Nicki Geigert’s travel book, FAMILY TRIP TO MAGICAL MADAGASCAR AND BEYOND, is structured in journal-style, with events and locations detailed in a chronological format; essentially, the book is an account of the author’s 21-day itinerary. From the outset, the text is informative: ‘Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world’. This matter-of-fact style sets the tone for the whole book, which is peppered with encyclopedic snippets of knowledge. Indeed, anyone who intends to visit Madagascar will find this publication a fount of useful and interesting information. The strength of the book, however, is the photographs – in themselves, they recount the visual narrative of the trip in glorious detail. It is they that speak of the magic of Madagascar. From the opening panoramic vista of the city of Antananarivo to the close-up wildlife shots, Geigert defies the reader to resist the pull of Madagascar, and subsequently Zimbabwe. The visuals are aided by documented particulars, freighted with the writer’s love and knowledge of local flora, fauna, and customs and traditions.
That said, the book does have its shortcomings. First of all, the word ‘family in the book’s title is suggestive of a personal style that never quite materializes; beyond the names of the family members, the reader never quite gets to know the unique quirks of each individual. This is forgivable – after all, this is a travel book and not a novel. A second issue, though, is a little more bothersome: the writing style is rather prosaic and pedestrian, all the more jarring alongside the magnificence of the pictorial elements. One of the issues is the inclusion of minutiae, including mundane references such as what the family is eating for dinner. At other times, more detail would be beneficial – for example, at one point Geigert shares a list of local tribes, which is rendered rather meaningless in the absence of any supporting contextual relevance. The general impression is that of a skeleton – a framework that, without the personality that flesh provides, is ultimately characterless. The prose, while factual and teeming with knowledge, is also poorly structured; in particular, chapter-endings are sometimes rather abrupt: ‘We also saw some beautiful sailboat sailing by’. Ultimately, it is clear that Geigert’s real expertise is in the field of photography rather than writing.
FAMILY TRIP TO MAGICAL MADAGASCAR AND BEYOND is an informative and visual travel book with spectacular images, let down by a less-than-polished prose style.
~Amanda Ellison for IndieReader