Sail Away: Stories of Escaping to Sea (Paperback)

by Lena Lencek (Editor), Gideon Bosker (Editor) "TO ONE UNFAMILIAR with the technicalities of sailing, Migael Scherer's "Reading the Weather" (2000) is a revelation, a prose haiku of two hundred or so..." (more)
Key Phrases: caldo largo, seabourn spirit, past voyagers, San Francisco, Bass Strait, Professor Kynaston (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
Despite the security of terra firma, people have long romanticized the idea of being on the water. In this collection of short stories, novel excerpts, and narrative nonfiction, editors Lencek and Bosker (Beach: Stories by the Sand and Sea) have compiled selections from an impressive list of authors, including Jules Verne and Paul Theroux, to reflect on the diversity of nautical endeavors. In the introduction, they write, "We've heard it said that 'on a ship, there is fate in every plank'...no two voyages are ever alike." And no two stories are alike, from Ann Davidson's account of her solo transatlantic voyage in "My Ship Is So Small" to Daniel Duane's reflections on perfecting the art of surfing in Caught Inside. Most impressive are Nobel laureate Ivan Bunin's "The Gentleman from San Francisco" and Langston Hughes's The Big Sea, both stories that epitomize the transforming power of the ocean. This is a book for sea-gazing landlubbers. Recommended for all public libraries. Stephanie Maher, Warwick, RI
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Lencek and Bosker posit in their introduction that "it was in the spirit of the great escape" that they selected the 21 stories--fiction and nonfiction--in this collection that illuminate the range of navigational experiences. They have arranged the stories to progress by degrees from a tight focus on the material circumstances of being at sea to an increasingly abstract exploration of its psychological, social, developmental, spiritual, and finally, utopian dimensions. Some of the authors are well known, including Jules Verne (from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea), Thor Heyerdahl, Roald Dahl, Paul Theroux, John Rolfe Gardiner, Langston Hughes (from his autobiography), Virginia Woolf (from To the Lighthouse), and W. S. Merwin. The other writers are lesser known; but this is a first-rate anthology of sea stories. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (June 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569245843
• ISBN-13: 978-1569245842
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,064,404 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From Harrowing to Haunting, August 22, 2001

By	"herbschneider" (Norwalk, CT USA) - See all my reviews

An invigorating change from the current raft of "disaster at sea" books. The 21 stories cover the gamut from high adventure to psychological intrigue, from small boats to large ships, from contemporary to classic. All are engrossing and stimulate the full range of human emotions.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sail Away, May 25, 2003

By A Customer

I like this book a lot. The stories are gritty, dreamy, exciting, sad, funny, scary: there's a story for every mood and every kind of sea voyage, and each one of them is beautifully written. I also like the little blurb from the editors that comes with every story; and the photographs. This is a great book to give as a present: that's how I got mine.

3.0 out of 5 stars Go to sea, August 23, 2005

By	---- Neil H. "Ecclectic Reader" (Michigan) - See all my reviews

A collection of stories about going to sea. Some are wonderful, some are bizarre. NOT a collection of SAILING stories (as I had thought). Still, a nice way to be introduced to many different authors.