Steered by the Falling Stars: A Father's Journey [Hardcover]

Daniel Spurr (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1992

In this powerful memoir, the author's long-planned sailboat voyage begins auspiciously, with his son and teenage daughter along for the first leg. But when Spurr and his new wife turn the boat south on the leading edge of autumn, trouble follows. Through it all, Spurr discovers that his journey is ripe with opportunities for hope and renewal.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This is essentially an account of a trip via sailboat from Newport to Maine, and then south to Florida, made by former Cruising World writer Spurr and his wife with the assistance of a few others. The sections on sailing, which make up most of the book, are enjoyable, but less engaging sections deal with philosophical matters: reflections on the author's time in prison, the effects of the death of a teenaged son, and the impending birth of another son by a second wife. This account should be enjoyed by those contemplating a similar trip down the Intracoastal Waterway as well as armchair sailors, since the local characters are well handled. Recommended for libraries with a sailing/cruising clientele.
- Robert E. Greenfield, formerly with Baltimore Cty. P.L.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Spurr, a former Cruising World editor, sets sail aboard a 33- foot fiberglass boat on a yearlong cruise of the Intercoastal Waterway that becomes a voyage of self-discovery. The author starts out north from his home port of Newport, Rhode Island, with his new wife, Andra, and his children from a previous marriage--Peter, 12, a victim of cerebral palsy; and Adriana, 16, for whom the boat was named. Spurr's ``harbor- hopping'' of the East Coast is highlighted by his natural history of the lobster and of the eerie Isles of Shoals, ``inhabited only by gulls and Unitarians,'' and by an encounter with a customs agent who is relieved to learn that Spurr's flag of Texas is not ``Monrovian.'' While snowbound in Salem, Spurr and his wife find that she's pregnant with a baby neither wants. Returning to Newport to reprovision and pick up mail, Spurr learns that Peter, who by this time has returned to Michigan to begin school, has been hit by a train and killed. The boy's death haunts the resumed cruise, while the gradually welcomed pregnancy provides an obvious counterbalance. Spurr offers wonderful descriptions of sailing the polluted waters around Manhattan; of being lost in a snowstorm and of observing ``sea smoke'' in the Great Dismal Swamp Canal; of running aground at Islamorada, Florida, and drawing a crowd of advisers and local reporters; and of celebrating Christmas in Key West. By the arrival of summer and a newborn baby boy, Spurr has sailed on to the Bahamas. Captures the essence of sailing, from the ``mind-numbing'' boredom of becalmed seas to riding out a storm in a cabin like the ``inside of a tambourine.'' -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Tab Books; First edition (September 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0877423326
• ISBN-13: 978-0877423324
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,865,204 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Incredible Journey, February 1, 2002

By 

Bruno J. Navarro (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Steered by the Falling Stars: A Fathers Journey (Paperback)

The journey Daniel Spurr recounts in his magnificently told travelogue-...-memoir is one the author himself hadn't planned on taking, yet he reaches deep within to share the emotionally resonant, beautiful tale of the seaman's life and of a father's love.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, September 3, 2008

By 

Kyle C. Nouse "Henry" (Annapolis, MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Steered by the Falling Stars: A Fathers Journey (Paperback)

Dan Spurr writes with such candor, and honesty one wants to meet him. Although the piece is far from somber it addresses serious emotions. One experiences the feel of a thoughtful cruise down the eastern seaboard with all its sunny days, and howling squalls.