Independence Day: A Broken Heart's Voyage Around the USA

by Jim Keeble

Newlyweds are difficult to avoid in Niagra Falls. Each year 500,000 freshly hitched sweethearts book a room in one of the 55 motels offering heart-shaped jacuzzis, tiger rugs, and mirrored ceilings. That's 700 couples a day. Not the best place to be then, when your girlfriend rejects your proposal of marriage, and proposes instead that you go your separate ways. His self-esteem heading south, Jim Keeble decides to follow suit, hoping that the United States—and the women of America—can help mend his broken heart. He says viva to Las Vegas and the showgirls of the 21st century tries to catch a crab-catcher's daughter in historic Virginia, and cheers on an ex-cheerleader on a Dude ranch in Arizona.

Genres: Memoir

256 pages, Paperback

First published July 6, 2000

Reviews

[Helen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd give this book 1.5 stars, it's not that I completely didn't like it, I liked some of it, but I'm not sure it was a 2 star book.

I thought this book started off well - Keeble is pretty funny, his descriptions of places are interesting especially if you have been to them and can relate to his comments and the people he meets on his travels are often quite strange and comical - but by about page 200 I'd got bored and skipped to the end. I hardly every do this.

I was just no longer interested in what happened to Jim or in the random facts about places that were being provided and to be brutally honest I got a bit fed up with hearing about Angie (perhaps I'm harsh and unsympathetic?).

Not really my sort of thing, it was a refreshing change but got old quite quickly.

[Shelby Nagy · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone with a fondness for both sardonic narration and rural America (or at least my romanticized image of it), I found this book to be a decent read.

Keeble's descriptions of each state he visits are amazingly vivid, and his commentary on the people themselves is an interesting mix of admiration and condescension ("Because In some ways America is a medieval place, where medieval religious thinking abounds. It is a place where the elements still kill people, where many are still dependent on the land, and where much of the population has little idea what goes on in a city a hundred miles away, let alone on the other side of the world...the only difference is that medieval folks didn't pay one dollar fifty for a gallon of gasoline-this precious resource is the same price as Coca-Cola.")

The jadedness started to irritate me after awhile. But the intricate descriptions of the land, his series of pathetically hilarious failed dates, and the all-to-real dialogue kept me invested enough to finish it.

[Vicky Sorsby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not what I expected but enjoyed it, made me want to visit some of the places he went to

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Brokenhearted, Keeble heads out on the road after his Canadian girlfriend rebuffs not only his marriage proposal but also of ever seeing him again. Rather than an amusing romp across the US, the book was actually pretty dull.

Keeble is British and it is blatantly apparent when he twice refers to a "Toyota Miata" and Southern California's South Bay as an area known as "Conservative Orange County." Poor guy, rejected and ill-informed.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad, not bad, a bit whimsical and I wondered how much of the story was manufactured.....but then you could wonder that about every travelogue. At least this was interesting, self depreciating and managed to capture something in the off-beat observations about America and Americans. I did get a bit tired of the constant eulogising of his previous girlfriend, "the one", who he let slip away and became his muse for this book. If he thought she was that great, how did he let that happen?

[Richard Nicholson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly lightweight but some funny moments and more than one incident I could relate to on a personal experience level!

Don't read if you have just broken up with someone. But then again,maybe the perfect tonic.