The Romance of Elsewhere: A Half-Century of Connecting By Sea, By Air, By Rail

A boa constrictor hijacks a shoe and the author copes. This is not a travel book or an autobiography in any ordinary sense. Having visited or lived in sixty countries, the author chooses to compile moments that forced her to confront aspects of herself that routine would have left dormant. The book sparkles with solid specificities: Churchill, Merwin, Welty, Brzezinski, Ivins, the C.I.A., King Tut in storage, the Twin Towers billowing smoke, a train station bombing in Italy, a major hurricane at sea she seems often to find herself where the action is. And the action fills her with a wonder that she articulates with eloquence and wry humor. Above all, the book highlights the difference between loneliness and solitude. Embracing solitary travel, the author remains receptive in ways that trigger openness in others. The anecdotes, some brief gems, some extended stories, can be read for their surface delight, but the ironic voice behind them brings a deeper pleasure. Not all the tales are set overseas. An old boyfriend, dying, asks her to find him a gun. She happens upon the betrayal of a friend. She finds the ugliness of segregation. She escapes unwelcome attention at the Metropolitan Opera. She paddles a reed boat across the San Francisco Bay. Behind a mosaic of highly readable accounts shimmers a life lived vulnerably and richly.