Review
I really wavered between 3 and 4 stars for this book and landed on 3.5 for a couple of reasons.
Overall the themes dealt with in the book were great. Self-esteem related to body image. Grappling with society’s attitudes and expectations when it comes to nudity and sex.
Compared to Madeline’s Nudist World, this book has a lot of adult themes from the get-go. It deals with sex in a fairly graphic way. I felt this was actually a strength rather than a weakness because nudists put so much emphasis on ‘non-sexual’ nudity that it almost reaches a point of asexuality.
I think the book tackles this touchy subject well because arousal and attraction are such an intrigal aspect of humanity whether nudity is involved or not.
The backbone of this book revolves a lot around personal relationships and the trust boundaries between friends, family and strangers.
There were parts of the story that felt a little drawn out. There were certain thoughts and actions by Abbey that struck me as a bit overdramatic or way too overthought. Having said that, trying to rationalise society’s predominant attitudes towards the acceptance of public nudity can and does easily lead to overthinking everything. So in a way, it merely serves to underpin this aspect of anybody’s journey.
Conclusion
I have to say this is a worthwhile read purely because it is an epic journey that Abbey undertakes. I’m not entirely convinced people in everyday life would quite take to some of the events as readily as the characters in the book. It is however a work of fiction and one has to take that into account.
I look forward to reading some of the other titles by this author. In spite of needing better editorship, the story telling itself has proven to be engaging and the slight typo and outright error not so distracting that you can’t enjoy the story.