“Bridget Jones” Meets “The Beach”

That’s what some reviewers are calling “Backpack,” Emily Barr’s debut novel. “Backpack,” a U.K. hit which was recently released in the U.S., follows the exploits of Tansy Harris, a Londoner who leaves behind a dead mother, a coke habit and a boyfriend, and backpacks through Asia. “Her journey is prosaic in the extreme, filled with hearty Aussie backpackers, haughty French, outwardly friendly but inscrutable native guides, beachside bars in Cambodia, beachside bars in Thailand, etc.” Bryan Walsh writes in a review for Time Asia. “Although Tansy enjoys it, the strongest sensation the reader is likely to get from her trip is the been there, done that ennui pervading the backpacking scene.” Barr, who traveled around Asia for a year and wrote a column about it in the Guardian, has her own say about the genesis of the book in an author essay reprinted at Bookreporter.com.

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