“Roberts dares to combine a hiking adventure with a healthy dose of humor and female bonding in all its complicated and turbulent best. . . . An utterly refreshing outdoors memoir free of the seemingly manufactured drama so many similar titles contain. A delightful and quite literary diversion.”—Colleen Mondor, Booklist
“Almost Somewhere is, at all turns, a gratifying read. It is intimate and funny, sharp, and pensive, and its readers—if not inspired to undertake their own adventures—will certainly be sad to leave Roberts at the trail’s end.”—Michelle Schingler, Foreword Reviews
“Suzanne Roberts sets off on a remarkable Sierra journey that will test the limits of physical endurance, of friendship, and of faith in self. . . . This is not the usual wilderness story of independence, competition, and violence. Here, thankfully, is the more urgent story of intimacy, community, and compassion. A loving, and lovely, ode to life.”—John T. Price, author of All Is Leaf: Essays and Transformations
“In Almost Somewhere we get to travel both the physical John Muir Trail—its history, its flowers and trees and shadowy peaks—and the gritty emotional landscape of the three women who make the journey. Where are we in the world, anyway? Suzanne Roberts helps us know that the only place we can be is here, giving it all we have, day by day.”—Fleda Brown, author of Driving with Dvořák
“This is not a backpacking primer, but rather one on young women in search of themselves as they prepare for life after college. We read about insecurities, jealously, lust, self-esteem, tears, bingeing, self-realization, learning to appreciate oneself for oneself, and interpersonal relationships. And come away with the author’s realization that mountains in general, and the John Muir Trail specifically, provide a spectacular backdrop to work through these issues and absorb the associated lessons.”—Kurt Repanshek, National Parks Traveler
“[Almost Somewhere] will appeal to readers of travel and nature books, as well as those who enjoy reading about social interactions and group dynamics.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Readers who have walked sections of the John Muir Trail will appreciate Roberts’s accurate descriptions of lakes and passes, of trail-worn feet, and of the fleeting moments when you seem to float down the trail.”—Bradley John Monsma, ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies of Literature and Environment
“This book is one I didn’t want to end. I felt as if I were hiking with Roberts. When she finished, I would be finished, and like her, I would be sad to be done.”—Eve Quesnel, Moonshine Ink
“Almost Somewhere will not disappoint. It is a wonderful read for outdoor lovers and inspirational for anyone experiencing self-doubt. The message that resonates is, as Roberts says, ‘It’s not just in the having done but in the doing . . . being almost somewhere.’”—Gloria Sinibaldi, North Lake Tahoe Bonanza
