notes from a blue bike

I recently read Notes from a Blue Bike and after I left this review on Goodreads, my husband said to me that it was the longest review I’d ever left.

Ha!

And that’s because I’m so passionate about the subject.

But it did get me thinking and I thought I should at least publish the review here so my own readers could chat about it.

I totally believe in the concept of living intentionally and that the world is fairly chaotic if you allow it to be, so I was interested in reading this from the time I first saw it announced on the author’s blog.

I enjoyed the first couple of chapters where one chapter was focussed on her experiences in Turkey, and then the next on the USA, and then it flipped around again.

After that though, the book felt to me like it was all over the place, dipping into and out of different periods in the author’s life and I couldn’t seem to find the flow very well.

You see, the book was organised into themes – Food, Education, Travel, etc. which I have no trouble with but the chapters were almost sample chapters. I felt like I was just getting involved and interested when the chapter was over. It felt a bit like a book of short stories which always leave me feeling unfulfilled.

I also felt like the author held back too much. That might just be me being curious but I’m 100% sure I’m not the only one of the blog readers who wanted to hear more from her experiences, not just her theories.

To sum up…

1. I expected more of the simpler living/ slow lifestyle practicality (maybe because of my romantic notions of the blue bike) which was lacking except for a few pages throughout the book (maybe 5 all in all)

2. It was interesting to see how she tried to be objective but I felt like there was quite a bit of judgement coming through, especially for American families who have chosen a different way (work normal jobs, don’t want to travel that much, etc.).

3. I’ve just gone onto Amazon to check how the book was marketed…

Part memoir, part travelogue, part practical guide, Notes from a Blue Bike takes you from a hillside in Kosovo to a Turkish high-rise to the congested city of Austin to asmall town in Oregon. It chronicles schooling quandaries and dinnertime dilemmas, as well as entrepreneurial adventures and family excursions via plane, train, automobile, and blue cruiser bike.

I think the book would have worked better if it was written as it was marketed – chronologically, so that we got a sense of how her life stage was impacted by where she lived. For me, this book jumped around too much.

I would have given the book a 2.5 because the writing is good, and so I’ve given 3 stars because I can’t bring myself to give 2 because of my unmet expectations 🙂

If you’re a fan of the blog, you’ll probably enjoy the book if you go in without big expectations of the how-to achieve this intentional life.