OPEN SEPT. 15 - NOV. 15: SOWELL EMERGING WRITERS PRIZE FOR FULL FICTION MANUSCRIPT. LEARN MORE.
Canopy of the Daintree Rainforest

Robin Easton’s Naked in Eden

Reviewed by Claudia Broman

Naked in Eden

Naked In Eden: My Adventure and Awakening in the Australian Rainforest
by
Robin Easton

Health Communications, September 2010

 

In this adventure-laden memoir, Robin Easton shares a period of her life when she traveled to Australia, in her 20-somethings, lived off the grid in a remote rainforest, and began to understand her connection to the deadly and mysterious world around her.

Easton meets and marries a native Australian and together they decide to travel to the Daintree Rainforest and live bare-bones beyond the scope of modern convenience. Sleeping in tents, on cots, in the back of a truck, and on the ground next to a crocodile-filled river, the couple slowly develop a natural rhythm and find their place among poisonous snakes, tentacled jellyfish, and paralyzing ticks.

Over the course of Naked in Eden, Easton makes observations about herself as a person, and ultimately overcomes what she calls her “autistic state.” Through regular interactions with rocks, trees, and rain, Easton tells the story of how, by developing awareness of her rainforest home, she learned to find her way as a member of what she now describes as a loving community.

Naked In Eden is accessibly written and its deep, almost mystical intensity at times, encourages readers to keep turning pages – an indication of how Easton grew mentally, physically, and spiritually, facing and embracing her rainforest fears throughout her time in the Daintree.

 

 

Claudia Broman lives in Ashland, Wisconsin. Her poetry has appeared in Writing Nature: An Annual of Fine Nature Writing and Drawing.

Header image by adrimarie, courtesy of Pixabay