Thank you to Net Galley and the Publishing Company for this Advanced Readers Copy of A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke!

I wasn’t able to review this book before it’s publish date but now that I have read it I am giving it 4.5 stars.

The synopsis sounded amazing, and I was excited to dive into this book. That shortly changed as if felt repetitive and as if the FMC was only repeating what she was doing for a travel magazine. There was little to connect to, and I never felt connect to Aubrey. The magic system was there, but seemed as if there was no attempt to explain it.

I want to thank Netgalley & Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster for an ARC of this book.

This book is compared to Addie LaRue though I haven't read that so it was nice to just compare it to anything. This was a great debut and I enjoyed the adventures it took me on as Aubrey tried to outrun her illness. I liked the magical realism woven in and related to the need for companionship.

What would it feel like to be unable, on pain of death, to stay in one place for more than three days or return to the same location twice? Marrying inspirations from Verne and Borges with his own distinctive vision, Westerbeke’s engrossing debut offers one answer. It begins in 1885 Paris, when nine year old Aubry Tourvel is struck by excruciating pain and facial bleeding. Doctors can offer neither cure nor explanation, but Aubry and her family learn by trial and error that she risks death if she remains anywhere for more than a few days or attempts to return there again. Mrs. Tourvel spends three years on the road with her daughter until Aubry sneaks away one night, releasing her mother to return to the family home. Forced to remain constantly on the move, Aubry sharpens her natural resourcefulness, learning to hunt her own food and negotiate language barriers with help from a picture book she creates to communicate key needs. More painfully, she learns what love is like when it can only last three days and grows accustomed to leaving even the people, places and experiences she values most behind. Aubry’s unique affliction makes her an international celebrity, but one aspect of her travels is never revealed: the fact that sometimes, when faced by impassable deserts or mountains, she finds escape in the form of openings to a huge subterranean space. In what seems to be a vast underground library, she discovers scrolls of stories narrated in images and feels the limits of time as well as space break, then is able to emerge back into the world with geographical obstacles behind her. Eventually, she circumnavigates the earth five or more times. Fantastical as Aubry’s predicament surely is, the themes of Westerbeke’s novel speaks powerfully to familiar human concerns. Travelers moving through an unimaginably huge and complex world, unable to step in the same river twice, dealing with constant change and our sometimes unswayable hearts: we are Aubry Tourvel, and Aubry Tourvel is us.

DNF at 50%

I was initially interested in this book due to its comp with Addie LaRue which is possibly one of my favourite books of all time, but I think that set my expectations too high? I just couldn’t get on with how it was written, I think the idea has a lot of potential but it felt really long winded & clunky? I tried to read it several times over the last few months but it’s just unfortunately not for me.

A Short Walk Through A Wide World - Douglas Westerbeke
4⭐️

A wonderfully adventurous story! This follows Aubry Tourvel that has a “sickness” where she can’t stay in one place no longer than 3 days. She’s forced to leave her family as a child and travel the world. Along the way she gains friendships, lovers and experiences that no one else could ever dream of having.

When reading this it made me think of all those movies about traveling the world. “Around the world in 80 days” or the vibes of “the secret life of Walter Mitty” where you yearn to find your purpose in life. How would you feel if you could never settle down or be with your family? What was your purpose in life if you didn’t have one? I felt like I was right there with Aubry as she experienced Paris, India, the cold Mountains and the African jungles. It was such a fun explorative read and felt like a genuine good story! To feel her struggles and frustrations of dealing with her sickness but also the joy in experiencing the whole world with her and hearing her stories, I truly enjoyed this book! I also enjoyed the short chapters which made this a very fast paced book but not fast to where it feels like it’s rushed. If you’re looking for a good adventure and palate cleanser type book then I’d highly recommend this one!

Aubry Tourvel is nine years old when she sits down to dinner and starts bleeding. It doesn't take long for her family to realize that the cure is travel: she cannot stay in one place more than a few days and she cannot go back to anywhere she's already been. What follows is a story both exciting and heartbreaking, as Aubry wanders the world on foot, reckoning with the choices she has made and the choices she cannot make.

Aubry is a fascinating character who matures but never loses the stubbornness that defined her as a child. Her adventures around the world push the boundaries of belief, but there is a magical realism vibe to this book (that otherwise reads as historical fiction) that makes everything work well. The ending left me with too many questions, though. I might need another read-through to catch any explanatory details I missed.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the Advance Reading Copy!

I read about a quarter of this book before stopping. It did not hold my interest, and there are too many good books out there to discover.

This epic adventure kept me interested but I’ll admit I was confused at times. I thought Aubrey was a wonderful strong female protagonist and I had empathy for her impossible situation. The jumping around in the story was hard to follow, though, and the fantastical elements never made sense in the end. Overall I’m glad I finished it but don’t know that I’d recommend it widely to my audience.

Douglas Westerbeke had not been on my radar before this book, but he definitely is now. I'm going to have to check out all of his other works as this was a whimsical and thought provoking ride.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review.

This felt more like a long and winded introduction that barely moved. The initial character and background building did not do much besides bog down the story.

A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglass Westerbeke. Pub Date: April 2, 2024. Rating: 2 stars. When this book was blurbed to be like The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue I was all in. I absolutely adored that novel and so I had to see what this one was all about. Unfortunately I did not see the similarities in the stories and the main characters are polar opposites. I felt this story dragged, the main character Aubrey took a LONG and WINDING walk that was way too long. It became repetitive and I felt the story was going nowhere but somewhere at the same time. I lost interest pretty fast with this one. This was a miss for me. Thanks to #netgalley and #avidreaderpress for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

A travelogue with speculative elements- at times mesmerizing, at times gritty. There's unexplained magic, and some unanswered questions even after the last page. There's also loneliness, vivid description, and well-thought out details that make the world jump right off the page! Aubrey is a fascinating main character, but please don't forget to check out the trigger warnings before venturing on her round the world adventure!

A very interesting premise, but the pacing was off and the story became very repetitive. Just an “okay” read for me.

Paris, 1885: Aubry Tourvel, a spoiled and stubborn nine-year-old girl, comes across a wooden puzzle ball on her walk home from school. She tosses it over the fence, only to find it in her backpack that evening. Days later, at the family dinner table, she starts to bleed to death. When medical treatment only makes her worse, she flees to the outskirts of the city, where she realizes that it is this very act of movement that keeps her alive. So begins her lifelong journey on the run from her condition, which won’t allow her to stay anywhere for longer than a few days—nor return to a place where she’s already been. Aubry's sickness separates her from her family and prevents her from forming lasting relationships.

Aubry's travels take her through a world that may be different from others, and she becomes desperate to share her life with others. She can't stay in one place for more than a few days, so she makes herself comfortable wherever she goes and learns to depend on herself.

This was an interesting story, but one that didn't seem to connect to me as personally as I had hoped. Though well-written, it's not a story that i would strongly recommend to others or feel the need to return to, myself.

My thanks to Netgalley and Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster for the Advanced Reader Copy. All opinions are my own.

This is the kind of book that does sort of remind me of Addie La Rue, which a lot of folks have said, though I think Addie La Rue is a bit more compelling. This book is maybe a little long in the middle, but starts to get good in the end. I feel like this book is one that sort of makes you appreciate your own life journey, cherish even your short-lived but impactful relationships, makes you want to read every book, and travel the world.

LOVED LOVED LOVED - possibly my favorite title of the year. I'm definitely going to purchase it for myself in hardcover, 1st edition - it's that good. Time travel at its best. LOVE IT!

As someone with a chronic illness, I often tend to be very critical of books that depict disability, and unfortunately this one didn't work for me. It was much weirder than I anticipated, yet still somehow kept me engaged. But ultimately there were too many unanswered questions and because of that, which is my biggest issue, nothing felt plausible or adequately explained. I ended up DNFing this one about halfway through because I no longer felt invested enough to see it through.

The premise intrigued me, and as a fan of magical realism, I was excited to dive into this book. Unfortunately, it didn’t meet my expectations.

Positives:
* Reminiscent of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
* The exploration of the impact of never having lasting relationships was fascinating
* Stunning cover art
* Libraries
* Exotic locations and epic adventures

Negatives:
* Confusing and tedious plot
* Very slow pacing
* Contains several trigger warnings, including animal abuse and significant violence
* Lack of clear explanations about what was happening and why
* Read more like violent horror than magical realism

I was initially drawn to the book due to its comparison to Addie LaRue, a book I thoroughly enjoyed. However, this story didn’t resonate with me as I had hoped. That said, just because it didn’t engage me doesn’t mean you won’t love it. The majority of reviews on Goodreads are 4 stars, with an overall rating of 3.57. If you’re intrigued, give it a read—I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Thank you @netgalley and Avid Reader Press for an eARC of this book, which I have read and reviewed honestly and voluntarily.