Travelphan is a memoir for a mature young adult audience. By
mature, I mean there is a lot of sex.
Travelphan documents Ryan’s struggles with injuries and his
decision to take a trip to various places overseas including India and China.
His intentions are to sort of find himself and try to train to be an athlete
again.
The road is not easy, but he keeps his head high and he
takes the readers through the good times and the struggles.
It starts off by detailing his life in the states and his
experiences with sports. He ultimately ended up injuring his knee multiple
times and had to have surgery. It was never the same after that and was pretty
weak.
His decision to travel had a lot to do with wanting to get
back into shape and start training again.
First, he stops off in India for a spiritual journey. I feel
like his stop off here really gave him the mental strength to continue on to
China and go through with the training.
Travelphan is written in a journal format. The chapters, or
sections, were really short. It made reading a lot easier and more interesting.
There were some that weren’t even half a page.
It felt like I picked up his journal right out of his room
and started reading it. It was interesting, but I have always liked books that
are written like that. Both fiction and non-fiction like this one was.
Despite some of the sexually explicit content, this was
actually a very inspiring read. I haven’t torn my ACL, but I do have knee
problems, and reading about Ryan pushing through his struggles was inspiring
for me to do so as well!
It was fun, it was very interesting at times, and for a
YA-directed memoir, it was written pretty well.
Memoirs are interesting because, by the end, you feel as
though you really know the author even though you may have never talked to
them. Ryan did a good job of presenting himself, his thoughts, and his
problems. It was very relatable and could be read by any audience.
I overall enjoyed it, and I am glad that he pursued his
dreams to train and ultimately get a book published.
If you enjoy travel or spiritual memoirs, or even just books
that read like a personal journal, I would recommend this one.
4/5 Stars
Memorable Quote: "Those who are willing to sacrifice the most will enjoy life’s sweet nectar"
