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Far Tortuga: A Novel Paperback – January 12, 1988

by Peter Matthiessen (Author)

69 customer reviews

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An adventure story and a deeply considered meditation upon the sea itself.

"Beautiful and original...a resonant and symbolical story of nine doomed men who dream of an earthly paradise as the world winds down around them." —Newsweek

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An adventure story and a deeply considered meditation upon the sea itself.

About the Author

Peter Matthiessen was born in New York City in 1927 and had already begun his writing career by the time he graduated from Yale University in 1950. The following year, he was a founder of The Paris Review. Besides At Play in the Fields of the Lord, which was nominated for the National Book Award, he has published six other works of fiction, including Far Tortuga and Killing Mister Watson. Mr. Matthiessen's parallel career as a naturalist and explorer has resulted in numerous widely acclaimed books of nonfiction, among them The Tree Where Man Was Born, which was nominated for the National Book Award, and The Snow Leopard, which won it. He died in 2014.

Product details

Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: Vintage; Vintage Books ed edition (January 12, 1988)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0394756673
ISBN-13: 978-0394756677
Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.8 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 69 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #675,674 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1421 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Classics
- #1446 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Sea Adventures
- #1702 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Sea Stories

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69 customer reviews

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Raymond K. Poplar

May 15, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Like all Peter Matthiessen's works this is deep and insightful. To me he is one of the best authors in the last hundred years. Some cannot get into his writing however. Once the reader lets go and allows the idiom to overcome him the reader is not merely reading any more but becomes part of the story. I have read At Play in the Fields of the Lord, Far Tortuga and Shadow Country and was not able to put any of them down. Having spent time in the jungle, in Caribbean Central America and living in South Florida made it even easier for me to visualize his descriptions. Any mature serious reader cannot help but be left stunned by his writing. If you have not read Peter Matthiessen you have not read the some of the best of American Literature. You will be haunted years after you finish reading.

4 people found this helpful

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Poetry and realism

May 13, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

A poetic yet stark journey of ordinary, poor men trying to make a living from the sea, living a life that died long before.

There is a recurrent lament of the modern days and how nothing is the same: not the men, not the work, not the world.

A haunting picture of life working hard on a derelict old boat trying to defy the decay of the men, the boat, and their lives.

The only error I noted was they kept raising the jib on their catboat, which has only one sail and no jib. Otherwise, a vivid picture of old ships, the ever changing sea, and desperate men.

Probably 15% too long but worth every minute.

2 people found this helpful

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finest 20th Century novel

June 19, 2014

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This book has not received deserved recognition by those who identify our "great novels," primarily it seems because in the early pages it requires extra attention to determine who speakers are. This must be done and the clues are always there and there's even a dramatis personae of sorts, with the ship's manifest. But you need to read these opening pages slowly and carefully. Once you get to know the characters you find their interactions are truly engaging and often hilarious. When first published, a New York Times critic panned it, said boring, and so forth. The man no doubt has a decent IQ, but totally missed the boat by trying to skim this powerful piece of writing and not doing his share in bringing it to life. Far Tortuga is a "deep" book but also a fascinating story. It will be "discovered" in time, much as was Moby Dick--but hopefully it won't take as long.

JM

4 people found this helpful

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Into Bright Wastes

October 26, 2011

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This book, in my experience of reading it, is not what I would call, essentially, a novel at all. Rather, it is an extended imagistic prose-poem, exquisitely reminiscent of "The Rime of The Ancient Mariner" more than anything else, with the Romantic lyricism of Coleridge's poem replaced by striking, crisp and mordant verbal snapshots of the sun-bleached Caribbean Sea.

I don't think I'm giving anything away here by saying, just as when reading the first lines of Coleridge's poem, from the first pages of Matthiessen's book, one is gripped by an eerie sense of mortality and doom, a sense which only welters ever deeper as the rattletrap turtle-fishing expedition wends its way through a world that is both a dreamed world and the real world. The book, like all art, annihilates any distinction between the two. Passages such as this one become more frequent:

"The wind rises through the night to fifty knots or better. Intermittently the sky is clear, and the masts of the rolling vessel carve great circles in the stars. The hull squeaks and bangs with strain. Where the ocean crashes on the reef, wind and waves are lost; there is no time, no space, but only the chaotic rush of the dark universe."

The only reason I'm giving the book four rather stars than the superlative five is that somehow the dialogue doesn't flow, at times, like it seems to me it should. Too often, I felt that I was listening to Matthiessen himself, his voice thinly disguised beneath a dialect, regaling me with the lore of the old turtle fishers from days forever past. I have the same problem with Coleridge and his mariner.

But, otherwise, this is a stunning work, not to be missed. Like Coleridge's poem, it triumphs despite of, or indeed because of the wrack and ruin it chronicles:

"The bird raises its wings, and the wind lifts it; it flies away westward, into bright wastes of ocean afternoon."

12 people found this helpful

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I absolutely love this story

November 18, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I absolutely love this story; read it many years ago and look forward to reading it again. But beware - the title makes it sound like two novels are included here, both "Far Tortuga" and "At Play in the Fields of the Lord." This is not the case and I wish it wasn't listed that way.

One person found this helpful

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April 13, 2012

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

i was enchanted by this book. matthiesen's descriptions of the setting are pure poetry, and are a powerful reminder of the sights and sounds of the caribbean. i absolutely loved the lingo of the characters' conversations, its a great counterpoint to the descriptive segments. this book has haunted me since i read it. one of my favorites of all time.

4 people found this helpful

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Far Out Writing Style

September 13, 2014

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

It was a challenge to become accustomed to this novel's quirky narrative style, but I did enjoy seeing Matthiessen exercise his fine talent. He certainly does effectively transport the reader into a very different manner of life, primitive turtling, than that experienced by most of us who enjoy easy chairs and books.

One person found this helpful

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March 16, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

The literary quality of his writing is outstanding. This was so well written in terms of language, pace and character development that it has become one of my favorite pieces of literature. It is not plot-drien, but moves on the power of its exquisite writing.

One person found this helpful

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