I'm Off Then: Losing and Finding Myself on the Camino de Santiago
Hape Kerkeling, , trans. from the German by Shelley Frisch. . Free Press, $15 (333pp) ISBN 978-1-4165-5387-8
The 500-mile route along the Camino Frances, from the base of the Pyrenees to the shrine of St. James at Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain, has afforded a sacred pilgrimage to Christians for centuries, and German comedian Kerkeling, somewhat whimsically, resolved to hike it. At 36, a self-described “pudgy couch potato” who suffered some health problems, Kerkeling, wanting to know who God is, set out along the route in the summer of 2001 with an overheavy knapsack only to nearly give up at the first pass. There are nearly 40 stops along the way (helpfully laid out on a map insert), and chapter by chapter, Kerkeling chronicles nearly every one. Pilgrims must get their
Reviewed on: 05/04/2009
Genre: Nonfiction
Open Ebook - 352 pages - 978-1-4391-0048-6