Public Enemy No.1 is the second book from author Brendon Luke. A Satirical look on modern travel and the way our middle class society views it. Every trip has to come from an idea, an idea to leave something behind, an idea to create something new, an idea to change.
What does travel mean to you? Does it mean an undying love for newness? A joy found in continuous discovery? Or is it simply a means to an end? Travel, like many things, can excite a light in anyone. Here is where my middle-class privilege really shines. Here is where my pathological inability to walk in another's shoes becomes apparent. A Syrian child fleeing genocide is probably not going to romanticise travel the way I do, a Kurd exiled from their homeland will not revel in the worldliness of travel brought about by the loss of their ancestral homelands, a migrant farmworker will not gain #wokeness from their travels for minimum wage farm work. The travel I know, and love is the travel of middle-class white people with sufficient disposable income and sufficiently comfortable lives to find bar tending in London a novelty. I am disappointed to say I have no experience with the #RichKidsOfInstagram type of travel, but I'm sure I would take to it like a duck to water. In my last book I attempted to be inclusive, but this book will not be like that. I grew up solidly middle class and more than a little spoilt, not my fault, but I will write about what I know. I don't know what life is like genuinely poor; I don't know what life is like when your options are limited. I am what I am, and I make no apologies. For those of you who didn't grow up as me, this book will be your version of travel education, your opportunity to walk a mile in my shoes, your opportunity to ogle the exotic life of someone else.
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[What does travel mean to you?]***
(Independently Published, 21 June 2020, e-book, 105 pages, #ARC from the author and voluntarily reviewed)
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I'd never heard of the author before but the book sounded fun, so I went for it. I am so glad I did. In the midst of all this COVID-19 stuff, this book took the edge off and was exactly what I needed. It's not brilliant prose or life affirming, just a lot of fun. The author has a similar sense of humour to me, wry, sarcastic and dripping with bitchiness. It was like hanging out with my kindred spirit while drinking cheap wine and slagging off a bunch of people we are REALLY nice to in person! Sort of a dream! This won't suit everyone. There are some moments even I found distasteful. There is an excess of drinking and drug taking which I could have lived without. Overall, this was really funny and well written, the author is a natural story teller and very entertaining.
