Somewhere South Of Miami [Paperback]

Craig Faanes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2002

Somewhere South of Miami is a true story about how a love for birds and a yearn to travel in the Caribbean, Central America, and Mexico were used to heal from the pain of a divorce. In the end, it all gets down to finding your home again.

Product Details

• Paperback: 411 pages
• Publisher: PublishAmerica (April 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1588512711
• ISBN-13: 978-1588512710
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,467,635 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally im somewhere South of Oz:Somewhere South Of Miami, December 3, 2003

By 

Christine Berry (Eureka, Kansas USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Somewhere South Of Miami (Paperback)

This was a book that i could not put down! It is so true that when you read you can be anywhere your mind can travel. I saw the islands through Craig's eyes, the birds, the third world nations and yes even the beautiful Dominican women he so descriptively described. The rebounding of a heart broken by divorce entwined with mine as i read the words of a man lost then found again by his own rebirth for the love of birds, life,and the will to survive an unwanted divorce. Thank You, for teaching me the lessons in attitudes and latitudes Craig, through humor,logic and the desire to stop, look and listen at the beauty of those free spirited creatures we call birds..

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book hooked me, September 26, 2002

By 

William L. Murphy (Indianapolis, IN United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Somewhere South Of Miami (Paperback)

 
 
If you're a birder, particularly a male birder, buy this book!

Take William Least Heat-Moon's travelog "Blue Highways," plunge his Central States' rambling journey 30 degrees south, add birds, booze, and broads, mold it around Jimmy Buffett's song "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes," and there you have it.

For Woodstock-generation male birders like me, Faanes' story rings true. Many passages could have been lifted straight from our own diaries. Who among us hasn't felt the sting of divorce? Been bewildered by a departing woman's irrational behavior? Been amazed during our agony at the serenity we still find afield, time suspended for hours during a quest for an elusive species whose gap on our life list throbs like a dull toothache? And who among us hasn't sought his own means of reconciling to the fact that those dreams of shared years together have crashed? Through this autobiography, Faanes holds up the mirror to us as we join him on a journey to that most magical of places -- Elsewhere.

Rarely have I read an author so transparent, so willing to expose his raw, rough, reactive nature as well as his sophisticated self. Faanes lets the reader in on behaviors most of us would just as soon keep hidden. He weaves his tapestry of emotional healing using threads the color of Kirtland's Warblers, Eskimo Curlews, and a host of Caribbean endemics. Progressing through the book, one experiences the author's emotional transformation, like a songbird in molt. We follow Faanes' on his progressions from a hurting, bitter, highly impulsive male chauvenist to a seasoned researcher laced with mellowness born of a certain savoir faire.

Personal growth aside, this book is a fascinating narrative of birding adventures of which the rest of us can only dream. Imagine being paid to spend time birding in remote areas of the Turks & Caicos Islands, the Bahamas, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands. Faanes' vivid accounts put the reader in the heart of the action. I was particularly fascinated at being able to join him voyeuristically for any number of "life" discoveries - a new bird, airport, airline, food, beer or more exotic drink, willing woman, and even a survival technique or two.

Part of the fun of reading this book is being able to experience Faanes' sometimes dangerous adventures without the risk of actually being there. By recording the full range of his experiences in his book, Faanes provides us with not just a sip of tropical adventure but a fullblown chug. 
 

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not Just Another Book About Travel ..., September 25, 2002

By 

Sarahmch (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Somewhere South Of Miami (Paperback)

This is a fast-moving story of a man of science who sought refuge in the things he could understand through the beauty of animals and nature, when the circumstances of his life were not understandable or bearable. It's interesting to see science and logic blend with emotion and spirit in this life-affirming collection of travel stories. Even though the book is constructed in chapters as parts of a whole story, each chapter reads like a short story, while following an overall theme of travel.

In seeking oblivion from pain by immersing himself in every kind of beauty he could find, Faanes found peace with himself and his circumstances. It's about traveling, but it's not JUST about travel or the exotic places Fannes tells about. It's the story of triumph over fear; of peace over pain. It's a story of healing and embracing life. I was charmed by the ironies that the author illustrated and touched by his honesty. I thoroughly enjoyed the book.