Steaming to Bamboola - The World of a Tramp Freighter [Paperback]

Christopher Buckley (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 221 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr (June 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312927932
• ISBN-13: 978-0312927936
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,083,627 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Christopher Buckley is the author of fourteen books, including "Supreme Courtship," "Boomsday," and "Thank You For Smoking." He is editor-at-large of "ForbesLife" magazine, and was awarded the Thurber Prize for American Humor and the Washington Irving Medal for Literary Excellence. He lives on the Acela train between Washington, D.C. and New York City.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars recommended summer reading, June 23, 2000

By 

Chris Harbaugh (KOKOMO, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Steaming to Bamboola: The world of a tramp freighter (Paperback)

I read this book after seeing Chris Buckley on the Letterman show. This is a a thoroughly entertaining chronicle of how a child of wealth and privelege (and sailing) decides to enlist in the merchant marine and see the world. Buckley's own adventures are highly entertaining and he throws in enough other skewed sea stories to keep the reader intrigued. Since it is mostly a collection of nautical anecdotes it is easy to put down and pick up again later, it is light and genuinely funny and a perfect companion for the pool or beach.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I been. I gone. I seen., August 9, 2004

By 

Bullelephant "Boils" (Denver, Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Steaming to Bamboola - The World of a Tramp Freighter (Paperback)

Christopher Buckley wrote a great book here. Too bad he didn't stick with this sort of writing. Had to make a lving I guess. This book is about the average Joe (sailors on a tramp steamer) and what he has to do to make a living. Ironic that Buckley comes from such an upper toff family --he's the son of Bill Buckley.

The folks written about here never went to an Ivy League school. They live in trailer or crappy little houses by the highway somewhere. Buckley celebrates them and entertains us. A great great read.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a good and accurate read, February 2, 2009

By 

V. Cusumano (Fairfax, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Steaming to Bamboola - The World of a Tramp Freighter (Paperback)

I read this for the first time shortly after I stopped sailing on US Merchant Marine ships. One of my ships was a tramp freighter working the east coast of South Americe. This copy replaced one I "loaned" out and never got back.

It's a fun read, and for me, even better because I recognized so many of the details as accurate. It brought back a lot of memories, and reminded me of why going to sea was good for awhile, and not a great idea for a lifelong career!

Buckley lived the life and is a great observer people, and of what is going on around him.