The Water in Between : A Journey at Sea [Import] [Paperback]

Kevin Patterson (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Random House of Canada, Limited (2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679310541
• ISBN-13: 978-0679310549
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,800,871 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Sailing Story- sort of., June 13, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Water in Between (Hardcover)

In this autobiographical book, Kevin Patterson, medical doctor, unsuccessful army officer, and failed lover, takes us and a series of increasingly reluctant crew members along on his sailing trip from Vancouver to Tahiti and back. By the last leg of the journey, Kevin, unsurprisingly, is sailing alone. This book is not a sailing manual, in fact it becomes apparent that even by the end of his journey Kevin is still unable to sail. It is not adventure writing. It is instead a meditation on travel and travel writers and Kevin himself. And if Patterson's thoughts are sometimes a little banal, his love affairs a little adolescent, his prose not always up to par with the authors he generously quotes, and even if the ending is a little abrupt, then this does not stop the book from being an interesting read. Patterson is witty and clever. However, it it's a funny travel book you want, look to Bill Bryson, for meditations on travel look to Chatwin, for damn good travel writing read Theroux, and if it's sailing you're after then you can't go wrong with Slocum and Montessier. If you've read them all and a few more then try this.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Journey At Sea, June 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Water in Between (Hardcover)

Though I would think twice about joining Kevin Patterson on his journey at sea, I would not hesitate to read this book. Kevin Patterson has a way of taking you along anyway. Through wild weather and days and days in the doldrums, subsisting on noodles and frozen pie, you gain a pretty real sense of life at sea. There are mishaps and no apparent way of bathing, but at the same time you get to visit some rare places: Penrhyn Atoll, Palmyra, Tahiti. You also get to read over Kevin's shoulder and drink brandy long into the night in the dimly lit cabin and discuss writers you otherwise may not have read: Chatwin, Theroux and many other accounts of sea adventure. Then you wake in the morning, a little fuzzy and bleary-eyed only to discover the main sail has torn and wrapped itself around the mast. But wait. You are not at sea at all. You are on the sofa by the fire, reading a great book. He's the one who has to deal with the sail and eat cold curry noodles for breakfast. What a relief. What an incredible book.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Am I a sailor? No. Did I love this book? YES!, May 29, 2000

By 

J St. Andre (Edmonton, Alberta CANADA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Water in Between (Hardcover)

Even those of us who have had little or no sailing experience, will not be able to resist the charm of Kevin Patterson's writing. It is a tale for even those who get weak at the knees at just contemplating the idea of being surrounded by nothing but water, wind, rain and sky, or by being truly alone with the slapping reality of oneself, will not be able to stop turning the pages. He writes as if he is reading to you, and he teaches you that you can make anything happen, if you so desire it, or if you are just plain bored with the routine of life. "The Water in Between" is not simply the tale of a 29 year old man fulfilling some egotistical plight to capture his youth, or his attempt to 'bodly go where few men have gone before', rather it is an honest, and at times a hilariously sarcastic narrative, about a person who decided to shed the skin of self-pity, and go for it. For me, the most enjoyable part of this book was that while the story itself is real, so to is the author!