Customer Reviews

Adrift

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A really wonderful book. Not a simple task to write an entire book based on life in a rescue dinghi. Like Anne Frank's Diary, the book seems at times to drag on ad infinitum, but this was it's strength. You truely feel the anticipation of the character. I couldn't put the book down. I recommend it.

The book takes you from a point in Jones' life where just finished hauling his boat up to "naval of the world", lake Titikaka--the highest lake in the world in Peru. Jones wanted to set a record as being the first man to ever sail upon this lake--he at least is the first to make this claim. The book picks up just after this and tells of a time where he eeks out a living in Brazil. He attempts and finally finds success selling a story that finances his return to England. He runs into difficulty with the authorities there and decides to sail to New York City were he manages to "shoe-horn" his diminutive boat "Sea Dart" into the elevator of Waldorf Astoria. He does this by cutting the cabin top off his boat. All this just so he could display it when he speaks of his adventures to the Explorer's Club.

It is not a book about sailing. I was looking to purchase a book about Tristan Jones sailing adventures. I learned very little about sailing when reading this book, because it was about a period of time where Tristan was barely surviving in South America trying to raise money to head to sea again. It is not a bad book, but it is not his best. This should not be your first Tristan Jones book. Don't buy this if you want a book on sailing. DO BUY this book if you want insight in how it is to be poor in South America. He tell of all sorts of horrifible atrocities taking place, like murder and genocide. I enjoyed the book but found some portions disturbing. I have to question it's accuracy, simply because he was a poor and desperate man at the time. Could he have embellished it to make the story easier to sell? My feeling is yes. I took it with a grain of salt, and because of the disturbing images, I doubt I'll re-read it.

Tristan's adventures continue on land. After struggling to get Sea Dart across South America--sometimes dragging the boat through the jungle--Tristan is in danger of losing her. He lives on the streets, takes odd jobs and sinks into despair. It all makes the triumph at the end of the book that much sweeter.