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372nd out of 554 books
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2,366 voters
A Pearl In the Storm: How I Found My Heart in the Middle of the Ocean
"In the end," writes Tori McClure, "I know I rowed across the Atlantic to find my heart, but in the beginning, I wasn't aware that it was missing."
During June 1998, Tori McClure set out to row across the Atlantic Ocean by herself in a twenty-three-foot plywood boat with no motor or sail. Within days she lost all communication with shore, but nevertheless she decided to kee...more
During June 1998, Tori McClure set out to row across the Atlantic Ocean by herself in a twenty-three-foot plywood boat with no motor or sail. Within days she lost all communication with shore, but nevertheless she decided to kee...more
Hardcover, 304 pages
Published
April 7th 2009
by Harper
(first published 2009)
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In A Pearl in the Storm, Tori Murden McClure - the first woman to row solo across the Atlantic - attempts an inspiring autobiography-cum-adventure tale with (at least in terms of literary achievement) disastrous results. By attempting to live up to both standards, McClure splits her readers' attentions to little effect.
The more standard autobiographical section centers around McClure's troubles growing up poor, undereducated, and with the burden of being responsible for her younger, development...more
The more standard autobiographical section centers around McClure's troubles growing up poor, undereducated, and with the burden of being responsible for her younger, development...more
I think this book was very confusing but none the less all over the place. It was also very dull and boring simply becasue it lack a story just everything happened and that's what it was. also i kept losing track of the actual story. Overall i didin't like this book that much but the ending was beautiful.
She failed at showing the readers exactly why it was a love story once it didn't have romance no sex barely and conflict among the lovers and the only thing that was catergorize under being a l...more
She failed at showing the readers exactly why it was a love story once it didn't have romance no sex barely and conflict among the lovers and the only thing that was catergorize under being a l...more
A Pearl in the Storm by Tori Murden Mcclure, was the common reading book all new students at my university had to read, for the common reading experience. As most of my peers groaned and complained about having to read this "awful and boring" book, I was among the few that actually did not mind reading it.
In this novel, Mcclure wrote a memoir about her life growing up, intertwined with an adventure tale of her attempts at rowing across the Atlantic Ocean. She bounces back and forth between the...more
In this novel, Mcclure wrote a memoir about her life growing up, intertwined with an adventure tale of her attempts at rowing across the Atlantic Ocean. She bounces back and forth between the...more
Sep 18, 2012
Heather Baruxes
added it
I thought this book was extremely inspirational. Tori battled with not only the ocean but also with her beliefs and her courage to see how long she could take the ocean alone. Tori went through tough conditions such as being thrashed around in the cabin of the rowbaot numerous of times. Also, her supply of food was running low since most of her protien bars and others snacks got filled with salt water.She got several cuts and scraps and bruises yet she still was determined to finish rowing acros...more
Sep 18, 2012
John Semones
added it
Recommends it for:
Someone Sleepy
Recommended to John by:
Bowling Green State University
A Pearl in the Storm is a not so epic tale of an extraordinary woman without the ability to write. The author tells a tale in a way that is complicated for all who don't sail. She also spent a lot of her time describing, to me, what seemed like pointless information about M&M's, a variety of sea animals, and other things that seem insignificant. She flashes back into her past, the only part of the book that was somewhat interesting, but most of the time it was just as boring as her sitting a...more
Sep 18, 2012
Jadegriff
added it
I read A Pearl in the storm for a summer reading assignment and I found it to be dull and uninteresting. As you got farther and farther into the book it slowly pulled you in but overall it didn't really hold my attention. The author, I feel, talked too much about her boat and the minor details of the trip and it really made the book drag on. The only parts that really drew in my attention were when she flashed back and talked about her home life and her brother Lamar. In the beginning and end of...more
Sep 18, 2012
Lexi Yoder
added it
A Pearl in the Storm was a poorly written documentary that got off topic on many accounts. There was too much detail put into it that only a person who is a professional rower would understand all the big vocabulary that was put into it. The book seemed like one giant journal entry that took me forever to get into it. All in all I would not recommend this book to anyone. She claims that her goal was to make this book into a love story but she fails at this. This book is leaning towards being an...more
A Pearl in the Storm is an interesting book. It took a while for me to get into reading this book because the author mostly talked about her either eating a granola bar or rowing. But there was some very interesting points in the book. One of the interesting points was when she found herself in the midst of a hurricane. She thought that it was just a terrible storm, but soon came to her senses and realized she was near the eye of a hurricane. She got terribly injured and had to be rescued. But t...more
I really enjoyed reading this book because i believe that it taught many important aspects of being successful in life. Tori Murden Mcclure is a very inspirational individual who never gave up on her goals and dreams. Throughout this novel i noticed a lot of symbolism being used. For an example, the sea presented Tori with many challenging hardships that forced her to grow as a person. While the boat was capsized, Tori did not give up. She never stopped fighting and was always thinking of ways t...more
Sep 18, 2012
Alex Cratty
marked it as to-read
I thought this book was rather boring and slow to begin. Once the action started to pick up it got more exciting but i still didn't like the book. I didn't like the book because it was very repetitive. She repeated a lot in the book and it made the book drag on. Also i didn't like how she kept flashing back throughout the book because it confused me and made me loose track of what was going on. She tried to make the book more exciting then it really was. Yes she tried to tell the story as an adv...more
I was not at all looking forward to having to read this book for school. I put it off until the last minute because I dreaded reading it so much and I read the entire book in two days. To be honest, it could have been worse, but I still didn't like it. I appreciate that Tori Murden McClure made a big accomplishment by rowing across the ocean alone, but I had no interest in reading about it. After the first few chapters, I was only continuing to read it because I had to. Her time at sea was very...more
In my opinion this book had many strengths and weaknesses but overall it was sort of boring to read. I enjoyed the plot and the story that Tori told of her life but I didn't like that she went into such detail about the different aspects of rowing. She spent way to much time outlining and describing the boat, tools, and techniques that she used on her voyages. If you enjoy books about rowing and biographies about people who are able to overcome huge difficulties than this book is for you. If you...more
The book A Pearl In the Storm: How I found My Heart in the Middle of the Ocean by Tori Murden McClure, was not what I expected. I thought that it was very dry and repetitive, and she took a long time to explain anything. She would talk about one thing and go on a two page rant with how it connected to her life, or what was going on with the boat. There was a lot of unneeded information I feel was there just to take up space. She had stated to her readers towards the end of the book saying she ha...more
Hmm, what did I think? Well I thought she had a very interestingly different life and explored many adventures that would be great to participate in. But, thats the type of books i like is adventure and I thought that the pearl in the storm was a little bit dry for my taste. Adventures don't keep telling you, I tripped over a log, next page another log, adventures keep you reading or eager to pick up the book again. Adventures have suspense that keeps the reader interested and excited. a quick e...more
Sep 18, 2012
Grace Mulvihill
added it
A Pearl In the Storm was an okay book. I did not love it but i did not hate it. I enjoyed reading some parts and other parts were a bit more dry. I was expecting an adventure when i went into reading the book. I dont feel i completly got an adventure. In some parts it lacked anything really exciting. On the other hand other parts, when she was describing the hurricane, I could not put it down i could feel her strugggle and pain. It would be a pretty good adventure book but not one that keeps yo...more
To be a successful adventure novel, one must have an interesting journey. A journey is present, but The Pearl in the Storm is very repeticious and dull. It did not grab my attention at all. She accomplished rowing across the ocean, but the journey was never inspiring. I felt as if I was reading a sad, depressing diary that would just never come to an end. Imagery was overused in the book, it took my attention away from the actual events that were occuring. Imagery is a good thing, but going on a...more
A Pearl In the Storm was a good adventure book because it was based on her journey across the Atlantic Ocean. She had several examples of conflict and struggle in her past and while rowing in the present as well. In the end she had a great success by being the first woman to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean and she also found her husband. I liked the book because it included several life lessons and it was interesting to see her relate the past to how things were now for her. I found that I wa...more
I liked this book very much. Out of the very few books that i have read in my life time, it was the most influential and confidence booster i have ever encountered in a book. Torri Mcclure was the first woman who set across the Atlantic Ocean in a row boat. Her first voyage she failed at doing so and was convinced to try it again. Torri then completed her challenege on the second voyage and became the first woman to ever travel across the Atlantic in a row across Antartica. Even though the book...more
I found the book to be an easy read, and interesting enough to hold my attention throughout. That being said Ms. murden's struggle with "helplessness", that was referenced throughout the book seemed like a fairly ingenuine after-thought. further many of her "struggles" throughout life seemed self induced, and made Tori come off as a jaded and stubborn individual, who was difficult to relate to. Also the book which was praised as "a rip roaring adventure novel" was lacking in excitement. While th...more
A Pearl In the Storm was of adequate quality. I liked the fact that I got to learn about a significant person in history despite the fact that she was too repetitive most of the time. It seemed like this book was a successful autobiography of sorts. She wrote this book about herself and, for what us as readers know, it was nonfiction. The story reflected her life experiences. And, she is a significant person for being the first woman to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Tori Murden McClure des...more
As an autobiography, this is a successful book. It is obviously written by her and it is seemingly non-fiction. The events that take place in the book really happened although it is hard for me to believe that she remembers all these specific conversations and instances, but for the most part it seems to be non-fiction. It definitely reflects her life experiences, such as rowing across the Atlantic Ocean and her college experiences. Lastly, she is a significant person. She was the first woman to...more
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I thought A Pearl in the Storm was an inspirational story, however it lacked entertainment and was a rather dry read. I struggled to finish the book. Although I did find her journey inspirational, I felt like the book wasn't very well written. She also pointed out that all of her accomplishments seemed to make her perfect, which made me feel lose some of the inspiration I had gained from this story. It's unrealistic and unfair to talk yourself up that much. It is evident that Tori Murden Mcclure...more
The book a Pearl in A Storm by Tori Murden McClure was not an interesting book. The book was relateable when it flashes back to her childhood there are times you can see strugle with helping her brother and shool work and almost everyone goes through these struggles. However, this book lacks a lot of good aspects. This book was not inspirtaional. Yeah, this lady rowed across the ocean and did a lot of things most people do not do but it didn't make someone want to go out and row across the ocean...more
Overall, I think this book was good. To me, it was mostly an adventure, even thought different parts of it represented different kinds of stories. She was presented with a problem, and she did what she needed to to conquer it. It was boring at the beginning, but the end brought a sense of adventure. The whole book taught some lessons which I thought were inspiring.
I found the whole beginning very boring, and so did others, causing them not to even give the book a chance. It was just a repetitio...more
I found the whole beginning very boring, and so did others, causing them not to even give the book a chance. It was just a repetitio...more
A Pearl in the Storm, by Tori Murden McClure, was a book assigned to me and the rest of the incoming BG freshmen as our summer reading book. The book can be considered an adventure book, and a great one at that if one wants to learn how to survive two hurricane in a small row boat and make it across the Mid-Atlantic Ocean. But all jokes aside, the book was somewhat good. There were some parts I enjoyed more than others, and the concept of the book is really interesting: a six foot something girl...more
A Pearl in the Storm is a book about Ms. Murden McClure's journey(s) across the Atlantic Ocean. But she also attempts to make this book about romance and about her life. I did appreciate the style in which she wrote parts of the book. The way she bounced between her background and her rowing across the ocean was, in my opinion, well done and interesting. However, this was one of the few things I appreciated. Ms. Murden McClure's book was well written enough to be able to put out a pretty good de...more
As an adventure, i believe that A Pearl in the Storm was well written and interesting. The overall picture of the book was really great, its great to see that someone has succeeded at something. Its not easy to just row across the Atlantic Ocean all alone in a row boat. Not every one has the courage to do what she did and thats why I liked this book.
This book also had its negatives because I felt as if she were self centered and egotistical. She talked to much about how she is a woman and how sm...more
This book also had its negatives because I felt as if she were self centered and egotistical. She talked to much about how she is a woman and how sm...more
A Pearl in the Storm was all over the place. I did not like this book. I didn't like that it would switch from talking about her previous achievements to talking about her brother to then actually talking about rowing across the ocean. The majority of the beginning of the book was more focused on talking about her brother, which was sweet and very neat to hear about, but didn't always pertain to the actual story. Learning about her achievements in college was also pretty awesome but the way she...more
In this Adventure/Memoir/Romance Novel, Tori McClure brings her tale of rowing across the Atlantic to words. I was expecting to read a boring tale of a woman and her little sail boat. But it turned out that she faced more hardships than most people can take in a life time. Now I originally was assigned this as a Summer Reading Project, but it later turned into my only entertainment as I was on a Charter Bus heading from state to state for 3 months without anything really to do. And when I read h...more
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“During dinner a sea turtle stopped by for a visit. At three or four feet in length... the turtle swam alongside for about twenty minutes, its head bobbing just above the surface of the water. Then with laughing eyes the turtle passed me..being left behind by a turtle pricked up my competitive nature. I pulled harder trying to keep up, but I couldn't catch the turtle. Soon I was reduced to laughter. " I am in the North Atlantic in a rowboat, racing a turtle...and loosing. Okay, so they can swim thirty miles an hour. Out here, I am the tortoise and it's the hare.”
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