Amazon.com Review
Clint Willis, the anthologist de l'extrème who brought us
High, takes to the brine for a wide-lens collection of tales from the high seas in
Rough Water. Much of it aims for the outer reach as portrayed in Sebastian Junger's
Perfect Storm. Armchair navigators will thrill to the dangers and codes of honor that intermingle in the surf, as in Robin Knox-Johnston's stiff-upper-lip telling of his solo circumglobal sail: "I was in the lead and stood a slight chance of winning, and I felt that this would be worth giving an eye for, so I carried on." And like many anthologies, this one may draw readers to the full-length versions. Tony Farrington's harrowing account of a rescue in the South Pacific stands on its own, but others, like Steven Callahan's "Adrift: Seventy-six Days Lost at Sea," beg for a
full telling. Not recommended for a pleasure cruise.
--Tipton Blish
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
From Library Journal
The hypnotic appeal of danger, hardship, extreme elements, and facing death are fascinating to many readers, as witnessed by the popularity of The Perfect Storm and Into Thin Air. Both books related the drama surrounding nature at its most violent and dangerous. Epic is a compilation of 15 memorable expeditions to world-famous peaks. Included here are Jon Krakauer's solo ascent of Devil's Thumb in Alaska, a winter ascent of Mt. McKinley, and Alfred Lansing's narrative of the 1915 Shackleton expedition. The listener experiences cold, hunger, and fright at the hands of writers who are actual climbers. Their words are powerful because they ring with authenticity. The hardships these climbers endured go almost beyond human comprehension. In one story, a man is stricken with blood clots in his legs; his team members go through tremendous difficulties in an attempt to bring him down rather than continue their climb to the summit. Another story recounts a blinding snowstorm that keeps climbers in their tents for many days and describes the great efforts that must be made merely to melt enough water to stay alive. Rough Water is an anthology of sea stories, mixing fictional excerpts from lengthier works with accounts of factual disasters and includes a portion of Two Years Before the Mast and an episode from Herman Wouk's The Caine Mutiny. Among the most fascinating are Lawrence Beesley's eyewitness account of the sinking of the Titanic and a shipwreck survivor's diary of a 74-day ordeal aboard an inflatable raft. What keeps Rough Water from being as compelling as Epic is the offsetting move from true-life encounters to fictional stories and from chapters that leave you hanging, either wanting to know what happens or not caring about the outcome. Epic, on the other hand, is powerful, bringing the prospect of frostbitten flesh, chattering teeth, sudden avalanches, and treacherous ice paths into vivid clarity. The listener feels the intense discomforts and experiences the worry of the climbers but, with morbid fascination, still wants more. Both collections are read by experienced audio narrators Rick Adamson, Eric Conger, Alan Sklar, Graeme Malcolm, Simon Prebble, and the king himself, George Guidall. Each reader performs competently, adding to the suspense and momentum of each story. Parts of the "Adrenaline Series," both books are recommended for public library collections.
-Gloria Maxwell, Penn Valley Community Coll., Kansas City, MO Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
