Quinn's life is so unlike mine, and that is why I read memoirs; however, a minor anachronism early on left me questioning everything. ( )

From the time I first learned this book was coming out I was psyched to read it, and not only because its hard not to be curious about a person named Carrot. I am certainly interested in the rootless ever-moving people who still ride the rails. I guess being a hobo somehow seems more romantic than being a homeless person, though I cannot say why. I am also always interested in the children of people with severe mental illness, and Carrot was raised in a remote location by a schizophrenic single mother who neglected her children, and who abused them emotionally and physically. This is of interest to me both because severe mental illness has had impact on friends and family I love and because incidence of serious mental illness is on the rise and our current policies are at best insufficient and at worst actively counter-productive when it comes to protecting the mentally ill and their families. As it turned out, the book was a very personal story that I don't think had potential for broader application. That is okay, this is Quinn's story to tell and though it was not the book I was looking for I am sure it will be of interest to many.

Regardless of what I did or did not get from the book, Quinn has had an undeniably fascinating life. It should surprise no one that she sought escape from a life of pain and hunger and nearly unimaginable deprivation any way she could and that she longed for control since she grew up having none. She sought that controlled escape through a lot of sex (which does not appear to have been particularly gratifying) through anorexia, and through the utter independence of riding the rails and getting lost in the wilderness -- she is now a distance hiker, having completed the Pacific Crest Trail more than once in addition to other walks. Quinn's new life, as a person constantly on the move in the remotest places is incredibly dangerous. It requires next level physical fitness and the ability to live with only those possessions you can carry. Quinn is a grown woman with no home, repulsive hygiene, no health insurance, little education (she is clearly very smart and better read than most people I know who have master's degrees, but she barely graduated from an "alternative" high-school and pursued no formal studies thereafter), and no profession other than writing and hiking and posting about her hikes and asking for donations. Of course now she is a published author which requires some respect for outside structure, deadlines are deadlines. I respect Quinn's rugged individualism, but my god she seems lonely, and her survival is so precarious. I feel like this is supposed to be a book about overcoming, and in some ways it is, and in many ways it is not. In the end I had respect for and interest in Quinn, but not a hint of envy for the prospect of tossing off my burdens and hitting the open road. The only way to be unburdened is to love no one (and to be loved by no one, or to be cruel to those who might love you), and that sounds awful. I am glad though that it works for her. Given her childhood this could have been a tragedy, and it most definitely is not that.

My lack of connection to this story was exacerbated by a strange rather jagged organizational structure that left me confused a great deal of the time. Quinn went back and forth in time constantly. That can be a great device if connections are drawn between what happened before and after, but I missed those connections if they existed. I thought the train riding would be a through-line for the story, but she just stopped riding trains at some point and not much was said about that. I was glad she stopped riding while she still had working limbs, lot's of people don't stop until sustaining serious injury, but I don't really know how or why that decision was reached. I also don't understand why, having made that decision, she put herself in more danger traipsing to the arctic with nothing but wool gloves and a few dollars.

I think there was a very interesting story, but Quinn's writing style did not work for me and I think her failure to effectively connect a lot of dots left this book feeling unfinished despite a very linear epilogue. ( )

audio (9-1/2 hours) nonfiction/memoir.

Riveting accounts of unimaginable adventure, jumping back and forth between the author's experiences in the 1990s growing up in food-insecure household with mother who suffers from schizophrenia, 1997 moving in with strict (stifling, by contrast) grandparents, and 2000s traveling around the country via cargo trains with occasional trips to jail and various shelters, friend's houses, etc. ( )

Reading this but wrenching memoir, I was constantly amazed by the fortitude if this young woman, but also the strength she had to constantly start over again. She writes with honesty, vulnerability and puts it all out there, no holds barred. Her life with a schizophrenic mother, she and her brother victims of abuse, starvation, homelessness and this from an early age. When finally taken in by her grandparents, she is fed, clothed but still denied the love she craves.

Drugs and alcohol are never her problem, she only wants to live the best life she can on her own terms. Her lifestyle is not one I could ever embrace, jumping trains, hitchhiking, living place to place, dumpster diving. Trying to come to terms with her past, while finding a viable future. By books end she does find some, but not all of her answers, but she lives a life and lifestyle that suits her at this time.

I should add that she can definitely write, this book draws one in and makes us see both the pain and searching her life entails. Joy too, though she may not have many material things or many of the things we take for granted, by choice at this point I think, she is rich in both friends and experiences.

ARC from book browse. ( )

A memoir of the author’s, Carrot Quinn’s, life from an underprivileged, sometimes homeless youth with a mother who suffers from being schizophrenic wrapped up in religious visions, and the consequent road to self-discovery for the author. Her journey starts with being adopted by her grandparents and then riding the rails as a train-hopper and walking or hitchhiking across the country, meeting many people including family that help her choose life paths to follow. The journeys expose her to different lifestyles and she develops different passions and identities, all of which propel the book’s momentum. For some readers may find the author’s flipping back and forth through the years disconcerting but it is essential for the unveiling of her life story and road to self-discovery, plus her coming to understand and accept her life’s journey so far. An engaging, reflective, and engrossing read that may involve self-discovery and self-reflection by the reader. ( )