Book Review: Naked in Eden, by Robin Easton

  

Okay, so let me start by telling you that I am not in possession of a particularly active imagination. Before I even really knew that about myself, I must have suspected it: I am creative, but I am not imaginative, and there is a big difference. I consider myself creative in that I am a writer, but I am not a creative writer – I know nothing about writing novels or short stories or anything with a plot that you might have to diagram on a white board. You know why I stick with journalism and blogging? They're true stories. I DON'T HAVE TO MAKE ANYTHING UP. I can be creative with how those stories are told, yes, but I don't have to make anything up. Which is good, because I SUCK AT MAKING THINGS UP.

You are asking, what on earth does this have to do with a book review? I will try to explain – when I read this book, I didn't get the dangerous aspect of it. The story is of a woman named Robin and her journey into the rainforest of Australia with her husband, where they lived for over a year. Did you get that? THEY LIVED IN THE RAINFOREST. Like, ALONE. Just the two of them. In the middle of nowhere, so far away from civilization that the journey to get there took days and could only be made if the RIVERS WEREN'T HIGH. And yes, she talked about snakes and saltwater crocodiles and plants that burned you so badly if you touched them that some people actually cut off their own hands because of the pain, but I didn't really get it.

But then! There was an episode of Man vs. Wild? Where Bear Grylls goes to the Australian rainforest and does ridiculous things like throws itty bitty rocks into calm rivers and giant horrible crocodiles just appear out of NOWHERE to eat his legs off? And because I do not have an active imagination, I was appalled to see what kind of place the Australian rainforest actually is, and my respect for Ms. Easton went up about 6,000 percent.

You guys, the Australian rainforest is not somewhere you want to be without, I don't know, a helmet and a hazmat suit for starters, and this woman went into that place and lived – HAPPILY – for more than a year, and she did most of it NAKED. I absolutely kid you not. Robin felt “disconnected from life” and decided to spend time away from civilization in order to reclaim her connection with nature as well as (and I hate this term but it does really apply here) to find herself. The result is pretty fascinating, in a lot of respects – Robin gives a lot of detail about her surroundings and the animals and plants she encounters. She is emotionally overcome by being surrounded by nothing but wild, untouched nature. She is also – I may have mentioned this already? - mostly naked.

But she has some incredible stories about things she saw in the rainforest – things that she was able to recognize as beautiful instead of scary or terrifying. Specifically, I am thinking here of the fact that she would take long walks in the forest and sometimes snakes (SNAKES) would drop out of trees onto her shoulders (ONTO HER SHOULDERS!) and she would just KEEP WALKING LIKE IT WAS NO BIG DEAL. No shrieking or screaming or tearing off into the forest so fast she collided with a tree! She was so one with nature that she saw herself as part of the forest – she knew that a snake didn't want to hurt her, and somehow her body had overcome that Fight or Flight mechanism that so many of us have when it comes to creepy things like snakes or spiders or leeches. (Yes, LEECHES.) (Thinking about skipping Australia on my world tour, YES I AM.)

I also appreciated her honest take on things. She didn't even leave out the part about what she did when she had her period (I totally would have wondered). She left in the hard things about her relationship with her family and living with autism. I liked the informative side of it – I didn't know anything about the Australian rainforest before I read this book.

That said, it was really hard for me to love it, because she has such a Nature Is God mentality, and I really really don't. I see God in nature, but I don't believe nature is God. Robin believes the trees and the animals and the earth were what were speaking to her (conversationally) and healing her while she was in the rainforest, and while I definitely see how being alone with nature and not being influenced by the real world would be refreshing and eye opening to the soul, I don't believe that nature speaks to our hearts; I believe that God does. That's my own personal belief system talking, though, and it's fine that what I believe is different than what Robin believes – it just made it more difficult for me to read. I rolled my eyes a bit, I confess. I tried to be open-minded about her story, I did. I'm not JUDGING her for what she felt and I am sure she felt it and believed it to be real. I just don't have a similar belief system, and religious beliefs are such a personal, individual thing so it was hard for me to identify with that part of the story. And that was a LOT of her story. I think I would really like Robin as a person, I'm just not sure this book does her adventures justice. A lot of it struck me as really out there, and I wonder if maybe her story comes across better through the spoken word than it does the written one.

It was a decent read and I am definitely curious as to where Robin's life has taken her now. Also, I remind you, I am never ever going to Australia. LEECHES. SNAKES FALLING FROM TREES. AIIIIEEEEEEEE.

Comments

[Swistle]

What a great review: I feel like I can totally decide whether or not I'd be a good fit with this book.

Ha---the "conversing with nature" thing: I would have been like, "Ah, yes, my mind would have slipped a disk, too, if snakes were dropping onto my (NAKED!) shoulders."

[Melissah]

I'm from Australia, and I promise, there are some awesome snake and leech-free places. You should come and check out our beaches - cleanest and most sparkling water in the world :)

[divrchk]

After college, I got a job working at an accounting firm. One of my good friends was living in Australia. After surviving my first tax season, I went to visit her. One of the things that I chose to do was to go on a tour of Australian rain forests. This was a touristy thing, in a Jeep, with out civilized people and a tour guide. Before we first got out of the Jeep, the guide handed us a bottle of something that looked like sunblock and told us to put it around our ankles. It was LEECH REPELLENT! The rain forests were beautiful but it was one of the most stressful days watching for leeches and trying to enjoy the beauty at the same time. The guide recognized my horror and was kind to pluck any leeches off of my sneakers for me.

When I got back to my friend's house, I made her take off my sneakers and socks b/c I would have cried and killed myself if any had broken the barrier and been sucking my blood the entire time.

[Megan]

SNAKES!!!!!

I want to read this book, and now I've put it on my list, but holy cow, I know that I will totally throw this book across the room at the first mention of snakes-dropping-on-people's-shoulders. Especially if it's all casual-like. ("Yeah, walked into the forest, blahblahblah, snake dropped on my shoulder, walked some more, no bigs.")

[-R-]

Living naked in the rainforest sounds like the worst possible idea EVER. I am glad the lady (1) apparently enjoyed it and (2) SURVIVED, but I am pretty sure she and I would not really understand each other.

[C]

OK, so you know that we lived in the Papua New Guinea rain forest..right? That being said, we were NEVER out there naked as we would have been eaten alive by mosquitos and there is the whole modesty thing..even if I was alone, I would have been uncomfortable hanging out naked (Heather could have done that though). I have spider, leach, roach, geko, mud, and yes snake stories, but the best part is that the Lord was there and really involved each step of the way.

[Life of a Doctor's Wife]

I loved this review, but I can't tell if it fully satisfied me so that I DON'T have to read the book... Or if it piqued my interest enough that I DO have to read the book.

I mean - snakes falling from the sky? I think your description is all I ever need to read about THAT, because EW.

[~ Bern ~]

One can say that Robin transcended the idea of belief and dis-belief whatsoever, to truly discover that god is at the essence of everything.

Feeling Life to its fullest dissolves all layers of clothing and thoughts about how life should be lived.

Enlightenment allows all Light to touch our skin no matter what form it has taken.

By letting Nature fully in to us, nothing will ever bite us.

[HereWeGoAJen]

So, what did she do when she had her period?

About 97% of all my nightmares feature snakes.

[DevilsHeaven]

I went to the Australian rainforest, and stayed in a resort, and was fully clothed the entire and stayed with a fully trained guide whilst off the resort. It was AMAZING and there were no snakes, just a gecko on our wall. Do not count it out.

[Jen]

Is it bad that my 3 year old requests to watch episodes of Man vs Wild all the time.... and we let her? I've had to explain things I never dreamed I would have to explain....

[Katie]

Nakedness and snakes that aren't of the attached to my husband variety are two things I would never, EVER combine. I would like to know what she did when she had her period, though. Please don't leave us hanging on that one.

[Lisa Munley]

Very interesting review, as I've totally come to expect from you!! I'm not comfortable walking around naked in my own house, let alone the rainforest! LOL Thanks so much for being on the tour.

[Julie Burns]

Yeah, the naked thing would have put me over the edge - by the end of my time in the forest, I probably would have been listening to leaves and frogs for advice too!