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hswhite's review against another edition
4.0
For the full review: http://www.savvygirltravel.com/i-grew-my-boobs-in-china-by-savannah-grace/
This book was a lovely read. It is propelled by the excited, infectious voice of a 14 year old. It’s written at a Young Adult level, but if you are willing to leave your pretensions at the door, there is a lot to be learned and enjoyed in the text. At 378 pages, it’s not exactly a short read, but Savannah’s detailed descriptions of place and character will propel you through the novel easily.
As someone who’s never traveled to China or Mongolia, the subject matter was brand new to me. It interested me greatly to read about both the tiny towns and big cities Savannah and her family visited. It’s particularly interesting from the perspective of a 14 year old. There’s so much she hasn’t experienced in life, that everything seems new and different to her. Through her eyes, we hone in on drunks stumbling pants-less through busy streets at 9 in the morning, we feel for the weak horse made to carry a heavy load up a mountain and gasp as its legs collapse, we smell the dirty bathrooms and the rubbish-littered train cars, we hold our breath next to the smokers, and make faces at the floating lard in her soup, we feel fear as an old crone grasps Savannah’s arm and won’t let go.
This book was a lovely read. It is propelled by the excited, infectious voice of a 14 year old. It’s written at a Young Adult level, but if you are willing to leave your pretensions at the door, there is a lot to be learned and enjoyed in the text. At 378 pages, it’s not exactly a short read, but Savannah’s detailed descriptions of place and character will propel you through the novel easily.
As someone who’s never traveled to China or Mongolia, the subject matter was brand new to me. It interested me greatly to read about both the tiny towns and big cities Savannah and her family visited. It’s particularly interesting from the perspective of a 14 year old. There’s so much she hasn’t experienced in life, that everything seems new and different to her. Through her eyes, we hone in on drunks stumbling pants-less through busy streets at 9 in the morning, we feel for the weak horse made to carry a heavy load up a mountain and gasp as its legs collapse, we smell the dirty bathrooms and the rubbish-littered train cars, we hold our breath next to the smokers, and make faces at the floating lard in her soup, we feel fear as an old crone grasps Savannah’s arm and won’t let go.
mamalemma's review against another edition
4.0
Terrific first-in-a-series memoir of a young girl's family backpacking journey that spawned four years and over 80 countries. While my family likes to travel, we are timid travelers and this adventure is rather astonishing in its bravery. I will definitely be keeping my eyes open for the followup books to travel vicariously with them!
kairosdreaming's review against another edition
5.0
I was a bit skeptical about reading this book because of the title originally as it seemed gimmicky. But I'm glad I went ahead and decided to read it as it turned out to be quite interesting and enjoyable. And since it is the first of a few books about the trip, there's a lot of adventure to be had in the series.
At the age of 14, Savannah is told by her mother that they are going to get rid of everything (including beloved pets) and go backpacking around the world for a year. As to be expected, Savannah is less than enthused at the thought of leaving her friends and pets behind but she doesn't have a choice and soon finds herself starting the travels in China with her older brother and sister and her mother (one brother does not join them due to his work). As they trek through China, experiencing sleeper trains and more, she slowly starts to shed the distaste she has for the trip and starts enjoying herself. They also, in this book, explore Mongolia as well.
Savannah has a large family and a seemingly close one. I do have to say that I'm not sure if her descriptions of them are entirely fair or accurate at times. Her mother gets an ok description but her brother comes off as a jerk many times. Now maybe he is kind of a jerk or maybe Savannah was trying to portray him through her (at the time) fourteen year old eyes. To be fair though, she did say a lot of good about him as well and he was the one who seemed to shoulder a lot of the responsibility of the trip. Her sister, who is older than Savannah, seems to act a lot younger in the book. And again, this could be accurate but it is hard to say. She certainly was a go getter despite how mature she acted though and very athletic. As for the local people she met, they were wonderfully described. I never tired of hearing how helpful and kind Savannah found them and the different things she learned from them. And her descriptions on their way of life were very informative and eye-opening. And Savannah herself is shown to grow through the book, in attitude and maturity.
For a "new" writer, Savannah has a great way with words and the book is well written. I would have liked to see more detail on the sights themselves, but there was still enough there to keep me interested and I always wondered where they were headed next. I am jealous of everything she got to see and if I didn't have pets to take care of, would have been tempted to go off backpacking on my own. But maybe someday. Her tale is a compelling one and to be uprooted at her age and get used to things you weren't familiar with would be tough. But she definitely overcomes her initial aversion to everything and seems to have the time of her life and her experiences are sure to stir the travel bug in anyone. Some pictures would have been really nice in the book, but there is a link to her website where you can see a ton of them, and it was nice to put faces to names and see some of the different areas she visited.
An interesting travel memoir. I'm eager to see what the next one will bring. This book deserves a very solid 4.5 star rating as it was well written and will appeal to all sorts of travelers or armchair travelers.
**This book was received as a Free Advanced Reviewer's Copy**
Sihpromatum
Copyright 2012
362 pages
Review by M. Reynard 2013
More of my reviews can be found at www.ifithaswords.blogspot.com
At the age of 14, Savannah is told by her mother that they are going to get rid of everything (including beloved pets) and go backpacking around the world for a year. As to be expected, Savannah is less than enthused at the thought of leaving her friends and pets behind but she doesn't have a choice and soon finds herself starting the travels in China with her older brother and sister and her mother (one brother does not join them due to his work). As they trek through China, experiencing sleeper trains and more, she slowly starts to shed the distaste she has for the trip and starts enjoying herself. They also, in this book, explore Mongolia as well.
Savannah has a large family and a seemingly close one. I do have to say that I'm not sure if her descriptions of them are entirely fair or accurate at times. Her mother gets an ok description but her brother comes off as a jerk many times. Now maybe he is kind of a jerk or maybe Savannah was trying to portray him through her (at the time) fourteen year old eyes. To be fair though, she did say a lot of good about him as well and he was the one who seemed to shoulder a lot of the responsibility of the trip. Her sister, who is older than Savannah, seems to act a lot younger in the book. And again, this could be accurate but it is hard to say. She certainly was a go getter despite how mature she acted though and very athletic. As for the local people she met, they were wonderfully described. I never tired of hearing how helpful and kind Savannah found them and the different things she learned from them. And her descriptions on their way of life were very informative and eye-opening. And Savannah herself is shown to grow through the book, in attitude and maturity.
For a "new" writer, Savannah has a great way with words and the book is well written. I would have liked to see more detail on the sights themselves, but there was still enough there to keep me interested and I always wondered where they were headed next. I am jealous of everything she got to see and if I didn't have pets to take care of, would have been tempted to go off backpacking on my own. But maybe someday. Her tale is a compelling one and to be uprooted at her age and get used to things you weren't familiar with would be tough. But she definitely overcomes her initial aversion to everything and seems to have the time of her life and her experiences are sure to stir the travel bug in anyone. Some pictures would have been really nice in the book, but there is a link to her website where you can see a ton of them, and it was nice to put faces to names and see some of the different areas she visited.
An interesting travel memoir. I'm eager to see what the next one will bring. This book deserves a very solid 4.5 star rating as it was well written and will appeal to all sorts of travelers or armchair travelers.
**This book was received as a Free Advanced Reviewer's Copy**
Sihpromatum
Copyright 2012
362 pages
Review by M. Reynard 2013
More of my reviews can be found at www.ifithaswords.blogspot.com
mazza57's review against another edition
3.0
I had the second of This authors books on my list for a different challenge but could not start with that without reading the first. Savannah' mother and father are divorced and Her mother decade to sell up and take a year out travelling with the family.. There are trials to be overcome before they can leave their home in Vancouver, Canada but eventually they are on their way.
Savannah. a reluctant traveller, to say the least; miserable from having to leave her life and friends behind slowly comes to realise what she is getting from this experience.
Despite this she continue to main her character as the belligerent teenager, moaning throughout whilst enjoying the adventure, experience and history of the countries she is visiting.
There is humour throughout and the sense of family is strong. Mum is drawn as an outwardly strong character dealing with the trials of travel and the fact that one sone is left out of the travels in a less than ideal situation
Savannah. a reluctant traveller, to say the least; miserable from having to leave her life and friends behind slowly comes to realise what she is getting from this experience.
Despite this she continue to main her character as the belligerent teenager, moaning throughout whilst enjoying the adventure, experience and history of the countries she is visiting.
There is humour throughout and the sense of family is strong. Mum is drawn as an outwardly strong character dealing with the trials of travel and the fact that one sone is left out of the travels in a less than ideal situation
liralen's review against another edition
4.0
Reminiscent of [b:Lost in Moscow|1953760|Lost in Moscow A Brat in the USSR|Kirsten Koza|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347791123s/1953760.jpg|1956687]: Savannah was about the same age as Kirsten Koza when her mother dropped a bomb on her comfortable, middle-class Canadian life: her mother had decided to take Savannah, her older sister, and one of their older brothers on a year-long backpacking trip.
It's a lighthearted, poke-fun-at-self sort of read, which works really well for the book. Rather than taking a serious tone, Savannah makes herself and each of her family members into a sort of caricature: her brother is the planner and lecturer of the group (serving the dual purpose of getting a lot of cultural/historical information to the reader), her sister is energetic and ditzy, her mother is a benign positive force, and Savannah is the whining youngest. That sounds like a negative, but it's not; it makes for a much more playful, self-aware book than if Savannah took them all super seriously. It also gives her (as an author) a chance to subtly highlight the prejudices she held and ways she, you know, learned better.
This is only the beginning of the story. The trip was originally planned to take a year, but per the book description it lasted four(!), and this book covers only the first couple of months in China and Mongolia. It'll probably take me a while to get around to [b:Backpacks and Bra Straps|23119958|Backpacks and Bra Straps (Sihpromatum #2)|Savannah Grace|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1409226913s/23119958.jpg|42669151], but I'd like to see where this story goes.
It's a lighthearted, poke-fun-at-self sort of read, which works really well for the book. Rather than taking a serious tone, Savannah makes herself and each of her family members into a sort of caricature: her brother is the planner and lecturer of the group (serving the dual purpose of getting a lot of cultural/historical information to the reader), her sister is energetic and ditzy, her mother is a benign positive force, and Savannah is the whining youngest. That sounds like a negative, but it's not; it makes for a much more playful, self-aware book than if Savannah took them all super seriously. It also gives her (as an author) a chance to subtly highlight the prejudices she held and ways she, you know, learned better.
This is only the beginning of the story. The trip was originally planned to take a year, but per the book description it lasted four(!), and this book covers only the first couple of months in China and Mongolia. It'll probably take me a while to get around to [b:Backpacks and Bra Straps|23119958|Backpacks and Bra Straps (Sihpromatum #2)|Savannah Grace|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1409226913s/23119958.jpg|42669151], but I'd like to see where this story goes.
epicuriouskat's review
5.0
When Savannah's sister, Breanna, posted a link about the upcoming book on Facebook a few months back I was immediately interested. Having heard of the family's travels from mutual friends I have been itching to know more of their adventures. I will literally read anything, good or bad, but I was really pleasantly surprised when this book turned out to be way better than merely good.
I was slightly sad that this instalment only covered the first two countries but then I figured that means there will be many more books to come and I perked right back up again. If you don't buy this book you're missing out, Savannah's accounts of the life of a backpacker in China and Mongolia will at times make you jealous and at others, glad you've never left your couch.
When Savannah runs out of non-fiction stories, I truly hope she branches out into fiction. With her superior story-telling abilities I'll be the first one in line. Buy this book NOW!
I was slightly sad that this instalment only covered the first two countries but then I figured that means there will be many more books to come and I perked right back up again. If you don't buy this book you're missing out, Savannah's accounts of the life of a backpacker in China and Mongolia will at times make you jealous and at others, glad you've never left your couch.
When Savannah runs out of non-fiction stories, I truly hope she branches out into fiction. With her superior story-telling abilities I'll be the first one in line. Buy this book NOW!
aggy's review
3.0
A great story of a backpacking travelling family. Making me wish I was one of them!
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