North of Tourism

by Stephen Henighan

These compelling, moving stories dramatize the dilemmas of people who have stayed away from home too long, probing the question of how to act and interact in a world of incessantly shifting cultural boundaries. North of Tourism is about travellers who have broken free of boundaries, crossing the line from tourism to committed participation in societies in which they remain an adventurous elderly Frenchwoman in Brazil, a dangerously solitary young human-rights worker in Guatemala, expatriates in Spain, uprooted Canadians in England, a Toronto family splintered by its move to rural Ontario, Westerners adrift in the former Soviet Union and, in the closing novella, a diplomat from Luxembourg struggling to salvage meaning from his scandal-shattered life as the First World War engulfs Montenegro and Serbia - all ride the tides of a world where all nations appear alluringly open, yet each continues to enforce the codes of its own history.

173 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1999

Reviews

[Susan Chow-Dukhan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short stories and a novella about people who are living in, working in, or visiting countries, cities, or communities outside the boundaries travelled by regular tourists. We are given an insight into observations, rationalization, emotional feelings and frustrations, as our travellers encounter cultural differences.
While the stories are well written, there is a sense of loneliness surrounding each of the displaced characters, resulting in the reader wanting the stories be longer. If the reader is left wanting more, does that mean that Mr. Henighan is a good writer or a poor writer? This is a debatable question. The reader's answer to this question will affect their rating of this book.