The Maze: An Extraordinary Quest for Enlightenment in a Barren Desert - Softcover

Rees, Lucy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0552143227 ISBN 13: 9780552143226

Publisher: Transworld Publishers Ltd, 1996

Synopsis

In 1992, Lucy Rees's journey on horseback across Arizona became a quest for spiritual enlightenment. A carving of a Cretan maze near Tintagel in Cornwall had always fascinated Lucy's companion Rick. In Arizona they were surprised to find from an illustration in a book, that this same carving could be found on a rock on one of three barren mesas in north-east Arizona where the last remaining Hopi native Americans had built their villages. The search for the maze announced itself as the purpose of their journey. But beyond their shared love of wild places, and this finishing point, they had a third, less clear purpose, an agenda only gradually revealed to them as events unfolded. They entered upon this journey in a spirit of exploration knowing that somewhere there was a centre, but uncertain as to what it was or what mysteries it might uncover.

About this title

Review

It seems you don't have to be American to dream about cowboys. Lucy Rees, a writer from Wales, and her companion Rick, travel all the way to Arizona in order to exercise a rather loopy dream of traveling through the American Southwest on horseback. It becomes apparent from the opening pages of The Maze that this is no ordinary travelogue. To begin, Lucy and Rick's original destination had been Mongolia. Equally extraordinary is their aversion to "betraying" the horses they will live with for several months by leaving them at the end of the trip. Their solution to this problem is to consciously choose delinquent horses, which they hope to rehabilitate and then resell to good homes. What they get are Rosie and Duchess: one a "spoiled brat," the other suspicious of people, "unpredictable, hysterical, and dangerous." Lesser beings might have been daunted at this point, deciding to trade in the horses for an RV, but not Lucy and Rick.

Lucy and Rick's goal is a Hopi mesa where a sevenfold maze similar to ones found in Cornwall, Spain, India, Scotland, Scandinavia, and Crete is carved in a rock. To get there, they must "cross desert, high plateau and half Navajoland, which itself is bigger than Wales." But as all good travel stories prove, the journey is the destination, and long before Lucy and Rick arrive at Hopi, they have learned some valuable lessons about themselves and each other.

From Kirkus Reviews

Rees, a horse trainer with a love of travel, offers a rambling account of her adventure in the wilds of the Old West. She and her friend Rick, both Welsh, determine to come to America, buy two horses, and ride through Arizona in search of a particular stone carving of a maze that is found in both Cornwall and Hopi territory. The horses they buy, Rosie and Duchess, had been spoiled and then dumped by former owners, and were literally on the way to the glue factory before Rees found them. The narrative is at its strongest when it focuses on these animals: They gradually accept training, and the mutual trust that develops between rider and horse is fascinating and frequently quite moving. Their journey is much harder than expected, and as the relationship between beast and human is strengthened, that between Rick and the author loses its center. The story becomes unexpectedly painful when Rees recounts past loves now lost. She seems to find herself stuck in an emotional equivalent of the maze she and Rick seek. After an awkward few days, the two travel on to the Hopi reservation where they want to study more closely the stone carving that links their country to America. The reservation, unfortunately, exposes a slightly maudlin edge to Rees's writing, and the history and importance of the carving are lost in a torrent of platitudes ... la Dances with Wolves. The end of the story is a muddled rush that stands in sharp contrast to her earlier clear prose style. While it relies too heavily on a vague, New Age mysticism, this slender book is nonetheless an engaging and unique travelogue. (illustrations) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Transworld Publishers Ltd
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0552143227
• ISBN 13: 9780552143226
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 224