banks (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"Banks's narrative seductively juxtaposes rambles through lush volcanic mountains, white sand beaches and coral reefs with a barrage of memories of the hash he's made of his private life." --The New York Times Book Review

Russell Banks has indulged his wanderlust for more than half a century. This longing for escape has taken him from the "bright green islands and turquoise seas" of the Caribbean islands to peaks in the Himalayas, the Andes, and beyond.

In each of these remarkable essays, Banks considers his life and the world. In Everglades National Park this "perfect place to time-travel," he traces his own timeline. Recalling his trips to the Caribbean in the title essay, "Voyager," Banks dissects his relationships with the four women who would become his wives. In the Himalayas, he embarks on a different quest of self-discovery. "One climbs a mountain not to conquer it, but to be lifted like this away from the earth up into the sky," he explains.

Pensive, frank, beautiful, and engaging, Voyager brings together the social, the personal, and the historical, opening a path into the heart and soul of this revered writer.

From the Back Cover

Now in his mid-seventies, Russell Banks has indulged his wanderlust for more than half a century. The longing for escape has taken him from the "bright green islands and turquoise seas" of the Caribbean islands to peaks in the Himalayas, the Andes, and beyond.

In Voyager, Russell Banks, a lifelong explorer, shares highlights from his travels: interviewing Fidel Castro in Cuba; motoring to a hippie reunion with college friends in Chapel Hill, North Carolina; eloping to Edinburgh to marry his fourth wife, Chase; driving a sunset-orange metallic Hummer down Alaska's Seward Highway.

Pensive, frank, beautiful, and engaging, Voyager brings together the social, the personal, and the historical, opening a path into the heart and soul of this revered writer.

Review Quotes

"...[a] fine collection...Banks's narrative seductively juxtaposes rambles through lush volcanic mountains, white sand beaches and coral reefs with a barrage of memories of the hash he's made of his private life." -- New York Times Book Review

"...[an] expansive, elegiac reflection on the pleasures and deceptions of travel...[Banks'] clarity of vision and muscular prose are as transporting as a mountain ascent." -- Kirkus Reviews

"... [a] gusto-filled, retrospective anthology...Banks' warm, probing intellect guides readers on thoughtful journeys...Readers will be hard put to find a more engaging travel companion." -- Booklist

"Banks puts the literature back in travel writing in this extremely well-crafted book." -- Library Journal

"[A] moving collection of travel pieces that rise to the level of literature" -- Christian Science Monitor