Questions of Travel is a beautifully written and evocative novel by Michelle de Kretser that delves into the complexities of human connection, the search for identity, and the impact of travel on our lives.

The narrative follows two parallel storylines: Laura, an Australian woman seeking meaning through her globetrotting experiences, and Ravi, a Sri Lankan man forced to flee his homeland due to civil unrest.
De Kretser masterfully weaves these two characters' journeys, allowing readers to explore themes of displacement, belonging, and the contradictions inherent in modern travel.

As the novel unfolds, the two protagonists' paths ultimately intersect, illuminating how we navigate our ever-changing world.

Richly detailed and imbued with a deep sense of place, Questions of Travel is a thought-provoking and compelling read that will leave you pondering the true essence of travel and the human experience.

An interesting story of two very different people and their wandering.
Many thanks to Little, Brown, and Company and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

'Questions of Travel: A Novel' by Michelle de Kretser is the story of two people who travel: one voluntary, one not.

Laura Fraser is from Sydney. Ravi Mendis is from Sri Lanka. When Laura inherits money, she uses it to travel the world, eventually leading to a travel writing job. When Ravi's life takes a tragic turn, he finds himself fleeing to Australia.

The prose and structure is fine, but after 480 pages, I found nothing interesting about these characters and their story.

Laura's father left her mother when Laura was a child. When her mother died and she inherited some money, she left Australia after deciding to travel. She roamed the world going wherever whim took her, meeting friends and moving on after a time. After her money ran out, she took jobs like waitressing and house sitting but she ended up working for travel magazines, back on the road but now writing about her experiences. Her nomadic life and disastrous choice in men left her without a stable life with a house, marriage or children.

Ravi's travels are much less of a whim but are forced upon him. He is Sri Lankian. He and his family are caught up in the political battles of his country and when his family gets involved in a terrorist attack he is forced to flee for his safety. He ends up in Australia as well, but as a refugee. After doing whatever manual work he can find, a friend helps him get on at a travel magazine since he has training as a web designer. There he meets Laura.

Michelle de Kretser drew on her own life for this novel. She was born in Sri Lanka but moved to Australia with her family at fourteen. She also worked as an editor for a travel guide as both her characters did. Her work has won multiple prizes, including the Miles Franklin, which she has won three times. Other awards include the Commonwealth Writer's Prize, the Prime Minister's Literary Award and the ALS Gold Medal. In this novel, she writes about the yearning to see what is unfamiliar but also raises the question of where one belongs and the constant search for wherever that might be. Life seems to happen to these characters rather than them planning and directing their lives yet might they be as happy as those who live their lives to a plan? This novel is recommended for literary fiction readers.

Dear Publisher - I was unable to finish this book before the digital ARC expired. I appreciate the opportunity to review this title before it was published and hope you will continue to approve access to your titles! I am continually hand selling titles I have read to my customers and recommending them on Goodreads, Litsy and my personal blog.

There are two parallel stories running in this book. One story is of Laura Fraser, who was born and brought up in Sydney and the other is of Ravi Mendis, born and brought up in Sri Lanka. This book describes life and experiences of two different people. The author has beautifully described in great details the various places and times which both of these people lived.

Its a very slow novel and needs a lot of concentration and regularity in reading. This is the first novel of this kind which I have read. It took me some time to finish this. At the end I feel that there was too many details and the focus of the book was more of an artistic touch. I could not relate with either of the two characters in this book.

Travel books are a hard one to portray because the locations are often real locations and it's hard to get that right. While I don't know if this is successful there seems to be a ring of truth to the settings.

Very intriguing and well-written book, but not an easy read by any means. It's richly detailed and complex, but will appeal to those who like to read about travel and other countries.

Two characters with different life experiences and their stories are intertwined. I was slow reading and I just couldn't get into this book despite my best efforts.

I did not have a chance to read this book, but it is effecting my feedback rating. I am giving books 5 stars that I haven't read to improve my feedback rating. I am not recommending the book for my classroom or students since I have not read the book. There needs to be a better system of leaving feedback for books not read.

It was okay. I enjoyed learning about Ravi and Sri Lanka. The jabs at a Lonely Planet type publication were fun, but overall not my favorite. Like I said its okay.

If you have a neat row of Lonely Planet titles on your bookshelf – their bright blue spines and bold white lettering proclaiming exotic locations – then you ought to read Michelle de Kretser’s novel, Questions of Travel. Anyone who has sought an ‘authentic experience’, ‘immersed themselves’ in the culture of another country or thought they were ‘off the beaten track’ is likely to squirm –

“…the fraudulence of souvenirs that suggested pleasure while commemorating flight.”

“France – well, France had always been blighted by the necessary evil of the French. But if only Laura had seen Bangkok before the smog/ Hong Kong before the Chinese/ Switzerland before the Alps/ the planet before the Flood.”

The story charts the lives of two people. Laura, a Sydney-born art student – “And so, like a heroine, Laura came into an inheritance. There was only one thing to do. She set out to see the world” and Sri Lankan Ravi, who, as a child, was fascinated by geography –

“There was the matter of the Indian Ocean. These children were well acquainted with its fidgety expanse… Ravi, studying the map, saw that what he knew of existence, the reality he experienced as boundless and full of incident, had been reduced by the mapmaker to trifle.”

The ‘question of travel’ means very different things to Laura and Ravi. Laura is desperate to have ‘an experience’, yet reluctant to commit herself to anything in life. After traveling, she returns to Sydney to work for a publisher of travel guides.

“Across the world, the world-weary were waiting. Time after time, Laura would learn that she had missed the moment; to be a tourist was always to arrive too late.”

As a political refugee, Ravi’s travel is enforced and he settles in Sydney. Although Laura and Ravi’s lives intersect, the story is not built around their meeting. Instead, de Kretser examines the meaning of experience (particularly the exaggerated travel experience); displacement; identity; and the way in which technology has shrunk the world.

There’s a poetic quality to de Kretser’s writing and it’s easy to see why Questions of Travel snaffled literature awards. Although I generally prefer something less intricate, her descriptions had me re-reading and savouring the words –

“Oh, sea-invaded Sydney! The Pacific never tired of rubbing up the city, a lively blue hand slipping in to grope. It made you want to shout or sing – or swig the stars.”

“Hester’s ancient transistor still lay beside her bed. A death notice, a funeral: these were formal, they had a shape. But what was to be done with the spreading sadness of a radio in a perforated leather case.”

3/5 de Kretser’s writing is lush and her observations on travel are painfully accurate. Although the book faltered under its sheer length and repetitive structure (Laura and Ravi were beginning to get a little tiresome…) the ending, when it comes is swift and surprising.

I received my copy of Questions of Travel from the publisher, Little Brown & Company, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

I could not get into this story so did not attempt to finish.

Although I was provided an advance reader's copy of this book, I actually did not read it and therefore cannot provide feedback. Thank you.