Atlas of the Human Heart: A Memoir - Softcover

Gore, Ariel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1580050883 ISBN 13: 9781580050883

Publisher: Seal Press, 2003

Synopsis

Like Jack Kerouac’s intrepid little sister, Ariel Gore spins the spirited story of a vulnerable drifter who takes refuge in the recesses of the human heart. With just a few pennies and her I Ching, a change of clothes and a one-way ticket to Hong Kong, a perceptive, searching Gore makes her way through the labyrinthine customs of Cold-War China, wanders bustling, electric Katmandu, and hunkers down in an icy London squat with a prostitute and a boyfriend on the dole. Yet it is in the calm, verdant landscape of rural Italy where, pregnant and penniless, nineteen-year-old Gore’s adventure truly begins. An illuminating glimpse into the boldly political Gore creator of HipMama.com and Hip Mama magazine this unflinching memoir offers a poignant exploration of the meaning of home, and surveys the frontiers of both land and heart.

About this title

From Booklist:

In the late 1980s, at age 16, Gore dropped out of high school, took her GED, and bought a one-way ticket to Hong Kong. From there she made her way to China, finagled herself into the Beijing Language Institute, and began a three-year journey of self-discovery that took her to Tibet, Nepal, India, Amsterdam, England, and Italy (to name only a few of her ports of call). This astounding memoir describes her experiences, including stints as a language student, smuggler, pilgrim, squatter, and indie film actress. Along the way, more than one person, upon learning her age, declares, "Your mother is crazy." Few would argue with that assessment, but whatever one may think of teaching self-reliance through benign neglect, it's clear that Gore's adventures make absorbing reading. She didn't end up dead, a fact that will strike most readers as remarkable, but she did end up pregnant in Italy at age 19 by her lout of a boyfriend. Ever resilient, Gore used her experiences as a young mother to good advantage, founding the well-regarded and unapologetically political magazine Hip Mama. Beth Leistensnider
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Review:

"Their jaunty prose and irreverent attitude enliven the proceedings."

"Finally, a guidebook that tells you what the locals know."

"Ariel Gore...provides succor to moms who cannot related to our culture's mawkish notions of motherhood."

About this edition

• Publisher: Seal Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1580050883
• ISBN 13: 9781580050883
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 333