I was all-in for this book! A fantastical story that's not deeply paranormal but also not really magical realism-- something maybe like [book:Eternal Life|40180023] or [book:How to Stop Time|45152372]-- and compared in the promo to [book:The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue|50623864]: this sounds perfect!

The book is interesting, but I ended up feeling a bit let-down. The main character and her situation are engaging, but her affliction is never really explained-- what is presented as a (perhaps magical) medical or physical condition switches quickly, later in the book, to something that is sentient and perhaps malevolent. The reason for this change isn't clear; either way could have been made to work for the story, but not both.

There is an additional never-explained element, a magical library that the explorer tumbles in and out of. Entrances are found all over the world, and rules of her curse do not apply while she's there. It's not clear how this place is linked to her affliction, and is eventually revealed-- very, *very* late in the book-- <spoiler>to contain some kind of time-travel phenomenon, although she always comes out into the regular world in chronological order</spoiler>.

The story is told out of order, as the character tells chunks of her previous travels, also out of order, to people she meets. I quickly gave up trying to keep track of the thread. This works, to some extent, as the character herself struggles in the later chapters/her later years to remember which person she met where and on which journey.

If approach this book with better-managed expectations, it's a good read. It was overhyped, which didn't help my experience.

eBook from NetGalley.

I understand why the publishing team have billed this as The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue meets Life of Pi because reading this 💯gave me deja vu. Some moments also brought some Interstellar (movie) vibes.

Aubrey Tourvel, our protagonist, is on the run from a mysterious ailment that forces her to keep moving, preventing her from staying in one place for more than a few days or revisiting a place she’s already been--unless she wants to die a bloody gruesome death.

Understandably, she does not want to die a horrifying death. Therefore, lasting relationships, as you can imagine, are fleeting, hence the similar predicament to Addie in the short-lived relationship department.

While this book may feel very V.E. Schwab-inspired in theme and genre (magical realism-fantasy), as well as Aubrey being French like Addie, (luckily, she doesn't have seven freckles on her face that resemble a constellation of stars), I feel ASWTAWW carves its own path, via a unique plot, and completely distinct globetrotting escapades. As a reader and travel lover, I satisfied my wanderlust through Aubrey Tourvel’s eyes and it was a lush, sensory, vivid experience. This guy sure can write lovely prose. Not too ornamental for my tastes either, which I appreciated.

I always find it interesting when a male author writes an FMC and whether they can make the character authentic. IMO, Westerbeke did a decent job, and I appreciate the agency and empowerment he instilled in her. He effectively portrayed her as a strong-willed, resourceful, resilient and determined female character and she even has a sense of humour! Additionally, the romantic scenes were surprisingly tasteful and skillfully written. Consider me pleasantly surprised.

For animal lovers, there are some trigger warnings to be mindful of. Aubrey must hunt to survive, so bear that in mind, mostly minor and non-explicit. The one scene I found gratuitous was around 45% through, location 2060, so you may want to avoid that one.

If I had one area I wanted to see more of, it was the backstory of Aubrey’s sickness. It was kinda vague, I would’ve preferred more detail and to learn more about the why.

The ending went in a direction I didn’t expect, and I’m still trying to figure out if I was satisfied. It did surprise me though, so I guess that’s a good thing.

Overall, I thought this sweeping adventure was heart-wrenching, poignant, thought-provoking and joyful, highlighting the importance of human connection and the tenacity of the human spirit. If you’re an Addie La Rue fan and have an insatiable hunger for travel, you'll probably really enjoy this, just like I did.

My heartfelt thanks to NetGalley, Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster and debut author Douglas Westerbeke for the opportunity to read this work in exchange for an honest review.

This one was beautifully heartbreaking and also gave me all of the feels.

It's one I won't soon forget. Aubry will stay with me and hold a place in my heart forever.

This unique novel is so beautiful and is such an interesting idea. I loved the synopsis so much that I was very pumped up to read it and I was not disappointed. It delivered and was so impactful of this woman's life journey to keep herself alive by continuously moving.

I was hooked from the first sentence. The description from the publisher likening it to Addie LaRue and Life of Pi is apt. But this book is also very different from those. It takes on philosophy, illness, time. What it means to live and what a life is worth. Aubry Tourvel develops an illness at nine years old which makes her unable stay anywhere for more than a few days, and yet she manages to find love, over and over, and to lose it over and over. She manages both to be surprised and to expect the kindness of strangers. To both marvel at and take for granted the magic she finds. To expect grief and to be floored by it, over and over and over again.

This book has affected me in a way that few books have. (The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is another.) Aubry will stay with. I will want to read her story again.

A Short Walk Through a Wide World is an unusual fantasy novel. I typically read thrillers, with the occasional romance, fantasy, or women's fiction novel added to round out my reading list, but few have been as unique as this book. When the invitation to review A Short Walk Through a Wide World arrived in my mailbox, I was ready for a break from murder and mayhem, and the premise sounded interesting, so I agreed. The story took me to fantastical places I've never read before, and I rooted for Aubry, the wandering protagonist, on every page. I wanted her to find the cure for her horrible illness and hoped for a resolution by the end of the book. I like endings tied up in a tight bow, but that didn't happen with this novel. I'm not sure if there's a book two, or series in progress, but I suppose we'll see. Overall, this debut novel is well written and original, and I wish the author the best.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon Schuster's Avid Reader Press for providing an ARC to read and review.

“Magical realism” is a genre that gets thrown about a lot, and I feel that description would fall short. The plot is that a girl in pre-war Paris has an encounter with a magical wooden ball that causes her to develop a condition where she cannot stay in the same place for more than a couple days without bleeding extensively. She has to stay on the move for the rest of her life or else she will die. This becomes something of an allegory for many things, although you’re not always sure what. Occasionally, it felt a little like a personal allegory, but for the most part it did not veer into that cesspool that the Alchemist started, and for that I’m very thankful.

In fact, for the most part, this story was quite engaging. The pages flew by, as Aubry traveled from place to place and encountered all kinds of people, some of whom try to rescue her, a few of whom try to kill her, but most of whom are merely baffled and intrigued. It’s a wide, wonderful world, and a mystery begins to develop halfway through, a place that is interconnected to the whole globe but that appears to have nothing to do with the magic ball. I won’t describe the place because I feel that would be telling too much, but it is enthralling to explore.

I waffled a lot on whether to rate this with three stars or four. It’s too bad because there’s a lot of things to like and even love about this book, a lot of things the author does really well. The plot line is simple and yet intriguing, and they explore every interesting nuance of the premise. There is also a very free and easy way that they transition into scenes and moods that is nothing short of sublime. I really got into the aesthetic. There are some beautiful, grand passages.

And I love the profound, brooding passages. The only trouble with them is that occasionally a passage that was meant to be profound comes off as silly to me. But I don’t let that ruin the whole thing for me, that I could live with, that I understand: when you go for profound, you’re either going to hit it out of the park or slam it into the dirt.

No, there was really only one thing that really kept this from doing it for me. It’s that the protagonist is lacking depth.

At first I was carried by her charm, being a strong woman with a spear from Paris, traveling the world, seeing all kinds of things, having all manners of experiences…

But as time goes on, she, well…I just don’t see much of a character progression. It’s like she is all smoke and mirrors, a character built up larger than life because of her mystique and delicious name (Aubry Tourvel). The book itself plays on this theme for a chapter or two, exploring that truth: that people can seem like more than they are simply because they are exotic and unknown. The fact that the book calls out this theme and explores it a bit does it credit and helped redeem that problem.

And yet at the end of the day, I think I read more for character revealing and progression than anything else. And a book all about one character just isn’t great if that one character isn’t great. Without that…it just can’t hold up its own weight. For me, at least.

Do I regret reading this? No. But I’m not sure if I would seek it out again. Maybe, maybe…it was a cozy read, perhaps good for those days when I simply want a retreat from my own problem-infested world, into adventure and wonder. I’ll certainly pay attention if this author publishes again.

So that’s that. Neither a ringing endorsement or a “run for the hills!” A decently good book. Probably would work well for many other readers, particularly ones who are drawn to wonder, travel, and magic and who appreciate deep ponderings. Not so much for those who want highly psychological character dives or who are just looking for nonstop action. I have a feeling it will do well with YA as well.

I received an ARC copy of this from NetGalley. I don’t think it has materially affected my review.

"A Short Walk Through a Wide World" by Douglas Westerbeke was a great read, but it left me wanting more. I was waiting for a bigger finale or a deeper meaning to it all. Maybe I wanted more for Aubry - a bigger love, a better life, a happier ending.
The book follows Aubry Tourvel, a spoiled and stubborn nine-year-old girl with a mysterious illness that only lets her survive if she keeps moving around, never coming back to the place she had visited before. She leaves home as a child, (almost) never top come back again. Like Addie LaRue, she must leave her family, but this story adds a devastating twist, since Aubry is so much younger and her family does remember her and worries about her being out in the world constantly.
Aubry's travels are described well and are fascinating to follow, but some things about her world are never explained and I feel they could be explored better.
While I did enjoy the whole idea of unseen parts of the planet/world existing, I found the ending lacking.
Overall, it is a good read and a very interesting premise.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC!

“There are things on this earth that only exist because you have beheld them. If you weren’t there, they never would have been.”

What would it take to encounter, up close and personal, and see, really see, the world around you - to appreciate the things you can comprehend, and to open yourself, fully with no holding back, to the wonders you cannot. Both the deadly and the divine.

For Aubry Tourvel, these are not merely philosophical questions.

For Aubry is cursed.

From the age of nine years old, Aubry has been burdened with a mysterious ailment which causes her to experience an agonizing medical decline when she remains in the same physical place for more than a few days. Set in the late 1800’s, Aubry must roam the world - alone and fierce - in an exploratory role unheard of for girls, or even women, of the time. Trapped into a forced lifelong exile that pits her against an entire wide world of jungles, rivers, mountains and deserts, Aubry must face head-on whatever may befall her.

Along the way, Aubry will also learn about love and it’s misfirings, and just what is, or is not, available to her, in her unavoidably nomadic existence. For Aubry, a lifetime’s loss of “home” (and all that it implies) may very well be her permanent future.

Aubry’s story is a strange and colorful one - a meandering fable peppered with fascinating adventures and a myriad of characters she encounters across the globe - ultimately revealing itself to be an enchanting and magical look at human consciousness, our deeply-rooted connection to the wide world around us, the mystifying nature of time, and the sublime miracle of simply “being”.

With big, bold (often wonderfully chaotic) imagery, encompassing vast geographical vistas, amidst an atlas of far-off and exotic locations, this story is an imaginative feast to serve the explorer in all of us.

Destined to please readers of Fantasy and Magical Realism, along with lovers of a good story everywhere, this book a sheer delight, and one this reader found herself savoring in a single read almost straight through.

A great big thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avid Reader Press for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I felt like I was holding my breath for the entire book, and the ending finally made me release it. I enjoyed following Aubry Tourvel's unique story across the world. She meets intriguing characters and finds herself in both entertaining and tense situations. I had expected the pacing to be slow as it was a large journey, but the pacing was steady and not once did I feel like the story was dragging.

My only criticism was that it jumped around in time a lot - while the chapters were named so that you had a sense of where Aubry was, this didn't always make it clear what stage in life she was in. One chapter she would be in her twenties, the next her forties, then back to her youth. This did mean that my mental image of Aubry was constantly changing throughout the book, which could sometimes shatter the immersion. I do think the story would have the same impact if the events had been chronological. Large gaps in time are fine, it was just the jumping back and forth.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and revelled in Westerbeke's wonderful writing style. This was a captivating story with poignant themes at its core and just the right amount of magic and mystery. I look forward to reading more of Westerbeke's work.

I thought so much of this book was really really beautiful. The main character has a mysterious disease that surfaces when she's 9. This disease requires her to travel and she can never go back and revisit a location she's been two more than once. So she always has to move after 2-3 nights. The book chronicles her journey through the world. The people who touched her and the people whose lives she touched.

The whole time, I was wondering what happened to her and why she has this disease and with books like these, the endings are hard because there's so much build up to understand. In my opinion while the ending was beautiful, it didn't live up to what i needed to live up to. For me.

I still loved all the imagery. The sadness of never having roots. Never getting to really know someone. Losing your kid in this way. One and on. There was so much beauty and so much visual imagery in this book. I loved it.

with gratitude to netgalley and Simon & Schuster for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

Okay, I couldn’t put this one down. I finished it very quickly. It was quite weird (not bad), and half the time I wasn’t sure where I was in the timeline of her life which is why it gets 4 stars. It was hard to follow, but I think ultimately that was by design. And I couldn’t stop reading because it was like there was a mystery to be solved and every step gave me a little clue to her illness, or her life and the meaning of it. Every next moment a new place, a new love, a new experience, and another inevitable moment of having to let go of it all or else suffer terribly from her illness.

This would’ve gotten 5 stars from me but there were a couple things I felt were maybe unfinished or unexplained. But hey, every moment of Aubry’s life was lived this way. So maybe that was by design as well.

A Short Walk Through a Wide World was a compelling read, which at points felt almost dreamlike. Written in a very clean, natural style with vivid magic realism elements, curses, mythical creatures, demons, magical libraries and farflung cites, jungles wilderness, and various cultures around the globe. Yet it is also pretty grounded story, which feels like it is written about a real person set within the real world, and experiencing history in real time. Some parts of the novel read like loose travel writing following the resilient but deeply reserved character of Aubry, the french girl who cannot stay in the same location for more than three days without her body beginning to shut down. She inevitably is forced to walk on, through the wide world, in search of the thing her sickness wants her to understand.

We travel with Aubry from continent to continent, and thoroughly experience after experience, friendship after friendship, hardship after hardship. Aubry's greatest pain is that she can never revisit the same place twice, meaning it is exceedingly hard to be with the same friends, family or lovers more than once. Being forced to explore the world by force means the loss and abandonment of any real relationship or long-term friendships. Aubrey learns to leave friends fast, and loved ones even faster.

As I said before, the prose is so clean and clear, so this novel makes for an easy and exciting, though not fast pace, read. I really enjoyed A Short Walk Through a Wide World. I felt like it was the kind of fiction I could dip in an out of depending on the mood. The final 20 percent of the novel was very compelling, so much so that I couldn't put this book down.

Recommended for those who enjoy magic realism, travel, the fantastical and folklorish parts of history, and adventure.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avid Reader Press for the ARC.

This debut novel — is full of adventure, historical fiction and science fiction aspects — with the main characters’ mysterious illness and a miraculous way to cross the world so quickly, this book grabs you from the beginning and pulls you along on a fantastic ride.
Aubrey is reminiscent of the historical figure of Isabella Lucy Bird who travelled the world — who also suffered from illness and was recommended to live an open-air life by doctors and started her major travel adventures in the 1850s. I loved how the book makes you lose your sense of time and place. You become very invested in Aubry's life, and adventures and what her outcome be. Will she beat this mysterious illness or will it kill her? It is an adventure ride as you travel with her across the wide world.

Thanks to Netgalley and Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster— this is my honest review.

Wow, wow, wow. I will be recommending this far and wide because I want to discuss all the details with someone. There is so much I need to discuss and understand! I loved following Aubry Tourvel in her travels throughout the world (many times over). And I want to visit all of the secret libraries she found in her travels: bookshelves in trees, among rivers and lava, and cozy rooms. Yes, please. I will be thinking of this book for quite a while - thank you for the wonderful journey! And thank you NetGalley and Avid Reader Press for the ARC.

Thank you NetGalley, Avid Reader Press and Simon Schuster Inc for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This one is outside of any genre I normally stick to, and I definitely did enjoy it. I especially liked how it shows how some things have a funny way of coming together, and anything with a butterfly effect (whether it’s small or big) always gets me. Aunty’s illness and her resilience always had me questioning “If I had her illness, would I keep going or would I give up?” and I still don’t know how to answer that!

Accidentally submitted this review early!! I am currently reading this and will post my review shortly!!!

I adored this book. It is definitely in my top ten reads this year. Mysterious and magical and tense.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avid Reader Press (Simon & Schuster, Inc.) for allowing me to experience the wonder that is A Short Walk Through a Wide World.

“How will we find Juneau without a map?” “How did we find this view without a map?” “You’re just walking?” “There is a beauty to this, you know.” “To starvation? To hypothermia?” “To wandering aimlessly.”

Douglas Westerbeke has created a work of art through writing this novel. It begins quickly and does not slow down. Aubry Tourvel cannot stay in place for more than four days, and with each page turn, Westerbeke has created another obstacle, adventure, wonder, or miracle for Aubry to overturn.

The reader will be completely drawn in, sucked in, to the worlds within the pages of this beautiful novel. It is a harrowing tale of human connection, a plaintive look at what can and will be found and inevitably lost, all while contemplating the true meaning of a life well lived.

If you enjoyed The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, Around the World in 80 Days, Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, and The Midnight Library - you will absolutely love this book. Adventure, realistic fantasy, history, and connectivity make this a well rounded novel!

A Short Walk Through a Wide World was a truly unique story about Aubry, who can not stay in one place for more than a few days due to a mysterious illness. We are taken on a journey to various countries and towns with Aubry as she tries to out run her illness. Along the way she meets some very interesting people and tells her almost unbelievable stories of her encounters.

It took me a good amount of weeks to finish the book, which usually signifies that it didn't capture my interest immediately. But I continued on and ended up really enjoying A Short Walk Through a Wide World.

Thank you NetGalley and Avid Reader Press for the opportunity to read this ARC.