Nowhere for Very Long: The Unexpected Road to an Unconventional Life

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Her beautiful words continue to stick with me as my own dogs lick the tears from my face, and remind me of the simplicity of life when I too, drove west in an unconventional vehicle. Welp can’t wait to laugh and I’m sure cry while reading this book of such a wild spirited woman and her trustee group of dogs. Brianna wrote this beautifully and filled the pages with stories that will make you laugh and make you cry and inspire inspire you all at the same time. Everyone has bills to pay so I can’t blame her for making a book deal, but this book doesn’t stand out particularly from any other stories about people going off on their own. But I guess with her being fully indoctrinated into what it takes for “Instagram success” that dog tracks.

Brianna's honesty and vulnerability on Instagram, and her encouragement to do the hard, scary, unknown thing is what finally inspired me to leave my miserable graduate program in pursuit of a writing career. Brianna tells her stories from a grounded perspective, she is not the out of touch influencer that some people try to make her out to be. I didn’t know her from Instagram so wasn’t aware of some of the controversy I’ve seen other people posting about. In fact, at times it was downright boring, exhausting, and even desperatewhen Bertha overheated and she was forced to pull over on a lonely stretch of South Dakota highway; when the weather was bitterly cold and her water jugs froze beneath her as she slept in the parking lot of her office; when she worried about money, her marriage, and the looming question mark of her future.

Brianna leans into the realities of van life and is frank with her mental health struggles, but it’s written often with a lovely lyrical quality that put you right in the desert with her dogs that make you understand the appeal of solo desert living. A chaotic but beautifully written autobiography by a woman who has experienced love, hurt and growth.

And, as critical as I am of her, what drew me to and kept me as a follower is only amplified in the memoir; Madia is an extremely gifted storyteller. Because for the hundred or so unhappy humans spending so much energy hating her, there are literally MILLIONS who enjoy her take on the world and seeing her life unfold. I probably wouldn't have requested the book had I known of the issues even though I'm no fan of the mainstream U.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. As I started reading I was immediately immersed in this grandeur, if not really reckless, journey with Brianna. The negative reviews all repeat the exact same points over and over, and at this point it's just boring. Only she is brave enough to face the world and plaster those mistakes in public spaces where people have been incredibly cruel to her for being honest in this way.

Rejecting the competitive and capitalistic path set out before her, she chose to seek a truer version of happiness, a road scary, uncertain, and entirely her own. I have followed Brianna's journey for years, so my review may be biased, but her writing is what drew me to her in the first place. Her backpacking and canyoneering adventures, which gained her many followers to begin with, are far behind her as she stands firmly behind what is now important to her: material possessions. The most interesting part is "how does one support the adventure life" and "does living off of social media change how she does things" . Not only do I feel so fortunate to have watched the past few years of this story unfold on social media before it was published, but Bri has a way with words that makes me feel like I was right there with her.Nowhere for Very Long is her deeply felt, immaculately told story of exploration-of the world outside and the spirit within. Despite loudly proclaiming herself as a 'strong, capable, and independent' woman, Brianna has not done anything remotely outdoorsy as a single woman (unless you count drinking wine by the river). I'm not going to guess at what's true, but I'll say the book's explanation of the biggest issue is at least plausible.