One Backpack, Five Continents, and the Diabetes Diagnosis That Changed Everything
March 15, 2017
A Jerusalem-based CNN correspondent's memoir of round-the-world travel with a near-fatal disease.In 2013, Liebermann and his wife left their jobs, determined to circumnavigate the globe on the cheap. The itinerary included Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and South America. Just shy of 30 and after only six years in broadcast news, declaring that -in making a living, I had failed to make a life- seems a little premature, even melodramatic. Alas, melodrama often overtakes the narrative and the narrator, whose overworked tear ducts seem a form of artistic expression. Apart from some harrowing close calls with diabetes, especially in Nepal, Liebermann tends to overstate his day-to-day accounts of dealing with his disease and roughing it on the road. The book harbors flashes of close observation and inspired description--e.g., his depictions of the Laotian people, his thoughts while camped (illegally) on the Great Wall of China, his account of the death of an anonymous man in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Unfortunately, these moments of inspiration are only intermittent, and the rest of the book suffers by comparison. For all his adventurousness and determination, Liebermann betrays a penchant for hasty judgments, weak generalizations, and trite pronouncements. When not detailing his duel with diabetes, which will resonate chiefly with other diabetics, he delivers a breezy series of snapshots and vignettes--engaging as far as they go but hardly the stuff of a memorable travelogue. Just because an insight is new to him does not mean it is of fresh coinage to readers, and Liebermann has a tendency to express a familiar observation as if it is being made for the first time. But it is a young man's book, a young traveler's book, and perhaps one should make allowances. As a travel writer, Liebermann is a work in progress, but the talent is there, needing only to be honed and refined.
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April 1, 2017
CNN correspondent Liebermann and his wife, Cassie, knew that they would face challenges and new experiences on their year-long trip around the world. Hiking in the Himalayas? Sure. Trying exotic cuisine? Of course. A type 1 diabetes diagnosis? That was not in the travel plan. Their excursions in Europe and Africa go smoothly, but by the time they reach Asia, Liebermann's mysterious symptoms begin to appear: extreme weight loss, unquenchable thirst, and fatigue. Finally, on the brink of disaster, he receives an explanation in rural Nepal. Adult-onset type 1 diabetes is uncommon, and Liebermann fights to regain control of his body. Determined to finish his and his wife's planned year of travel, he must learn to navigate his disease. This unusual combination of medical and travel memoir offers candid testimony to human resilience. It also manages to be funny, relatable, and inspiring at the same time. Readers will be motivated to update their passports or, at the very least, try something new. Liebermann hits the mark with his engrossing literary debut.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)