These short stories range all over the place. Most take place out of the United States in places such as France or Australia in the outback. But there are a few in the US like a Burning Man event out in the desert or some mentions of Montana. And since this book seems to think its about misadventures, the stories usually attempt to be humorous in their tellings and more about little embarrassing stories than travel narratives. There's the lady who is obsessed with poo, another who bartends in Australia, another who details the joy of airline travel and many others.
Each of the stories pretty much has a different writer but I found that their writing styles were all very similar. I don't think its a result of editing but rather that they are all the same type of writer. They try to be humourous and I did enjoy some of the stories they chose to tell better than some of the others, but if asked to pinpoint which author I'm not sure I could tell you which one stood out for me. None of the writing was outstanding though.
I do have to say that this book didn't really satisfy the travel aspect for me. For example, telling a tale about your underwear falling down your legs is not travel writing, even if the event did take place in a foreign country. While I understand that this was supposed to be a book about misadventures, most of these stories were things that could happen in your hometown and still not be very interesting. I really don't care about some guy's junk you saw on a beach and how that 30 second glimpse is the main focus of your short story. There were barely any stories that fascinated me and I really was looking forward to hearing some travel stories from women. But alas they were more concerned about their cellulite and makeup than in having an adventure.
Kind of a sad little book despite its attempts to be funny. At least it was a quick read.
Sand in My Bra
Copyright 2003
194 pages
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