Kiss The Sunset Pig: A Canadian's American Road Trip With Exotic Detours

by Laurie Gough

In this lyrical, poetic, and charmingly funny book, Laurie Gough drives from Ontario to California reflecting on a life spent travelling in search of new experiences and familiar sensations. Heading towards a half-remembered cave on the Pacific coast where her younger, more adventurous self once stayed, she recalls adventures in Sumatra, the Yukon and many places in between—and wonders what compels her to keep moving through life while everyone else has found a place to belong.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Memoir

344 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2005

About the author

Laurie Gough is author of the newly released Stolen Child: A Mother's Journey to Rescue Her Son From Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; Kiss the Sunset Pig: An American Road Trip with Exotic Detours; and Kite Strings of the Southern Cross: A Woman’s Travel Odyssey, shortlisted for the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award in the U.K., and silver medal winner of ForeWord Magazine’s Travel Book of the Year in the U.S. Over twenty of her stories have been anthologized in literary travel books; she has been a regular contributor to The Globe and Mail, and has written for The Guardian, Macleans magazine, the Walrus, The L.A. Times, USA Today, salon.com, The National Post, Canadian Geographic, The Daily Express, Caribbean Travel + Life, among others. She lives in Wakefield, Quebec, with her family and gives memoir and travel writing workshops internationally.

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved (LOVED!) Gough's previous travel memoir, Kite Strings of the Southern Cross, but something about this one is really aggravating and I don't know if I'll be able to finish it. Gough is clearly cooler than the rest of the population. She promises never to have another root beer float from Dairy Queen because it's just so "sickly sweet." She sleeps alone outside without so much as tent--on park benches, in campgrounds--and never considers the dangers. Not even for a second, Laurie? Really? It never even crosses her mind because she's just so cool! When her things are stolen, this is a learning lesson and a weight lifted because she is just. so. cool. I don't remember this tone in her previous book. And while it aggravates the heck out of me, there's still something about her voice that's so readable and pleasant. It's chatty, easy. I want to like this soooo much more.

[Laura Kerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the most inspirational book I've read in a long long time. I'm always looking for books about strong women who go off in search of adventure and love and meaning in life, and when those writers write beautifully and are funny and self-deprecating like Gough, it makes it all the more worth it. Highly recommended!

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a travel memoir that alternates between the current road trip from the author's hometown in Canada to northern California and past worldly travels. She immersed herself in an adventurous lifestyle and (IMO) was unsafe/vulnerable at times. But all of these travels occurred before 2001, which might make a difference. She has some wonderful 34-year old insights, observations, and questions that probably would have resonated more with me if I was that age.

[Peter Newman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Laurie Gough is thoughtful, poetic, romantic, and funny.

This book is worth reading even if it were just for the chapter on Sumatra, let alone for her other exotic detours. She takes risks that most of us wouldn't; she emerges from them enriched, and occasionally chastened. The scenes in Sumatra go from hair-raising to hilarious. This is a terrific read.

[Meg Morden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written. I like the structure of the road trip from Guelph to California framing chapters on travel to other places. At times philosophical, it is a journey of self discovery and self awareness.

[Tonia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Laurie Gough has a traveling spirit and is constantly moving away from a consistent, scheduled, routine life, always trying to find a place she feels is full of the exotic other. Through her trip in a jeep named Marcia from Southern Ontario to California, she recounts not only her experiences on the road, but spends several chapters flashing back to her international journey's from years gone by. At first, I did not enjoy her narrative as Gough's voice included a whining edge no matter her life choices. As the story progressed, her narrative morphed from 'why me' to a courageous link of travel choices I would be hard pressed to make. Gough demonstrates a consistent decision to avoid tourist traps in her traveling, instead, making choices to sleep in a cave on the beach for 6 days, sleep in a hollowed out tree for 3 nights, and to brave an unknown countries as she continually arrives with few plans or local contacts. This type of traveling requires a true free spirit, a drive to understand different life experiences, and a trust in the goodness of human relationships. In the end a good book which I did enjoy and whose stories have added a few places to visit or avoid in my own travel plans.

Best parts:

"Gazing at the faces of the fashion-conscious teens and the heavy-set parents pushing ice-cream-eating kids in strollers I long to see the face of a true eccentric, someone who doesn't belong. But in this culture of sameness I can't find anyone like that. That's something I love about outdoor markets, especially those in the developing world or in big cosmopolitan cities: eccentrics are everywhere. The North American mall is one of the West's less enlightened ideas for only occasionally does the enclosed mall exude a noisy excitement of a meeting place. Mainly, instead of being colourful, outlandish, and pulsing with life, malls are sterile; they smell like air freshener rather than ripe fruit, spices and sweat; the music is canned instead of live; and the people inside the malls seem bored, more concerned with buying the latest rend marketed at them than engaging in lively conversation." p. 98

"So there was a spark of light in that trip after all, a single moment asking to be remembered. I see now that the easy road isn't the road to take to find that spark. If we really want to find true beauty in their world, the road to find it can be full of ache, wrenching hurdles, heartbreak and potholes. But it's the road we sometimes need, the one I needed to come across that little girl and her family on that forlorn island after the storm." p. 251

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I read it as I was turning 30, and it was completely appropriate. The book is a travel memoir in which the author drives from Canada to California in a quest to figure out what her adult life will be like. At the same time, she reflects back on travel experiences from her younger years. If you love to travel, the book is a pleasure. If you like Eat, Pray, Love I think you'd like this book. They're similar, but I found this one much less annoying. (A teensy bit annoying - there's something about the almost reckless way the author travels that bugs me, and her judgements about some of the places she visits.)

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a travelogue written by a Canadian driving from Ontario to California and reminiscing about other travels and life choices along the way. It touches on so many of the same issues in my life: relationships and settling and belonging somewhere and adventure and wander-lust, growing up and self-definition. Plus the canada->us and east->west transition experiences. It's trying really hard to be poetic and philosophical but I can't quite love it.. maybe because her feelings(and writing) are too much like my own and it pricks? She does a great job of putting you in the various places she's exploring, and paints great portraits of the people she encounters in her travels. http://www.lauriegough.com/books1.html

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kiss the Sunset Pig has an interesting title eh? The book doesn't have much to do with kissing or pigs really, though there are a few sunsets here and there if I do recall.
This book serves as a memoir of travel stories. Laurie Gough, who, when this book is taking place, lives in Guelph, wants to move to California. She packs her bags and makes it a road trip. Along her route, she has flashbacks of some of her amazing travels. From Greece, to the Yukon to Thailand, she's been all over the place and has some crazy stories to tell.

[Suzanne Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gough has a lovely voice as she describes her journey across the US to see if she wants to live in California. Her descriptions of other trips in which she learned about herself are vividly real. This book speaks to those of us who are often conflicted about the importance of community and attachment and the joy of travel and discovery.

[Rachel Burton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm reading a lot of non-fiction/memoirs/travel stories at the moment and I'm noticing a pattern. I love the stories but I always end up not liking the writer very much by the end.

Which says more about me than the writer I think.

[Slurry222 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this wonderful, touching, funny book in one long sitting. It was like going on a voyage with a friend. I especially enjoyed Gough's reflections on how our experiences change us, so that sometimes we hardly recognize who we've become. Highly recommended!

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

What are we all chasing?

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird. And exciting. And weird.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gough relates her experiences well, but I came away uncertain whether I'm really her target audience? She struck me as rather naive, almost foolish, in places for such an experienced traveler.

[Reena · Rating 3 out of 5]

As much as I like travelogues, this one simply did not grab me the way others have done in the past. Still, there are some interesting tales to be told.