Jennifer Pharr Davis

The author comes across as pretentious and judgmental, and not a very likeable person.

Despite planning the trip for years, including attending an intensive 3-day training camp, she starts out her journey almost criminally unprepared. She blithely hikes with no water filter or treatment, not even a stove to boil water. Also no map or compass, relying solely on the trail blazes to stay on course. She doesn't know how to efficiently pitch her tent, doesn’t know how to prepare meals, doesn't show more have the right clothing or equipment, and claims to not even know that you shouldn't keep food in the shelter, going as far as littering her leftovers in the bushes right outside of camp!

But despite her own shortcomings, that doesn't stop her from judging everyone else she comes across. How bad they smell (as if she herself hadn't gone unwashed for 2+ weeks at that point and likely didn't smell like daisies). How they were carrying either too much weight (i.e. anyone with a heavier pack than hers) or were too fanatical in optimizing their gear (i.e. anyone with a lighter pack than hers).
She repeatedly states that she looked forward to meeting new people and learning from them, yet instantly became annoyed with overly friendly people who wouldn't shut up and leave her alone, and also was easily offended by the people who weren't in a chatty mood and sufficed with a simple greeting. She repeatedly chose to hike alone, then complained about being by herself. She spouts incessantly about her Christian Faith and personal relationship with her God, and snidely dismisses anyone who doesn't share her beliefs, let alone dare to question hers. In other words, this was not a journey of self-discovery, it was a further entrenchment of her existing prejudices and worldview.

On the positive side, the descriptions of her adventures were engaging, conveying a good sense of what it's like to slog along the trail for day after day, month after month, and what she learned along the way, especially as she neared the end of the journey. show less

Jennifer Pharr Davis is like a superhero but better. We are alike in some ways. We are only a year apart in age. We both spent part of 2005 in different areas of Maine. But Jennifer is the superhero. I couldn't imagine walking alone on the Appalachian Trail as a young female. I once tried to walk a couple miles around a lake after having eaten only a couple donuts the entire day and didn't get very far. As if I didn't think that was pathetic enough, imagine my shame when Jennifer hikes over show more 2,000 miles on a diet mostly consisting of junk food! Candy bars! Toaster pastries! The way she withstands the black flies alone amazes me. I've had the experience of dealing with black flies in Maine. They are ten times worse than mosquitoes. Jennifer says she starts to fall apart because most of her gear is falling apart, but I believe it is really due to those pesky black flies.

I have already read a memoir about hiking the Appalachian Trail. I was worried this book wouldn't be as good as Bill Bryson's 'A Walk in the Woods' and maybe a bit redundant. Bryson is hilarious which made his book a favorite. Hilarity is here also in bits of 'Becoming Odyssa', maybe not as much as Bryson's book, but 'Becoming Odyssa' is important for so many other reasons. The humor is just a bonus. Bryson may go on interesting tangents, but Jennifer's book is much more courageous and inspirational. Jennifer is the sort of person you wish all memoirs were based on. I don't like reading memoirs about horrible people. From her writing, Jennifer seems like a genuine, kindhearted, amazing person. Her personality alone is something to aspire to. Her writing style makes it seem like she is a friend telling you her experiences. Jennifer goes through some tough stuff: a creepy stalker, being hit by lightning, a thru-hiker that reminded me of The Office's Dwight Schrute (though hilarious on TV is not someone I would want to be walking the Appalachian Trail with). One particular event Jennifer goes through is horrible and heartbreaking. But when she is doing well on the trail, it is lovely to read. You want to see her succeed on the trail. And she goes above and beyond succeeding.

I really have nothing negative to say about this book. It is definitely a new favorite in the memoir genre. 'Becoming Odyssa' should be read by armchair hikers, those who actually are hikers and would like to read another persons experience, those planning on hiking the Appalachian Trail and trying to find a primer on the topic beforehand, or really anyone who likes a great adventure. show less

This book is somewhat of a sequel to the author's previous "Becoming Odyssa," filling us in on her life since setting the FKT record on the Appalachian Trail that was tacked on to the end of that one as an afterthought. But rather than provide as much detail on the phenomenal feat as she did with her earlier missteps, she instead turns the focus towards other who have broken the same record, some before and some after her. Despite their different backgrounds, life stories, styles, and show more physical aptitude, she attempts to find commonalities that allowed them to succeed in places that so many have failed. It's an interesting and worthwhile endeavor, but ends up not really providing many useful take-aways, other than the obvious need to persevere and be able and willing to overcome great hardships in pursuit of a goal.

She's a bit more mature and worldly this time around, no longer a naïve self-important young adult, but no less grating and sanctimonious. Whatever qualities the other protagonists in the book seem to see in her, they don't come across well on the page. She comes across as extremely proud of her record and the sacrifices she made to achieve it, yet equally defensive as to why she gave all that up to settle down to a traditional middle class lifestyle, making babies and getting a normal job. At times it sounded like she was trying to convince herself as much as the reader. And of course she's extremely judgmental towards anyone who dares question any of her actions or choices.

Most of the book is comprised of profiles of the other record breakers. A few get bogged down in extraneous details, but there are some interesting stories along the way. A more straightforward comparison of their approaches probably would have been more useful. The worst part was the section on Scott Jurek, which appeared to be a hastily plagiarized summary of his own [much better] book "North" that covered his own successful attempt to break JPD's record. The fact that one of the world's most highly successful ultrarunners only managed to do so by a handful of hours, and barely at that, even with a controversial expedited river crossing, just highlights how momentous her achievement really was. But since she didn't provide a similar account of her own journey, it's difficult to compare the two or draw any meaningful conclusions. show less

This is a wonderful description of people who are living lives one can observe and wonder IF they could be like them in many ways. It is written with delightful personal touches as Davis describes her own experience as a FKT in relation to other FKTs she interviews, in depth, for the book. The book reads like a fascinating novel which is even better because it is true.