Patagonia: Crossing the Plain/Croesi'r Paith

Publishers Weekly

In 2005, Welsh actor Rhys set out with a group of companions to explore Patagonia, the vast hilly regions and plains of central and south Argentina, on horseback. They were duplicating a five-and-a-half-week trek made in 1885 by a group of 20 Welsh settlers, as well as seven Argentines and Germans, and this bilingual (English-Welsh) scrapbook from the recent trip, featuring photographs and text, is a testimony to their travels, offering vivid accounts of the hardships of marathon horse-riding, as well as the pleasures of Argentine asado and maté. Unfortunately, Rhys's descriptions of more serious fare—his companions, impressions, observations, emotions—are sparse and vague. For example, Rhys describes a travel companion, Oscar Kansas Jones, with little more than "another one who took good care of me on the road" or invoking "Butch Cassidy's time in Patagonia" without elaborating. Rhys's black-and-white landscapes possess a stark beauty and are occasionally powerful, but they are not enough to redeem the thin treatment of an inspired premise. (June)