The Motion of the Ocean: 1 Small Boat, 2 Average Lovers, and a Woman's Search for the Meaning of ...
The humorous true story of a woman who abandons her tidy life to honeymoon across the Pacific on a leaky, old boat--only to find that sailing 17,00...
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reviews
Jul 04, 2011
Linda
rated it: 
This is a smart, delightful read about newlyweds that decide to follow their wildest dreams, take a couple of years off from work and sail to foreign ports on their honeymoon. It’s a moving memoir that reads like fiction. Although it’s an adventure story about sailing, the heart of the story is about love and marriage; the passion as well as the doubts that live within any relationship. Janna Cawrse’s writing style is clear and unhindered as she allows the reader a glimpse into her inner most th
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Jan 11, 2010
Shannon
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I would surely have quit reading this book even before page 100 if it hadn’t been a book club selection. (I have a 100 page rule that if I don’t care how a book is going to end by the time I’m on page 100, I don’t finish it.) My chief complaints are that it isn’t terribly well-written and the author spent far more time complaining – about her husband, her life, her situation – than saying anything the slightest bit positive. This wore on me as the reader. I’m not a happy-go-lucky kind of gir
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May 01, 2010
Melody
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This wasn't at all what I was expecting when I picked it up, and it's difficult to review it for what it actually was, rather than what I wanted it to be. Had I read the notes on the back of the book, I'd most likely have stayed away.
I wanted a travelogue, an adventure tale, a story of what it's like to cross the ocean in a sailboat. What I got was a lot of navel-gazing, a lot of detail about the author's marginally unhappy marriage, backstory about the relationship, and more than I More...
I wanted a travelogue, an adventure tale, a story of what it's like to cross the ocean in a sailboat. What I got was a lot of navel-gazing, a lot of detail about the author's marginally unhappy marriage, backstory about the relationship, and more than I More...
Nov 30, 2010
Catherine
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Newlyweds, Janna and Graeme head out on the high seas for an extended (two-year) 17,000 mile honeymoon voyage. The book is part sailing, part travel adventure, and part relationship examination.
Cawrse Ersay writes with a lot of humor. I would venture a guess that several laughs could be attributed to her funny quips that flowed throughout her story. I enjoyed reading about the couple’s sailing adventures, even though I’m not a boater myself, and the many exotic locales visited on th More...
Cawrse Ersay writes with a lot of humor. I would venture a guess that several laughs could be attributed to her funny quips that flowed throughout her story. I enjoyed reading about the couple’s sailing adventures, even though I’m not a boater myself, and the many exotic locales visited on th More...
Apr 21, 2010
April
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My husband & I have sailed together for three weeks at a time and this is a great account of what it is like to be alone with your spouse discovering new places and spaces! I loved this book. There is a fabulous quote in the middle of the book, you'll know it when you read it.
Here are some reviews:
"Equipped with nothing but an old boat and a new marriage, Janna Cawrse Esarey recounts her two and a half years at sea with wry humor, keen observations, and descriptions vivid More...
Here are some reviews:
"Equipped with nothing but an old boat and a new marriage, Janna Cawrse Esarey recounts her two and a half years at sea with wry humor, keen observations, and descriptions vivid More...
Dec 10, 2011
Anne
rated it: 
This true story is about a woman who tells people in college that she's going to live on a boat. Living in Washington state, I wouldn't think that would be a big deal. But this person has never even been on a boat before. Fast forward through college, girl meets boy, girl loses boy, girl finds boy again and marries him. He has grown up with boats and, at some point, they decide to take off in said boat and sail to the Far East.
It is nice to read a book written by a woman who actually k More...
It is nice to read a book written by a woman who actually k More...
Jun 21, 2010
Tom
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Perhaps I was expecting a “chick-flick” literary piece when I first learned of this book – boy, was I wrong about that!
Janna Cawrse Esarey’s wonderful sea-going tale, "The Motion of the Ocean" provides an engaging - then captivating - and sometimes scary - "Odyssey" across the Pacific in a 35 foot sailboat. She is a most talented and insightful writer - and I was unable to put her book down until I had consumed every last page.
As a land-locked sailor More...
Janna Cawrse Esarey’s wonderful sea-going tale, "The Motion of the Ocean" provides an engaging - then captivating - and sometimes scary - "Odyssey" across the Pacific in a 35 foot sailboat. She is a most talented and insightful writer - and I was unable to put her book down until I had consumed every last page.
As a land-locked sailor More...
Dec 11, 2010
Mike
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Janna Cawrse Esarey writes an autobiographical tale about falling in and out of love, getting married, and going off on a two-year honeymoon sailing across the ocean on a very small sailboat with her new husband, who she had known for 10 years off and on before they wed. She writes with a lot of introspection and great humor. If you like sailing, or adventure, or marriage, or love, or just peeking into others’ lives as they sail the ocean, sometimes blue (as is her language sometimes), you will
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Feb 08, 2011
Victoria
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Janna Crawse Esarey may have had reservations about setting sail with her brand new husband on a two-year odyssey across the Pacific, but she was fearless in her writing about the journey. Her honesty of the good AND the bad, in a smart and still funny manner, will have you feeling like you were there in the small space aboard Dragonfly with her and Graeme. She has held nothing back. You will want to voyage with Janna through the pages of this book. I couldn't put it down and was routing for thi
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Jul 12, 2009
Maudeen
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This book is more than just a memoir, more than a travelogue, it is a story of the beginning of a marriage and all that entails - but instead of beginning it in a home in an up and coming neighborhood as many newlyweds do, Janna and Graeme decide to take a two-year honeymoon from Seattle to the Galapagos and on through the South Pacific islands to Hong Kong. Their journey is threatened by everything from pirates to typhoons, but the real threat to their happiness lies in themselves.
I More...
I More...
Aug 21, 2011
Annabelle
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My husband I have love sailing. We have never had an adventure quite like the one in this book but we've come close (kinda). We read this book together and that was an adventure in it's self. I have to say I loved the book. I think it helps that we love sailing. Janna does whine alot about her marriage, it didn't ruin the book for me. Arguing over the baby to be's name for so long was a little tidious, but it deffinately didn't over shadow all the hilarious, adventurous parts. I could really
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Mar 06, 2011
Kathy
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This book had everything I look for in a book...true travel adventure, relationship issues, out of the ordinary descriptions of nature's glory plus a lot of humor. Janna & Graeme have been in and out of a relationship for years when they decide to get married and travel 17,000 miles in a sailboat from Seattle to the south Pacific to Asia. Sometimes along the way, this seems like a good decision. Sometimes it seems like the worst idea they've ever had. Janna details the trip and their relatio
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Jul 06, 2010
Georgia
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Not only did I love this book, I loved getting to know the author, a fellow Seattlite, at our book club meeting! Esarey's book tells the story of her two-year honeymoon sail across the Pacific from Seattle to Hong Kong. A sailing story, yes, but even more so a story about friendship, love, marriage and the challenges you can imagine a couple of newlyweds would face spending two years crammed onto a tiny boat. Laugh out loud funny at times and heart-wrenching at others, I enjoyed every bit of
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May 27, 2010
emily
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My dear husband inundates me with sailing books, (which I don't read, or haven't gotten around to reading yet) and I bought this one after hearing the author read from it at a women and boating seminar. Janna did a good job at the reading....I'm not loving the book, but have started to enjoy it more....but what i did learn, is that it is okay to read 2 books at the same time....and think that this will be the approach I take with the next sailing book I read....I think part of my problem is tha
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May 22, 2010
Audry
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So I was very intrigued when I saw this book on the shelves. I got bored about a third of the way into the book, but I can't NOT finish a book unless I really HATE it. So I kept going, and I am so glad that I did. I think like this girl, I think that I am a combination of her and her husband. This is a true journey and a very real reflection of what we go through in a real relationship. It was refreshing, comforting, nerve-wracking, depressing, and just so true to life. The ending of this book m
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Apr 30, 2010
Nellie
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This book gets three stars for being entertaining but a little fluffy (not that it pretends to be more). It reads like an embellished blog or journal of her trip across the Pacific. I most enjoyed reading of this couple's experience crossing the Pacific Ocean in a 35' sailboat as that is something I will never do (especially now). I found the sailing and traveling more engaging than the relating of their courtship and marriage but can forgive some of that for the Anne Morrow Lindberg quote sh
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Mar 17, 2010
Erin
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Side note: I'd like to know how these women go on these life changing AMAZING adventures and all they do is complain about the creature comforts they leave behind? Queen of the Road was another such book.
I can say quite honestly I now have absolutely no desire to sail in open water. EVER. What seemed romantic, now seems dangerous. What happened to that one guy in the Marquesas will forever haunt me.
Liked the book enough that I could vicariously live the dream through th More...
I can say quite honestly I now have absolutely no desire to sail in open water. EVER. What seemed romantic, now seems dangerous. What happened to that one guy in the Marquesas will forever haunt me.
Liked the book enough that I could vicariously live the dream through th More...
Jun 12, 2010
Courtney
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I liked it.
The story was great-- near the end it got really redundant and I was wishing it would have been over 3 chapters earlier... but maybe she needed a certain word count? I don't know.
I think she uses some rather foul language that gets SUPER repetitive, but the good thing is that it's easy to skip because Cawrse Esarey has a thing for italics... and apparently, swearing is all italicized for her! And I skewered Stephanie Meyer for her repeated use of "grimace" More...
The story was great-- near the end it got really redundant and I was wishing it would have been over 3 chapters earlier... but maybe she needed a certain word count? I don't know.
I think she uses some rather foul language that gets SUPER repetitive, but the good thing is that it's easy to skip because Cawrse Esarey has a thing for italics... and apparently, swearing is all italicized for her! And I skewered Stephanie Meyer for her repeated use of "grimace" More...
Nov 02, 2009
Judy
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I think that the title is a bit long, as is this book. But, it gives readers a real sense of what it's like to be on board a boat with someone else 24/7, sharing the challenges, fear, problem-solving, communication issues and yes, joy, of sailing. There are small accomplishments and growth for the author in her experiences. I wish she had talked more about the places and people she met along the way - perhaps she'll write another book. She was engaging and fun to read...most of the time.
Nov 05, 2009
Vmillerstumpf
rated it:
Dan & I have always had a little dream to sail around the world in our own boat (or maybe along a coastline - I'm too scared to go far out in a tiny boat!) This young husband and wife do it and her stories are freshly honest. It lags and gets a bit too snarky at times but I like how she contemplates marriage and long term relationships through sailing stories.
Dec 27, 2009
Julie
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Read this for bookclub. Interesting - I admired the author's pluck (and courage) traveling halfway around the world in a 35 foot sailboat as a newlywed. And I thought honeymooning in Portugal was adventerous. The book was long - as one bookclub member said "too many words!" Amen sister. Don't think I'd recommend this to a friend as a good read.
Aug 24, 2009
Stephanie
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I loved, loved, loved this book. Now it might just be me and that the timing of this book with my life is perfect, but I thought it was a terrific read. I think Janna did a fantastic job of conveying the idea, work and effort that it took to pull this trip off as well as how much work it takes to pull a marriage off. I think everyone should have a B-HAG in their future. I do!
Oct 16, 2011
Completely entertaining! Especially so since my husband, at a similar stage in our lives, undertook something very similar in the northern latitudes. I just kept nodding my head and laughing at the commonalities. Even so, I suspect landlubbers may enjoy the book nearly as much. It's a story of a grand adventure, told well.
Sep 22, 2010
Laron
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A fun look at the first year of married life from the POV of a woman taking an across-the-Pacific journey (with NO sailing experience--YIKES!). Not perfectly written, not a wow-the-world bestseller--but still a fun book that reminds you a little about what that first year of "settling in" is like. Oh, and taking BIG adventures!
Sep 09, 2010
Karen
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I really hated this book the first 100 pages, until the moderator / author figured out she was a self absorbed bitch. Then it became a relatable story. Other than that, the journey is remarkable and somewhat inspiring. The story is well written and I'd actually be interested to read Janna's next endeavour.
Feb 09, 2010
Rebecca
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This is definitely the best memoir I've ever read. As someone who likes fiction primarily, this book reads like fiction. I hope that's a compliment. It's not only a fascinating topic (sailing across the Pacific ocean with your significant other), but it's an inspiring love story and a brilliantly-written yarn. Loved it.
Dec 31, 2009
Valerie
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An easy, conversational tone sweeps you along on Janna's 2 year sailing adventure with her husband across the Pacific from Seattle to Hong Kong. Along the way they explore a vast number of exciting places and rediscover love. Delightful and warm, filled with enough ups and downs to keep you reading, but not make you seasick.
May 31, 2010
SallyJo
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I learned a little about the Pacific Islands. I learned a little about sailing. I learned a little about how different people work on relationships.
I mostly learned that I still don't like books on relationships, and I most definitely find sailing or anything having to do with being 10 feet away from terra firma to be not my cup of tea.
But it was a fast read, and undoubtedly I took away a few good things that I don't yet even realize. Hopefully I'll think of what they More...
I mostly learned that I still don't like books on relationships, and I most definitely find sailing or anything having to do with being 10 feet away from terra firma to be not my cup of tea.
But it was a fast read, and undoubtedly I took away a few good things that I don't yet even realize. Hopefully I'll think of what they More...
Oct 10, 2011
Sofie
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As a sorta newly-wed myself, I really enjoyed this memoir of the beginnings of a marriage on a sailboat across the pacific. Janna's writing is very relatable and I enjoyed her wit and sense of humor. I think this is a great book for anyone who has been through the ups and downs of a relationship.
Feb 07, 2011
Hulananni
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I learned that Pink and Blue chores prevail (for the most part) on the water. Been there done that. Couldn't put this down. Thought the author had been aboard our sailboat at some time. How else could she have written our dialogue?
