Reviews for Off the Map: A Journey Through the Amazonian Wild

The average rating for Off the Map: A Journey Through the Amazonian Wild based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-10-23 00:00:00 Ken Mcgee Oh, did this book make it clear to me - not that there was any doubt - that I had NO interest in taking a trip like this, or traveling with John Harrison! This book could have been much shorter as John and wife seem to cut the same trail, and canoe (barely) the same place over and over. If a trip can be made boring, this is it. And I don't think the author ever explained why they were there, what the interest was. Except to see if his marriage could survive, and I don't know that it did.

Review # 2 was written on 2010-06-22 00:00:00 Juan Mendoza Aw. Sweet. Just realised he signed my copy "great to meet you" and "with best wishes" December 2001. Not that that in any way influences my memory of this as a brilliantly vivid portrayal of the Amazonian adventures of John and Heather Harrison on foot and in canoe. Repeating the expedition of a chap who died on it was always going to be a dodgy proposition. Doing it on foot carrying and sometimes paddling a collapsible canoe, with no contact with the outside world even more dodgy. So of course, it goes awry in ways you would never expect but with potentially fatal consequences both to the people and the relationship. A lovely moment, when they have almost finished their travels but come up against a couple of officious young blokes who try to turn them back to Brazil. "Listen you little creeps. Just get out of our way" says John. So very English. And quite 1950's, to be honest but it made me smile - especially the way he and Heather then paddle like crazy, trying to do a runner in their canoe but are suddenly struck by the ridiculousness of their predicament and end up laughing too hard to paddle at all.