A Bookreview
The silence comes as you walk – on the way to myself is a wonderfully sensitive book. The author, Luca Lauga, has had strong transformative years. Here she presents the path she has taken in an impressive and expressive way. It describes paths. Paths of life. Internal processes. Paths and encounters inside and out. Stories of herself and stories of other people. These stories show in the most vivid way how supposed opposites can be eliminated. Luca Lauga tells stories that she has experienced herself and she tells stories that people have told her on her hikes and in her life so far. It becomes clear again and again how much Luca is aware of the power, meaning and effect of words and how thoughtfully she deals with them in conversations with others, but especially here in the book.
At the same time, she is also able to describe the quiet moments – those in which there are no words and which nevertheless (or precisely because of this?) enable the most impressive encounters and experiences and tell a story in their own way. In the book, Luca elegantly and impressively combines her roots and childhood experiences with the experiences at and beautiful pictures of the "other end of the world". Throughout the book, the reader gets a good idea of her transnational and transcultural family life and how the reflection on her roots helped her to face the multiple near-death of her son, as well as her own illnesses and to reach into deeper, more essential insights of life.
The soothing variety and balance of interpersonal contact and loneliness is vividly expressed by the cleverly chosen jumps between the narrative strands. Thus, in the hustle and bustle of our European digital city life, the modes of communication in the distant, deserted Andes as well as the menace of the forces of nature may seem strange to us. Probably even irritating. But irritation is a good thing, writes Luca Lauga. No disasters. These moments, events and encounters throw us back on ourselves and force us – enable us – to question ourselves, our lives, the world and our previous assumptions and to look at everything from a completely new perspective. And this is exactly the opportunity Luca gives us in her book.
Luca Lauga takes the reader into the worlds of her memory, her perception, her thoughts and emotions. And so we can literally see the vast Pacific Ocean in front of us, smell the scent of the freshly mown grass as well as the medicinal plants that helped her son to recover and feel the anxious moments in the intensive care unit, the inner struggles, the physical effort of climbing the Andean peaks and the deep inner peace at the end.
The book is just as exciting and full of discoveries for nature lovers, botanists, globetrotters, travelers and seekers as it is for people in deep life crises. This book is also highly recommended to people who want to discover new inspirations and a new world in a smooth and at the same time memorable writing style. The book is certainly of particular importance for people with accident experiences or illnesses whose further course is unclear and for people who still have to heal traumas for themselves or want to help others. So if you have not yet discovered walking as a healing or even sacred act, you will reconsider trying it for yourself after this reading at the latest. I wish you all a lot of joy in reading and inspiration for your own path to yourself.
Nora
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