This unusual style is at odds with the typical nature of the book's contents. The book itself is quite beautiful, with color inclusions of European prints and postcards, as well as small details such as reproductions of international stamps. Steinbach proves quite the opposite: solitude does not encourage newfound independence in her, rather, it fosters a craving for human contact.Īnd while Steinbach misses her original goal, she still takes her readers on quite a likable travel journey. Steinbach surrounds herself with people she never really spends time alone and, subsequently, does not have the time to examine a woman's independence. Later, in London in summer, Steinbach meets three women who nurse her back to health when she becomes ill she befriends Jean, an Australian psychoanalyst, ironically, at Freud's house and she enrolls in classes at Oxford and takes ballroom dancing lessons. And she meets Naohiro, a widowed Japanese man who takes Steinbach to remote, memorable Parisian haunts and becomes a romantic interest for her. She meets Liliane, an unusual French woman who takes her out for dinners and influences her newfound fashion sense. As much as she claims she wants to spend her time alone, discovering independence, she spends the majority of her time seeking out friendships. However Steinbach does not have the journey she intended. She has the quintessential Parisian experience. She sees fabulous architecture, eats delicious food, has good wine and meets interesting people.
Her journalist's eye for detail is noted and appreciated while she is relaying her experiences. Steinbach takes the reader on a guided tour of Paris, frequenting small cafés and unknown restaurants as well as some major landmarks, such as the Champs Elysées and the Louvre. As such, Steinbach rents a small flat and proceeds to explore her new surroundings and herself. She imagines a metamorphosis of self a year in which she will become a different woman entirely. She envisions the trip as a journey of independence, in which she will attempt to understand what it truly means to be a woman in the middle phase of her life, her children now grown and gone, and herself divorced. Without Reservations is a travel memoir by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Alice Steinbach, detailing her yearlong travels throughout Europe as a self-proclaimed "independent woman."ĭeciding she needs a drastic change in her life, Steinbach takes a leave of absence from her job as a journalist to move to France. Without Reservations: The Travels of an Independent Woman
Review | Without Reservations by Alice Steinbach
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