Far From Shore: A Mother's Memoir of a Shark Attack

by Margaret Kathrein, Jonathan Kathrein (Contributor)

It was the final day of summer, 1998, when sixteen-year-old surfer Jonathan Kathrein paddled out on his board for one last ride at Stinson Beach, in the area known as the Red Triangle. When the great white shark struck, it so decimated the boy’s hip and leg that his survival was considered miraculous. From this vicious and terrifying attack, and from the lengthy and painful post-surgical rehabilitation that followed, comes Margaret Kathrein’s moving and deeply inspirational memoir, Far From A Mother’s Memoir of a Shark Attack. This book is more than a narration on survival and courage; it is a reminder of the importance of a close and encouraging family, and how the love and support of family and community can sustain us through unrelenting pain and fear. This is also a memorable insight into how one boy faced the possibility of death and grew to be an extraordinary man.

212 pages, Paperback

First published November 3, 2009

Reviews

[Kelly Kittel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love survival stories and as an open ocean swimmer near Cape Cod where Great Whites summer in greater and greater numbers, thanks to greater and greater numbers of seals, I found the shark attack and survival part of this story fascinating. I used to live in SF and my husband had a prosperous Uncle in Stinson Beach where the attack took place. I assumed everyone in the Bay Area knew about the Farallon Islands and was a bit surprised that this family had no knowledge that they were in the presence of greatness, as sharks go, given the seal rookery offshore. People actually dive in shark cages there in hopes of having a shark encounter. But maybe that started after 1998 when this bite took place.

I am greatly relieved that all ended well. Definitely found the beginning of the book to be much more engrossing than the rest but I'm thankful his mom wrote it, regardless, and I'd love to walk the beach with her some day. I found it a bit unbelievable how perfect this family and all their friends and neighbors behaved and kept waiting for someone to do something even minorly upsetting like sending over store-bought cookies or something. But, it seems that other than this shark bite, which he survived, this family has had no other beefs. Lucky them. As a bereaved parent who literally wrote the book on family conflict, that all just seemed a bit too perfect for me to be reliable.

But.

It can not be overstated how high my hat is off to Jonathan for fighting back and living to tell this tale, particularly the message that sharks have much more to fear from us than we from them. And as a fellow worried mom of a Pacific surfer, I appreciated his list of helpful hints for avoiding shark attacks, which I texted immediately to my son. Surf on...

KK

[Tammy Partridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good summer read. It is a great testimonial. It is written like a diary. This book is meant to be a inspirational and education book about swimming with sharks, survival and over coming fear of nature. It is not meant to be a national best seller or top 100 book but overall it is a great work. Hats off to the author and blessings to the family.

[Joann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written by our good friend about her experience when her then 16 year old sone was attacked by a great white shark. A touching read for all mothers.

[Jeff Versai · Rating 5 out of 5]

intense! what a story... and it's true. way to overcome the challenges of life!