Where to Nest by Kristen Van Nest
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
3.5 stars
Where To Nest is a comedic travel memoir from American comedian Kristen Van West.
It begins with details of her life growing up on the East coast of America and how her upbringing created her determination to be a success in business while embracing travel. Even as a teenager Kristen signed up for holiday courses abroad.
Kristen takes the reader on a journey with her to many countries that include France, Luxembourg, Germany, China, Greece, Kazakhstan, England and even a few weeks in Nairobi. While she lived and worked in many of these places, some were also holiday destinations.
This is candid piece of writing and I can only imagine how cathartic it must have been to complete. The reader follows Kristen as she searches for her purpose in life, a well-paid job in which she’s happy, a place to call home and someone to love her for who she is and where she resides.
Comedy can be a hard genre to write, and humour itself is such a personal thing. Something that one person finds hilarious might barely raise a smile in another. For me, the highlight of this book was the armchair travel experience.
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Book description:
After college getting her dream job in New York City, Kristen thought she had everything a modern Millennial was supposed to want–a sexy zip code, a boyfriend, and a corporate job. But instead of feeling content, she soon realized she had no idea who she was and what made her happy. Naturally, she did what any sane person would, hopped on a plane, and spent the rest of her twenties living abroad and traveling the world in search of love, adventure, and new and exciting places to eat bread.
By stripping away the cultural norms and expectations she grew up with in the US, she rebuilt from scratch a new identity, sense of self, and life purpose that ultimately led her to move to Los Angeles to pursue comedy. Through living in Luxembourg on a Fulbright Scholarship and then in China for three years working for a wine importer, Where to Nest takes us across the globe-including nearly being murdered by a lover while skiing in Switzerland, navigating Greece during a banking crisis, and visiting Thailand during a government coup–as a woman struggles to find belonging. This is a story for anyone who needs a good laugh, travel ideas, and inspiration for ways to add more joy into their lives.
Rosie Amber 