Customer Reviews

The Curve of Time

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've read the the book many times and never tire of it. My father was one of the five children:Peter. I was only 5 or 6 when Capi died but I can still remember her. She was a very'matter of fact' woman. My dad was able to relate many other stories and expand on the ones in the book. When he grew up he sailed up and down the coast. Only 1 of the 5 children remain alive today and she ( Joan) resides in Victoria.

The book is wonderful both for the things that it does and does not say.

The book is full of charming episodes that made me envy them and the certainty and beauty of their life: the rare pleasures this little family sees in their boat; the way that they read Maeterlinck together; the other pioneering people they meet on their way.

But just as the beauty is very real, so too are the things that she barely touches on: the loss of her husband; the fear for her children; the decision to turn her back on the world of the cities. I admired her tremendously for the hard things as well as the easy. The lyricism of the book was deepened by the clear difficulty of her choices.

Highly recommended.

This is clearly my favorite book on cruising the Inside Passage and about women. Capi was an inspiration not only as an adventurer but as a mother, accomplished mariner and author. I only wish she had written more or that more had been written about this amazing woman. Her literary style was wonderfully understated. She tells an exciting story of cruising the Inside Passage alone with five small children as though she were taking an inconsequential stroll around the block. Only those that have experienced these waters can fully appreciate the courage and self confidence of this remarkable woman. This book should be mandatory reading for all young girls.

I read this book while cruising on a boat in the same waters Ms. Blanchet writes about. In many ways and places, only the years have changed and the landscapes and history remain relatively untouched by today's rapid change.

Not only are the stories of her travels with her children on her late husband's boat interesting, but her writing and her perspective for the times are as fresh and current as if written just recently.

I have gifted this book many times. It was gifted to me. This is a volume which sticks with you from the day you read it. When you gift it, you need to go back and read all or part again, just to take you back.

As a woman filled with wanderlust and independence, Muriel Wylie Blanchet is one of my heros.

I recommend this book highly to anyone who not only loves the outdoors, the waters of Vancouver and BC, but to any person who loves the spirit of adventure based on real life experience--not a made for TV event.

This is a simple and beautiful book. The author has a way of drawing you into her "mystic" way of looking at things, but not in some forced, "new aged" way; more of simple wonderment of what seems to be. A similar read but with a very different feeling is "Gila Descending" by Salmon - about a guy and his dog and cat running the Gila river in a canoe - I thought it wonderful also.

I've read the the book many times and never tire of it. My father was one of the five children:Peter. I was only 5 or 6 when Capi died but I can still remember her. She was a very'matter of fact' woman. My dad was able to relate many other stories and expand on the ones in the book. When he grew up he sailed up and down the coast. Only 1 of the 5 children remain alive today and she ( Joan) resides in Victoria.

This is a great historical perspective on boating in the Canadian Gulf Islands and beyond, of particular interest to modern day boaters. In addition it provides a diary of how one woman provided adventure and a unique learning experience for her children. I found it compelling. The only detraction was the rather abrupt ending.

This book was like taking a trip to an enchanted world. Oh how wonderful it must have been to have been one of those lucky children living their nomad summers on the Caprice! M. Wylie Blanchet was quite a woman, mother, can captain. Reading the reports of her family's summer adventures, one strange inlet at a time, left me refreshed and filled with longing for summer and a simpler nature-bound existance. Yay Blanchet! (Yay the Canadians in general.) Yay the Pacific Coast!

Despite all my cheering, The Curve of Time is a quiet book, and very much recommended by this reader, especially to those who enjoy travel literature, and tend towards the nostalgic.

I bought and read this book when I was sailing in that area some years ago, and every time I read it, I want to go back and explore again. It is hard to believe that these trips happened so many years ago. So little has changed, and that is what makes it such a pleasure to read. What wonderful adventures.

The Curve of Time is such a sweet read, and the only book published by Capi Blanchet. It's author spends summers cruising the coastal waters of British Columbia with her 5 children, the youngest only 2 1/2. She is a delightful story-teller, and inpires me to stay connected with the child-like wonder with the natural world. I am also inspired by her steady self-confidence - extreme weather, engine troubles in remote regions, encounters with bears, and miscellaneous injuries never seem to rattle her. This is not a super-woman, adventure book however. She very matter-of-factly and imaginatively weaves her tales, reminding me a little bit of Peter Pan. I loved it!