... If all that isn’t quite bad enough for poor Tansy, someone is killing travellers…
You’d be forgiven for thinking from that brief synopsis that Backpack is a gloomy and angst-ridden novel. Can I first of all reassure everyone that this couldn’t be further from the truth, there are plenty ... Read review
It's New Year's Day and the year isn't kicking off well for Tansy: her mother's dead, ... more
she's a cocaine addict and her boyfriend has just left her. A trip around the world seems like the only option except that she's not interested in seeing the world, j...
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It's New Year's Day and the year isn't kicking off well for Tansy: her mother's dead, ... more
she's a cocaine addict and her boyfriend has just left her. A trip around the world seems like the only option except that she's not interested in seeing the world, j...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Advantages: Very good character development and all of them believable, excellent debut novel. Disadvantages: The ending is a little too neat and clinical, could put you off travelling for life!
...from that brief synopsis that Backpack is a gloomy and angst-ridden novel. Can I first of all reassure everyone that this couldn’t be further from the truth, there are plenty of laughs to be had and especially at Tansy’s expense! She really does flounder like a fish out of water for a great deal of the time and the situations she gets herself into are pretty amusing.
This said, Tansy’s character for at least half the book is not one ... ...down on everyone else and quite determinedly refuses to call herself a backpacker; she is a traveller and people had better not forget it. Whether you have travelled or not everyone knows a Tansy’esque’ character, I know I’ve had the misfortune to share living space with quite a number. They flounce about like the world owes them everything, nothing is ever ‘right’ for them; people I could quite cheerfully and without a moments regret or hesitation, ... more
Tansy’s New Year just hasn’t got off to the best start in the world. It’s only New Year’s Day and already her alcoholic mother is dead, she has discovered she has an older half brother she knew nothing about and her on-off relationship with her boyfriend Tom is definitely off. On the day of the funeral she spirals into a drink and drug fuelled binge and wakes up in hospital having overdosed. Who wouldn’t want a break, a change, to get away from it all for a while?
With Tansy a quarter of a million pounds richer from her mother’s will and the sale of her house Tom agrees to take a year out of the rat race with her and travel the world. The itinerary is entirely of his choosing and involves a large number of Southeast Asian countries; not quite what Tansy had in mind as she very much enjoys the finer things in life. With the route planned, the tickets booked and all other assorted preparations made Tom backs out; cashes his tickets in and leaves Tansy completely in the lurch. With a great deal of persuasion from her friends she decides to ‘go it alone’ and prove she can be independent, that she doesn’t need Tom; the allure of swanning around Asia filling herself with peace and serenity are just too tempting.
Tansy’s lifestyle back in Soho is just not conducive to backpacking however. White linen designer clothes coupled with an addiction to cocaine and skinny lattes clashes quite considerably with her first port of call – Vietnam. The country just isn’t how she expected it to be; it’s too dirty, smelly, hot and overcrowded for prancing about in her fancy clothes, the locals are an ungrateful bunch in her eyes. She looks at backpackers with disdain and cannot even begin to relax let alone begin to mix with fellow travellers. If all that isn’t quite bad enough for poor Tansy, someone is killing travellers…
You’d be forgiven for thinking from that brief synopsis that Backpack is a gloomy and angst-ridden novel. Can I first of all reassure everyone that this couldn’t be further from the truth, there are plenty of laughs to be had and especially at Tansy’s expense! She really does flounder like a fish out of water for a great deal of the time and the situations she gets herself into are pretty amusing.
This said, Tansy’s character for at least half the book is not one you’ll find yourself rushing to emulate. She is obnoxious, looks down on everyone else and quite determinedly refuses to call herself a backpacker; she is a traveller and people had better not forget it. Whether you have travelled or not everyone knows a Tansy’esque’ character, I know I’ve had the misfortune to share living space with quite a number. They flounce about like the world owes them everything, nothing is ever ‘right’ for them; people I could quite cheerfully and without a moments regret or hesitation, slap!
One of the most interesting facets to this book is seeing how her character develops and changes both through the different things she sees and the people she meets along the way. Once she has begun to lighten up, to accept that there is more to life than cocaine and alcohol, once more of her inner fears are revealed she becomes a far more likeable character. You then as the reader get a far better idea of why she is the person she has become which certainly helped me along my way of warming to her. I know it is not strictly necessary to ‘like’ the hero or heroine in a book but in this case I really don’t think I could have exacted the necessary sympathies for her along the way without ‘feeling’ for her.
The main downside to this book is that it does try a little too hard to be both a travelogue and a thriller. Emily Barr has clearly travelled extensively and obviously wanted to share some of her experiences in a different manner to the run-of-the-mill guidebook. She has woven a pretty good thriller around the completely believable Asian backdrop but unfortunately the travelogue element gets in the way at times and once or twice I wasn’t entirely sure if I was reading a novel or a copy of the Lonely Planet.
That said though it is well worth persevering as for a first novel the story itself is good and all of the characters are ‘real’ if at times a tad stereotypical. The various settings have made me want to grab my passport and head off once again on my backpacking travels, it cannot be a bad thing when you can be entertained and learn a few facts about the world at the same time! It is a page-turner as long as you’re not looking for anything that will challenge your cerebral cortex, may I even dare to suggest it would make wonderful holiday reading; you may be looking over your shoulder whilst reading though…
Advantages: It's about murders, but at times it's laugh out loud funny Disadvantages: Not as flowing as the best books are
It’s not that unusual to pick up a book, read the back and buy it just based on that alone, but it’s not something I do all that often. This, though, was an exception. Backpack’s blurb begins “on the day she buries her mother, Tansy wakes up in hospital having poisoned herself with drugs and alcohol”. I read this in a random bookshop somewhere down south, less than 2 hours after my father’s funeral, and I just ... ...book I’d picked up in the shop too – spooky. Over the last few years there’s been an influx of books set around gap year trips to Asia and the like but only some of them have done it for me. I fell madly in love with Sutcliffe after “Are you experienced?” but couldn’t get into even the film version of “The beach”, despite being a Leo DiCaprio follower at the time. “Backpack” is different ...
zoe_page 20.05.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Backpack - Emily Barr
Advantages: Not a typical chick read! Disadvantages: Puts you off travelling for life
...Helen. Therefore when she recommended Backpack to me, I had severe reservations. I have to admit, I will never ignore her recommendations again! Emily Barr was 29 years of age when she wrote Backpack, her debut novel, which proved to be a British Bestseller. She had made herself known by writing columns for papers such as The Observer and The Guardian. She spent 1999 travelling and writing, before finally settling down in London. When you begin to ... ...six chapters later, finally putting it down! I found Backpack to be very original and had no idea how the book was going to end until quite late on! I have read the book again twice since, and still wish to read again. Thanks for reading ...
kerryzach 27.03.2004 (29.03.2004)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Backpack - Emily Barr
Advantages: Entertaining, good characterisation Disadvantages: Lightweight read, gets a bit silly at the end
I enjoyed thisbook much more than I thought I would. While it belongs firmly in the "chick-lit" genre, it also evolves into something of a murder mystery as the plot progresses. Tansy, a conceited, drug-addled Londoner decides to escape fashionably to South-East Asia, but while there her life begins to take a less predictable course as self-awareness dawns. I read this in Malaysia while en-route around SE Asia and it was great to read descriptions ... ...the stereotypes about backpackers in Asia and the party culture out there. It's interspersed with email-style interludes where Tansy is writing to/ hearing from people back home and others she's met on her travels, which work to a degree.
Part of the appeal of the early part of the book is sneering at the arrogance and naivety of the main character, and you find yourself hoping she'll run into trouble. The latter part of the book tends towards the ...
cathy_m80 12.04.2008 (24.03.2008)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Backpack - Emily Barr
Advantages: excellent read Disadvantages: not recommended if you are gong travelling
I used to read all the time, but haven;t read for quite a while but saw this in the library. I have to admit that it was initially a case of judging a book by it's cover as it was bright and sunny and looked attractive!
Anyway I started to read it and soon found myself hooked. The characters are really interesting to learn about and you soon find yourself able to empathise with them. It's a book about a girl going travelling and the people she meet ...
kirstie_bramley 24.11.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Backpack - Emily Barr
Advantages: a contrast to chich lit books, written by a great author Disadvantages: you would not want to go travelling on your own after this!
dont get me wrong i love chick lit books, but having read this book it is good to see that an author has still managed to appeal to young women without having to include shopping and make up into the story!
i think this book shows how travelling can really change a person, it may have a strange story line involving murders in each place she visits (dont want to give a way the story too much!) but it is so well written that it is enthrawling rather ... ...by its cover but i wasnt dissapointed and went out to buy emilly barrs other books because of how great this book was!
every one how wants to go travelling should read this aswell as everyone who dreams of travelling but always thinks up reasons not to (this book could give you a few more!)
Have fun reading this, it is great im sure you wont be dissapointed ...
hannah15326 13.12.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Backpack - Emily Barr
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Advantages: Great story to read, descriptive and interesting Disadvantages: Would help if you read previous book
she has a great life.
Throughout the story it was dropped in at points that Tansy and her husband had met whilst travelling but it was cut short because of an incident which had left it mark on her. Now I thought that perhaps this was a kind of follow up to Backpack one of EmilyBarr?s other books as I could vaguely remember the storyline but not the characters names and I found it frustrating that at no point in the story was it elaborated so you had a brief recap of what this event was and I think that had I not read Backpack and assumed (correctly I found out after having a quick look at a review for Backpack) I would have been left a bit more baffled and annoyed than I was.
The writing gets more descriptive and interesting when Tansy travels to India. She spends the first few days on her own making her way round a city ...
Advantages: Good story, a page turner Disadvantages: Disappointed with the ending
I am lucky enough to have a friend who is always buying books as she is a member of a book group so I often borrow books she recommends. The latest one was "Baggage" by EmilyBarr. EmilyBarr has also written "Backpack" but I haven't read that.
The Cover
The book has a picture of a woman sitting on a case with a long road stretching out into the horizon. At the top of the book is an aeroplane and the aeroplanes tracks have spelt out "baggage" in the sky. Underneath it says "Too much? Just dump it ?" From just looking at the front of this book I got the idea that this was about someone who travelled abroad to escape from her problems. The book cover is an accurate description of the story.
The Plot
The story centres around three main characters Lina, Sophie and Larry. Sophie is backpacking in Australia when she sees ...
Advantages: sun, Australia, good storyline Disadvantages: swearing
and Sophie further on in the book.
However this is to be recommended, especially if you have a love of all things foreign and also like a bit of mystery thrown in. An ideal book to take on holiday as it?s gripping and keeps you guessing throughout. It probably won?t conclude how you expected, either!
* Other info *
ISBN 0-7472-6677-8
RRP £6.99 (I got my copy from Ebay)
* About the author *
EmilyBarr has written columns and travel pieces for the Observer and The Guardian for a number of years. Her first novel (Backpack) won the WH Smith New Talent Award 2002.
* Other books by EmilyBarr *
Backpack
Cuban Heels
Atlantic Shift
Thanks for reading. ...
