With the title, Amazon Woman, I had expected a solo expedition down the Amazon. It's true that Ms. Gaetcher is the first woman and only woman, at this time, to kayak the entire length of the Amazon River. Additionally only a handful of people have ever done this. Her trip added 2 more besides herself - her long time boyfriend and a driven wealthy British fellow who learned kayaking just to undergo the trip as a personal challenge. This is almost a study of a challenging and dangerous trip where the participants regularly clash and to me a study of what not to do. The main drive besides the love of kayaking was the identification of kayaking the entire length of the Amazon River as something that only a few people have ever done, and they wanted to get into the record books. This was worth risking their lives. Although there were times they were alone, for the most part the Amazon River, and the river chosen as the originator of the Amazon, is well populated although natives and travelers alike are very fearful of each other. The local politics, especially in Peru, were interesting as I had not heard of the group, the Shining Path, before. Ms. Gaetcher shows a great understanding of the challenges the native people face with problems with the authorities and the Shining Path's brutal actions. The group also had support boats from time to time although there were certainly reliability issues no matter who was providing that support. Although this wasn't a reality show since a private individual was funding the trip, this sort of has the feel of a reality show where there is only one voice - the author's. My rating is 3 stars for there were parts I found interesting but there was also a lot of what I perceived as rambling around and repeating information. My copy is an advanced reading copy so perhaps that got cleaned up.

Great read about the quest of a non-kayaking computer geek to kayak the Amazon from headwaters to delta told by one of his trainers, Darcy Gaechter, who in the process became the first known woman to kayak the entire river. Gaechter expects this to be her final adventure before pursuing a "normal" life.

An inspiring, thought provoking story.

One of the most entertaining memoirs I've listened to and i'm not even a kayaker. Held my attention from the beginning. Plenty of action, but she was able to convey that parts of a months long trip are boring without actually boring me. I appreciated that the emotional and relational struggles of being with t he same 2 people for months wasn't overly sanitized. The personality conflicts really added to the drama. I didn't know anything about the outcome before picking up the book and I was never sure if they were going to finish the feat together or even still be speaking to one another when it all ended or finish with all their body parts.
The author was also through this journey trying to figure out what her next steps in life would be, at the start she'd lost her job and was feeling the pressure to settle down into a more typical life with a 9 to 5 and 401k, so i enjoyed hearing her progress towards figuring things out. (That being said, this is NOT the story of a wealthy entitled person who just quit her job to go find her self. )

This is an excellent book for those who like to read about real adventures rife with life and death situations, trials and tribulations, and some interpersonal relationship struggles.

Such an interesting book. I have always been obsessed with the Amazon river. It was fascinating to listen to this incredible journey.