Already present on my blog with a collection of out-of-ordinary travel stories, Simon Yeats is back with a lengthy memoir of resilience. The joy of reading memoirs, at least for me, consists in the chance of getting to know individual destinies and various ways in which life prepares us to cope with unexpected episodes. This is very much available in the case of Yeats whose life - or rather said, many lives - is bigger than life itself.
My Second Life. One Man´s Inspirational Story does have many travel details threfore travel lovers will find a lot of adventurous inspiration in this book as well. The descriptions are vivid and the adventures are his best companion. Cheating death more than once is not easy.
But there is a before and an after and we are repeatedly warned to keep in mind this distinction between the first and the second life. First, there is the preparation. Secondly, comes the test and him becoming freed of fear.
Shortly in the second half of the book, after many exciting travel-related encounters, we are introduced to Simon Yeats, the family man. He just married his Brazilian-born girlfriend and works hard more than one job for raising a family that soon will include a Miami-born son. Seven years of marriage later, he is faced with a dramatic reality: it was all a lie and no matter what he is trying to do, it seems he lost his son, who is now residing with his ex-wife in Rio.
It follows a complex legal imbroglio that reveals the sometimes hopeless. Instead of travel adventures, he is navigating the muddy pathways of Geneva Convention and is having informative sessions at the State Department alongside with other parents in similar situation. It is definitely not too much to learn from this, as in most cases the authorities seem to be hopeless in returning children back from far away lands to their parents.
All those details of the legal proceedings at the Family Court in Rio may provide important information of what could happen when an international marriage or relationship involving children goes wrong.
My Second Life is informative and personal, a complex life story that do leave you with a bitter taste. But maybe there will be a chance of a third life as well, after all.
Rating: 3.5 stars
Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own
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