Nowhere for Very Long
The Unexpected Road to an Unconventional Life
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4.2 • 13 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER • USA TODAY! BESTSELLER
In this beautifully written, vividly detailed adventure memoir, a young woman chronicles her travels across the deserts of the American West in an orange van named Bertha and reflects on an unconventional approach to life.
A woman defined by motion, Brianna Madia bought a beat-up bright orange van, filled it with her two dogs Bucket and Dagwood, and headed into the canyons of Utah with her husband. Nowhere for Very Long is her deeply felt, immaculately told story of exploration—of the world outside and the spirit within.
However, pursuing a life of intention isn’t always what it seems. In fact, at times it was downright boring, exhausting, and even desperate—when Bertha overheated and she was forced to pull over on a lonely stretch of South Dakota highway; when the weather was bitterly cold and her water jugs froze beneath her as she slept in the parking lot of her office; when she worried about money, her marriage, and the looming question mark of her future. This unflinching look at the reality of van life shows how Brianna was committed to living a life true to herself, come what may, and that made all the difference.
Nowhere for Very Long is the true story of a woman learning and unlearning, from backroads to breakdowns, from married to solo, and finally, from lost to found to lost again . . . this time, on purpose.
This is more than a story about a van; it’s a testament to the reality of a life lived on your own terms—the good, the bad, and the broken-down.
A Raw Adventure Memoir: From the canyons of Utah to the lonely highways of South Dakota, join Brianna Madia and her two dogs, Bucket and Dagwood, on a journey of profound self-discovery.The Reality of Van Life: Go beyond the hashtag to discover the unglamorous moments—overheating in an orange van named Bertha, frozen water jugs, and the constant, nagging questions about money, love, and the future.Solo Female Travel: Witness the powerful transformation of a woman learning to navigate the world on her own, finding strength in breakdowns and purpose in being lost.A Story of Love and Loss: This moving memoir of divorce is a deeply felt, immaculately told story of exploration—of the world outside and the spirit within, from married life to a new beginning, alone on the road.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Travel writer Madia recounts the highs and lows of life on the road in her quietly moving debut. As she writes, trading in just about everything for Bertha—her orange van with a "propensity for back roads and breakdowns"—made the difference between a humdrum life and a freewheeling lifestyle in which "fear was celebrated." In their early 20s, Madia and her future husband Neil left their middle-class Connecticut lives and decamped to Salt Lake City, Utah, in 2012. They later took their wayfaring a step further when they began to travel full-time in Madia's van around the western U.S. and Mexico with their dogs, Dagwood and Bucket. But with the captivating grandeur of the deserts and mountains—vividly depicted in Madia's elegant prose—came the struggles of nomadic living, too: after Neil accidentally ran over Dagwood (who eventually recovered), Madia's marriage began to crack, and a couple years later they divorced, leaving the author to continue her travels solo with the dogs. Madia's insights drill deep, as does her knack for carving beauty out of pain ("Perhaps what Neil and I had was something meant to be left out in the wildest parts of the desert like the sun-bleached bones of a once-living thing"). Armchair adventurers will be inspired by this spirited story.
Customer Reviews
Brilliant
Brilliant and heartbreaking. Brianna’s writing often brings me to tears and this book was no exception. Honest, vulnerable, and a truely enjoyable read.
Nowhere for very long
Parts were really well written but it moved too quickly for me. Since there was a lot of focus on self-reflection, I think a slower story might have done more justice. But like I said, some parts were really brilliantly written. I can imagine the pressure that would come with writing your first book to a ready-waiting audience, and I think for a first novel it was really good.
I should note I am a passive follower of brianna’s but not what I would describe as a ‘fan’. Just mildly interested. I genuinely think for a young author and a first novel there is a lot of potential.