Alt for One, One for Alt
A travel memoir unlike anything in the bone-dry pages of Fodor's — 21,000 miles, ten Norwegian cities, one reality TV show, and a family finally found. Available now from NDSU Press!
From Jeff's Cover Letter
"Alt for One, One for Alt" is a travel guide unlike anything you might find in the bone-dry pages of Fodor's. It documents the 21,000 miles I traveled in ten weeks to ten Norwegian cities, while being haunted by my ancestral Norwegian family and my North Dakota birth family. Why did I dare go back to the Motherland? I was an earnest contestant on the highly rated, highly expensive, and highly campy reality TV show "Alt for Norge," and there wasn't anything I wouldn't do to attempt to win the big prize — meeting my Norwegian relatives for the first time. The true prize, I would discover, was bigger and more dangerous than expected: the journey itself. The path into my Norwegian heritage, and my slow crawl back, was a costly reward.
From NDSU Press In-House Review
Jeff Johnson is a storyteller, and a good one at that. As a graphic designer at designreplace.com, he's told the story of dozens of brands ranging from Geek Squad to SmashBurger. He's also the sort of person for whom interesting things happen...[his] manuscript reads...more like a memoir that travels [rather than a travel memoir].
From a Blind Peer Reviewer
If "Alt" were simply a chronicle of one person's experience on the Norwegian reality show Alt for Norge, it would be an amusing and briskly told travel narrative. But it is much more than that. Through the author's participation in this competition, he develops his own perception of the Norwegian culture and psyche and relates it to his own life. In finding his Norwegian roots the author begins to develop an understanding...[that] leads to healing within himself, his family, and his marriage, and a new, healthy relationship with his Norwegian roots. "Alt" is a compelling and vividly told story, with moments of genuine humor as well as heartbreak.
