📚#Travelogue Rosie’s #BookReview of Happy Iceland by Anne Marie Wells #BookX – Rosie Amber
Happy Iceland: How Icelandic Strangers Taught a Miserable American the Secret to Lifelong Happiness by Anne Marie Wells
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Happy Iceland is a travelogue with the author’s personal memoirs which surround the trip.
In 2016 author Anne Marie flew to Iceland for a five-week solo trip. Arriving with no planned itinerary Anne Marie began by asking a pair of airport workers where, in Iceland, they had a happy memory. She then set off hitchhiking to find that place. Once at her destination she asked the next person about a happy memory and off she went again. In this way Anne Marie criss-crossed and often went back and forth across Iceland. With little budget she mainly wild camped.
Along the way Anne Marie met many happy and generous people who gave her lifts, food and sometimes even accommodation. They often took her with them to scenic locations, tourist spots and unknown local delights. The people she met were from a wide cross-section of life, some were Icelanders, but many were tourists like herself. I was grateful that each chapter began with a map showing the route as I have no geographical knowledge of Iceland.
Interspersed between the details of the trip were Anne Marie’s, often painful, memoirs from growing up as someone who pushed themselves to extremes. She also talked candidly about her romantic relationships and her own desperate search for happiness.
The book falls into two distinct parts; the travelogue around Iceland and the author’s personal journey. I did enjoy my armchair view of a country which is full of nature’s wonders. The personal memoir was of less interest; however, I am sure that the author’s friends and family would immediately relate to it.
Book Description:
A simple question at Iceland’s international airport—What are your happiest memories of Iceland?—sets off an unforgettable journey across the Land of Fire and Ice. Abandoning guidebooks and itineraries, a young woman on the precipice of turning thirty, newly unemployed and stuck in a faltering relationship, spends five weeks backpacking and hitchhiking to find the locations where Icelandic strangers’ happiest memories took place. From childhood sports fields and family farms to hidden waterfalls and the remote Highlands, this intimate travel memoir explores Iceland far beyond what can be seen from a sightseeing bus tour. Part adventure, part meditation on what it takes to be happy in a volatile world, Happy Iceland is a reminder that some of the best journeys begin when we shut up and listen.
