The Good Girl's Guide to Getting Lost
A Memoir of Three Continents, Two Friends, and One Unexpected Adventure
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4.3 • 32 Ratings
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
Rachel Friedman has always been the consummate good girl who does well in school and plays it safe, so the college grad surprises no one more than herself when, on a whim (and in an effort to escape impending life decisions), she buys a ticket to Ireland, a place she has never visited. There she forms an unlikely bond with a free-spirited Australian girl, a born adventurer who spurs Rachel on to a yearlong odyssey that takes her to three continents, fills her life with newfound friends, and gives birth to a previously unrealized passion for adventure.
As her journey takes her to Australia and South America, Rachel discovers and embraces her love of travel and unlocks more truths about herself than she ever realized she was seeking. Along the way, the erstwhile good girl finally learns to do something she’s never done before: simply live for the moment.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Since childhood, Friedman knew she was going to be a professional viola player, but in her freshman year of music school, she realized that professional musicianhood was not for her. Afraid of an uncertain future and its endless possibilities, the 20-year-old fled to Ireland for four months. She discovers there's more to life than having the perfect plan and that the American outlook on work, travel, and life is more limited (and limiting) than she'd realized. Thus primed, when her Australian friend (and Galway roommate) Carly invites Friedman to visit after graduation, the author accepts, and embarks on a yearlong adventure through Australia and South America. She takes risks (the Death Road passage is particularly harrowing), becomes enchanted with Buenos Aires, and falls for New Zealander (and eventual husband) Martyn. Friedman deftly moves from musings on family to specifics about working abroad to first-rate travelogue about the places she visited, striking just the right balance between personal and universal.
Customer Reviews
Guide without glam
This book got down to the nitty gritty and found a promising life experience and the foundation of a unique friendship