Michael's review
Sailing Alone Around the World (Penguin Classics)
by Joshua Slocum
Michael's review
Sailing Alone Around the World (Penguin Classics) by Joshua Slocum
Michael's review
rating:
recommended for: sailors
This used to be required reading for Massachusetts high school students. Joshua Slocum was the first to sail solo around the world. Still crazy to this day. The story was great in detail and local interest for the places it dealt with. I love Slocum's writing at points, but like Moby Dick, at other times I feel I'm just pushing through to get to the good parts again. His historical detail and places he visits is not only a good story worth reading, but if you think about it for a moment, the time at which he visits some of these islands is a record which was thereafter erased by modern progress. He is a unique character, and if you grew up on Cape Cod, or have ties to Nova Scotia, the story should hold special interest because of Slocum's origins. It also deals with the tragic death of his first wife, later his son, something he never overcomes and in his later years is probably still a motivating force for him to fly solo in the end.
